Zugl.: Regensburg, Universiẗat, Diss., 2006.

This study advances and adds detail to our history of the reading of verse in England c.1350-1500. Scholarship has established major twelfth- and thirteenth-century changes in reading, and linked these changes to manuscripts containing the modern Middle English verse canon. Historians of early modern reading have also argued for distinctive changes in their own period. But the examination of reading between these two clusters of change has been limited. This study therefore asks how later medieval Middle English verse was read. The surviving copies of The Prick of Conscience and Speculum Vitae, two hugely successful religious instructional poems, form the primary body of evidence. This body is augmented by reference to hundreds of other manuscripts containing Middle English verse. Together, these can reveal much about what was normal and abnormal in reading. They are also an important part of the context for the reading of more canonical Middle English verse. Manuscript studies often proceeds through case studies of individual books and unusual evidence such as marginalia. This thesis turns to codicology to understand more widespread evidence for reading, combining qualitative case studies with quantitative techniques borrowed and developed from continental scholarship. The first chapter examines evidence of provenance, revealing that both The Prick of Conscience and Speculum Vitae were read by an impressive range of people and remained current into the sixteenth century. The second chapter considers the navigational aids used in copies of both poems. Reading in this period has been characterised as 'discontinuous', but it could be discontinuous in diverse ways, and readers also read continuously. The third chapter is a large-scale study of books' size and shape, showing how these features can reveal books' reading histories, sometimes in counterintuitive ways. The fourth chapter contends that readers in this period attended closely to rhyme and probably read for balanced rhyme structures. The fifth chapter uncovers the ways in which these poems were rewritten for new readers and investigates the composition of the Southern Recension of The Prick of Conscience, arguing that this new text was partly a formalist intervention. The conclusion summarises the new 'baseline' history of the reading of Middle English verse which is offered here, and gestures towards implications for our reading of the Middle English poems which are canonical today.

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Die term "volkspoesie" is reeds in die agtiende eeu deur Johann Gottfried Herder gebruik. Dit kom steeds in Europese tale soos Nederlands en Dui ts voor en word oak in Afrikaans gebruik. Belangstelling in die genre word in twee verskillende vakgebiede aangetref: die volkskunde en die letterkunde. Volkspoesie is poesie wat deur 'n individu geskep word, maar soveel aanklank vind by die "gewone publiek" dat hulle dit as 11volksbesit 11 aanvaar en mondel ing oordra. Die oorspronklike skepper raak dus vergete, die kunswerk bestaan anoniem voort en variante ontstaan. Volkspoesie het verskeie verskyningsvorme soos die volkslied( jie), die ballade, rympies en raaisels. Eiesoortige kenmerke is: spontaneiteit, eenvoud, die irrasionele. Alhoewel volkspoesie oor "landsgrense11 heen kan swerf, is bepaalde vorme daarvan dikwels streekgebonde. Nieteenstaande sy bevraagtekening van die term in die vyftigerjare het N.P. van Wyk Louw dit ook self gebruik. Sy gedigreeks 11 Klipwerk uit Nuwe verse (1954) het 'n nuwe belangstelling in volkspoesie gewek. Later het hy die reeks bestempel as 'n "soort volkspoesie wat hy doelbewus wou skep: volksversagtige" gedigte, gebind aan die digter se jeugwereld. D.J. Opperman het in sy proefskrif van 1953 ook ender meer 'n belangstelling in volkspoesie geopenbaar en in 1962 gewys op die volkse in moderne Afrikaanse digkuns. Sy laaste digbundel, Kamas uit 'n bamboesstok ( 1979), word as 'n volksboek met volkspoesie-eienskappe aangebied. Die vorm en eienskappe van volkspoesie vind neerslag in beide Van Wyk Louw en Opperman se werk. Aanvanklik skryf Van Wyk Louw heelwat volksversagtige gedigte en later gebruik hy ook volksballade-eienskappe in sy ballades. Ook in Tristia (1962) kom eienskappe van volksliedjies en rympies voor. Opperman verwerk meermale bestaande volksliedjies en -rympies in sy poesie en gebruik dit betekenisverruimend as verwysingsveld. Die twee digters se belangstelling in volkspoesie het gelei tot 'n verdere ontginning van die "volkse" vers in Afrikaans, onder andere deur digters soos Boerneef, Adam Small en Breyten Breytenbach. Volkskundige navorsing deur P.W. Grobbelaar en andere het in die moderne tyd ook die aandag op hierdie onderwerp gevestig. In die tagtigerjare is mondelinge Afrikaanse poesie selfs deur swartmense in hulle politieke stryd gebruik! / The term "folk-poetry" had already been used by Johann Gottfried Herder in the eighteenth century. It has ever since prevailed in European languages such as Dutch and German and is also found in Afrikaans. Interest in this genre occurs in two different fields of study: folklore and literature. "Folk-poetry" is poetry created by the individual and accepted by the "general public" to a large extent. Therefore it is acknowledged as common property and passed on by word of mouth. The original creator is thus forgotten, the work of art prevails anonymously and different versions come into being. "Folkpoetry" appears in a variety of forms: the folk-song( s), the ballad, rhymes and riddles. Particular characteristics are: spontaneousness, simplicity, the irrational. Although "folkpoetry" may cross "national borders", some forms are often regional. Despite his questioning the term in the fifties, N.P. van Wyk Louw used it himself. His poetry series "Klipwerk" from Nuwe verse (1954) gave rise to a new interest in ''folk-poetry". He afterwards labelled the series as "a kind of folk-poetry" which he deliberately wanted to create: "folksy" poems, relating to the world of the poet's youth. In his 1953 thesis D.J. Opperman also showed amongst others an interest in "folk-poetry" and in 1962 pointed out the "folksy" identity in contemporary Afrikaans poetry. His last anthology, Kamas uit 'n bamboesstok (1979), is presented as a folk book with "folk-poetry" characteristics. The form and characteristics of "folk-poetry" are embedded in both Van Wyk Louw's and Opperman's work. Initially Van Wyk Louw wrote quite a number of "folksy" poems and afterwards also used folk-ballad characteristics in the ballads he wrote. Characteristics of folk-songs and rhymes also occur in Tristia (1962). Opperman adapts existing folk-songs and rhymes in his poetry and uses it as framework to broaden the meaning. These two poets' interest in "folk-poetry" resulted in further exploration of the "folksy" verse in Afrikaans, among others by poets like Boerneef, Adam Small and Breyten Breytenbach. Folk research by P.W. Grobbelaar and others focused attention on this subject. In the eighties even blacks used oral Afrikaans poetry in their political struggle! / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / D. Lit. et Phil. (Afrikaans)

O romantismo literário brasileiro conseguiu fabricar um modelo de índio civilizado despido de suas características reais, mas quase nada falou sobre as populações africanas, houve um longo silêncio sobre as etnias negras que povoavam o Brasil\" (ORTIZ, 2003: 19). Por isso, optamos por estudar analiticamente a obra Primeiras trovas burlescas de Getulino, do ex-escravo, escritor, abolicionista, jornalista e advogado Luiz Gama, levando em conta como o eu-lírico qualifica o negro, o mestiço, o mulato e o branco por meio de características ou de ações, e quais são os valores a atribuídos a esses grupos étnicos. Análise que nos lembra a importância da relação entre a mensagem e a imagem que se produz literariamente, já as qualificações (atributos e valores) apresentadas vêm ligadas à uma série de fatores dotados de significados próprio originando uma valorização humanitária peculiar, que leva em conta certas pretensões que podem ser sociais e históricas e desvelam acontecimentos e motivações que vão ao encontro de concepções que geram o que cita David Haberly: \"The multiracial character of Brazilian literary history, however, goes far beyond genetics. As we shall see, much of Brazil\'s literature has been preoccupied with an anguished search for a viable racial identity - a search that has been both personal and national in scope.\" (HABERLY, 1983: 2) / Literary Romanticism Brazilian managed to make a model of civilized Indian stripped of their actual characteristics. On the other hand, said nothing about the African population, there was a long silence on the ethnic black that filled the Brazil \"(Ortiz, 2003: 19), so we chose to study analytically the work Primeiras trovas burlescas de Getulino, of the former slave, writer abolitionist, journalist and lawyer Luiz Gama, taking into account how the I-lyric describes the black, mestizo and mulatto through features or activities, and what are the values assigned to them. Analysis reminds us of the importance of the relationship between the message and the image is produced literally, as the skills (attributes and values) presented are linked to a number of factors endowed with meaning itself leading to a recovery humanitarian peculiar, which takes into account certain claims which may be social, historical and uncover the events and motivations that are in harmony with concepts that generate citing David Haberly: \"The multiracial character of Brazilian literary history, however, goes far beyond genetics. As we shall see, much of Brazil\'s literature has been preoccupied with an anguished search for a viable racial identity - a search that has been both personal and national in scope. \"(Haberly, 1983: 2)

L’élan créateur consécutif à la guerre civile espagnole (1936-1939) reste très vif dans les générations de poètes qui écrivent en Espagne vers les années 50 ; c’est ce que l’on appelle poesía social, où l’on classe habituellement des noms tels que Blas de Otero, Gabriel Celaya ou José Hierro. Le ton combatif des années de guerre (Alberti, Hernández) devient alors résigné et seule une pointe d’espoir semble surgir de cette poésie radicalement solidaire. Quelques années plus tard, pour une nouvelle génération poétique (Jaime Gil de Biedma, José Agustín Goytisolo, entre autres) il ne s’agit plus d’écrire une poésie de circonstances, mais de donner voix à leurs inquiétudes personnelles, même si celles-ci sont étroitement liées au devenir collectif de leur pays. Habituellement on considère que ce type de poésie engagée termine avec l’avènement, dans les années 70, des Novísimos, groupe de poètes cherchant, bien au contraire, à faire une poésie aux antipodes de la triste réalité espagnole. Ces poètes ont besoin d’actualiser un horizon lyrique suranné et de donner à la poésie une dimension ludique absente de la poésie espagnole depuis les avant-gardes des années 20-30. Il n’en est pas moins que cette prise de position très critiquée constituait également une réaction subversive. Pour ces jeunes poètes il fallait résolument aller de l’avant et ne pas laisser la poésie espagnole, qui avait connu des heures si brillantes, s’engouffrer elle aussi dans les enfers d’un régime dictatorial. Ce changement de paradigme va à son tour se voir en quelque sorte interrompu dans les années 80 par le groupe poétique La otra sentimentalidad, qui revient à la poésie liée étroitement à l’histoire, cette fois-ci en pleine movida, ce mouvement social et culturel qui dynamitait les mœurs espagnoles et qui coïncidait avec l’arrivée des socialistes au pouvoir, en 1982. Il s’agira désormais de concevoir la littérature comme discours idéologique et d’en assumer l’historicité radicale. Javier Egea, membre fondateur du groupe de Grenade et figure centrale de ce travail, s’évertue non seulement à intégrer les réflexions matérialistes dans son œuvre, surtout dans ses recueils capitaux (Troppo mare, de 1984, Paseo de los tristes, de 1982, et Raro de luna, de 1990), mais aussi à cultiver une poésie qui évoque les événements historiques de manière directe, notamment dans ses poèmes dispersés ou inédits. C’est sur cette œuvre et sur les liens qui se tissent entre poésie et histoire dans le dernier tiers du XXe siècle espagnol que ce travail se propose de réfléchir. / The creative impulse resulting from the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) remained very vivid in the generations of poets who wrote in Spain in the 1950s; this is called social poetry, where authors as Blas de Otero, Gabriel Celaya or José Hierro are usually classified. The combative tone of the war years (Alberti, Hernández) then became resigned and only a hint of hope seemed to arise from this radically solidary poetry. A few years later, for a new poetic generation (Jaime Gil de Biedma, José Agustín Goytisolo, among others), it is no longer a question of writing a poem of circumstances, but of giving voice to their personal anxieties, even if those anxieties are closely linked to the collective future of their country. Usually it is considered that this type of committed poetry ended with the advent, in the 70s, of the Novísimos, a group of poets were seeking, on the contrary, to make a poetry at the antipodes of the mournful Spanish reality. These poets needed to actualize an outdated lyrical horizon and to give poetry a playful dimension absent from Spanish poetry since the avant-gardes of the years 20-30. Nevertheless, this highly criticized position was also a subversive reaction. For these young poets it was necessary to resolutely go forward and not let the Spanish poetry, which had known such brilliant hours, also plunge into the underworld of a dictatorial regime. This paradigm shift will in turn be seen in some way interrupted in the 80s by the poetic group La otra sentimentalidad, which returns to poetry closely linked to history. This period coincided with the arrival of the Socialists in power in 1982 and the movida, a social and cultural movement life which dynamited the Spanish manners. It will now be a question of conceiving literature as an ideological discourse and assuming its radical historicity. Javier Egea, founding member of the Grenada group and central figure of this work, strives not only to integrate the materialistic reflections in his work, especially in his capital collections (Troppo mare, 1984, Paseo de los Tristes, of 1982, and Raro de luna, of 1990), but also a poetry directly related to the historical events, especially in his dispersed or unpublished poems. This thesis proposes a reflection on this work and on the links between poetry and history in the last third of the Spanish twentieth century.

This study is concerned with modern Christian poetry in Afrikaans. Afrikaans poetry, which initially carried the clear stamp of the Afrikaner's Calvinistic view of life, gradually assumed a new image to the extent that it could no longer be recognised as religious and specifically Calvinistic poetry. To the contrary, modern Afrikaans Christian poetry is the expression of a contemporary conceptualisation of the very same gospel. The occasional violent reaction especially of conservative institutions to so called "unchristian" modern poetry in Afrikaans during the past three decades, has prompted this study which attempts to illustrate that modern Afrikaans poetry still exhibits a strong Christian element. The essential qualities of contemporary Christian poetry in Afrikaans are illustrated in the discussion of the works of particular leading Afrikaans poets. Chapter 3 attempts to indicate a transitional stage between traditional and modern Christian poetry by means of an overview of the latest tendencies and approaches, with brief references to the recent poetry of the Louws, the poetry of Peter Blum as the initial exponent of the poetry of the Sixties, and the poetry of Ina Rousseau. The work of Sheila Cussons, eminent Roman Catholic (and thus also Christian) poet who is probably the most impressive contemporary exponent of metaphysical/mystic poetry in Afrikaans, is discussed in chapter 4. Chapter 5 illustrates the traditional Calvinistic Christian point of view and Christian experience as represented in the poetry of I.L. de Villiers. The poetification of the ministry adds new dimension to religions poetry in Afrikaans. Chapter 6 constitutes a discussion of the works of T.T . Cloete, the most significant contemporary Reformed poet in Afrikaans indicating the extent to which the many related facets embodied in his poetry consistently reflect a Christian attitude and are unified in and encompassed by the principle of Soli Deo Gloria. Chapter 7, by way of conclusion, reviews the religious poetry of Lina Spies and Petra Müller who write accessible popular poetry, nevertheless exploring interesting references. In conjunction with the poetry of Ina Rosseau, this poetry represents a contribution to modern Afrikaans religious poetry from a feminine point of view

This thesis aims to establish Jessica Powers (1905 – 1988) as a metaphysical poet, to augment the composite definition of metaphysical poetry, and to add two emphases to Christian literary theory. A comprehensive library search on Powers reveals that no scholarly work has been written on her poetry since 2005. A meta-analysis of existing work on Powers demonstrates that the metaphysical aspect of her poetry has not yet been comprehensively examined. Though Powers wrote in a time commonly called ‘post-modern’, my contention is that it would be more accurate to describe her as a metaphysical poet in the traditional sense of that term, as used, for example, of George Herbert (1593 – 1633). I endorse the view that the central theme of all metaphysical poetry is the relation between body and soul (Tanenbaum 2002: 211). It will be seen that this relation is the central concern of Powers’ metaphysical poetry. My close reading of Powers’ work as metaphysical is according to a Christian literary theory which agrees with Hass ‘that the study of the text and textual hermeneutics in the twenty-first century will continue because of a particular resurgence of religion’ (2007: 856). It is augmented by two emphases, a scientific (based on Gallagher’s 2009 study of the neurophysiology of attention), and a philosophical (based on Fromm’s 1976 analysis of the ‘being mode’, and on Buber’s 1947 analysis of attentiveness to the present moment). My study thereby contributes to Christian literary theory. There are one hundred and eighty two poems in The Selected Poetry of Jessica Powers. This thesis refers, to greater or lesser extents, to one hundred and seventy six of the poems, and comprehensive examination of their metaphysical aspect is the primary focus of the thesis. My examination of the poems demonstrates that Powers’ poetry can justly be described as metaphysical, which definition of her work serves to highlight an important and hitherto neglected aspect of her work, that she is a metaphysical poet of the finest calibre, and that renewed attention to her work is timely. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English studies)

This thesis is an ethnography of how places like mountain pastures (jailoos), hydro-electric dams and holy sites (mazars) matter in striving for a good life. Based on eighteen months of fieldwork in the Toktogul valley of Kyrgyzstan, this study contributes to theoretical questions in the anthropology of post-socialism, time, space, work and enjoyment. I use the term ‘moral geography’ to emphasize a spatial imaginary that is centred on ideas of ‘the good life’, both ethical and happy. This perspective captures an understanding of jailoos which connects food, health, wealth and beauty. In comparing attitudes towards a Soviet and post-Soviet dam, I reveal changes in the nature of the state, property and collective labour. People in Toktogul hold agentive places like mazars and non-personalized places like dams and jailoos apart, implying not one overarching philosophy of nature, but a world in which types of places have different gradations of object-ness and personhood. I show how people use forms of commemoration as a means of establishing connections between people, claims on land and aspirations of ‘becoming cultured’. I demonstrate how people draw on repertoires of epic or Soviet heroism and mobility in conceiving their life story and agency in shaping events. Different times and places such as ‘eternal’ jailoos and Soviet dams are often collapsed as people derive personal authority from connections to them. Analysing accounts of collectivization and privatization I argue that the Soviet period is often treated as a ‘second tradition’ used to judge the present. People also strive for ‘the good life’ through working practices that are closely linked to the Soviet experience, and yet differ from Marxist definitions of labour. The pervasively high value of work is fed from different, formally conflicting sources of moral authority such as Socialism, Islam and neo-liberal ideals of ‘entrepreneurship’. I discuss how parties, poetry and song bring together jakshylyk (goodness) as enjoyment and virtue. I show how song and poetry act as moral guides, how arman yearning is purposely enjoyed in Kyrgyz music and how it relates to nostalgia and nature imagery. The concept of ‘moral geography’ allows me to investigate how people strive for well-being, an investigation that is just as important as focusing on problem-solving and avoiding pain. It also allows an analysis of place and time that holds material interactions, moral ideals, economic and political dimensions in mind.

The Mirror for Magistrates, the collection of de casibus complaint poems compiled by William Baldwin in the 1550s and expanded and revised between 1559 and 1610, was central to the development of imaginative literature in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century. Additions by John Higgins, Thomas Blenerhasset and Richard Niccols extended the Mirror’s scope, shifted its focus, and prolonged its popularity; in particular, the 1587 edition of the original text with Higgins’s ancient British and Roman complaint collections profoundly influenced the work of Spenser and Shakespeare. However, while there has been a recent resurgence of critical interest in the editions of 1559 and its 1563 ‘Second Part’, the later additions are still largely neglected and disparaged, and the transmission of the original text beyond 1563 has never been fully explored. Without an understanding of this transmission and expansion, the importance of the Mirror to sixteenth-century intellectual culture is dramatically distorted. Higgins, Blenerhasset and Niccols’s contributions are invaluable witnesses to how verse history was conceptualised, written and read across the period, and to the way in which the Mirror tradition was repeatedly reinterpreted and redeployed in response to changing contemporary concerns. The Mirror corpus encompasses topical allegory, nationalist polemic, and historiographical scepticism. What has not been recognised is the complex interaction of these themes right across the Mirror’s history. This thesis provides a comprehensive reassessment of the Mirror’s expansion, transmission, and appropriation between 1559 and 1610, focusing in particular on Higgins, Blenerhasset, and Niccols’s work. By comparing editions and tracing editorial revisions, the changing contexts and attitudes which shaped the early texts’ development are explored. Higgins, Blenerhasset, and Niccols’s contributions are analysed against this backdrop for the first time here, both within their own literary and historiographical contexts, and in dialogue with the early editions. A broad reading of the themes and concerns of these recensions, rather than the limited approach which has characterised previous scholarship, takes account of their depth and variety, and provides a new understanding of the extent of the Mirror’s influence and ubiquity in early modern literary culture.

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