Student Number : 0310050V - MA research report - School of Literature and Language Studies - Faculty of Humanities / The rationale of this work is a peripatetic exploration, both literally and intellectually: the form echoes the content. The creative work stands on its own, but the theoretical reflection contributes retrospectively to the work as part of this peripatetic process. The theoretical reflection picks up the theme, though more formally, in order to create one coherent project. I have aimed to create a dialogue between the theory and creative work on a road that goes both ways. If it appears that the section of theory devoted to the poets is disproportionately long compared to the rest of the work, this is because I discovered in the course of my exploration that poets seem more predisposed to wandering than others.

"Poetry 'n Acts: The Cultural Politics of Twentieth-Century American Poets' Theater," focuses on the disciplinary blind spot that obscures the productive overlap between poetry and dramatic theater and prevents us from seeing the cultural work that this combination can perform. Why did 2100 people turn out in 1968 to see a play in which most of the characters speak only in such apparently nonsensical phrases as "Red hus the beat trim doing going" and "Achtung swachtung"? And why would an Obie award-winning playwright move to New Jersey to write such a play in the first place? What led to the founding in 1978 of the San Francisco Poets Theatre by L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E writers, and why have those plays and performers been virtually ignored by critics despite the admitted centrality of performance to L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E writing's textual politics? Why would the renowned Yale Repertory Theatre produce in the 1990s the poetic, plotless plays of a theater newcomer twice in as many years--even when audiences walked out? What vision for the future of theater could possibly involve episodic drama with footnotes? In each example, part of the story is missing. This dissertation begins to fill in that gap. Attending to often overlooked aspects of theater language, this dissertation examines theatrical performances that use poetic devices to intervene in narratives of cultural oppression, often by questioning the very suitability of narrative as a primary means of social exchange. While Gertrude Stein must be seen as a forerunner to contemporary poets' theater, chapter one argues that the Living Theatre's late 1950s and early 1960s anti-authoritarian theater demonstrates key alliances between poetry and theater at mid-century. The remaining chapters closely examine particular instances of poets' theater by Amiri Baraka (known equally as poet and playwright), Carla Harryman (associated with West Coast poetry), and Suzan-Lori Parks (a critically acclaimed playwright). These productions put poetic theater on the backs of tractors in Harlem streets, in open gallery spaces, and in more conventional black box and proscenium architectures, and each case develops the importance of performance contexts and production histories in determining plays' cultural effects.

When I decided to write a thesis on Emily Dickinson's poetry, my intention was to show that she did, indeed, implement a concrete philosophy into her poetry. However, after several months of research, I realized that this poet's philosophy was ongoing and sometimes inconsistent. Emily Dickinson never discovered the answers to all of her religious and spiritual questions although she devoted her entire life to that pursuit. What Dickinson did discover was that orthodox religion had no place in her heart or mind and she must make her own choices where God was concerned. Immortality was an intense fascination to Emily, and many of her poems are related to that subject. In fact, the majority of Dickinson's poems deal, in some way, with spirituality. Emily Dickinson is a poet who deserves to be studied on the basis of her philosophical pursuits as well as her style. Dickinson scholarship has improved in the past several decades; however, Emily Dickinson has yet to receive the attention she deserves as a philosopher and thinker.

The vehicle Tennyson uses to explore the thematic ambiguities of love/indifference; faith/doubt; hope/despair; and life/death is domestic imagery, specifically images which involve the home or house and those images of personal relationships which move the poet from despair to a tentative faith. The initial chapter of this work will present a general view of Tennyson and In Memoriam by which the subsequent study of the elegy's domestic imagery may be brought into focus. In addition to a discussion of the occasion of the poem, pertinent critical material will be evaluated in terms of value to this discussion of imagery. After a brief working definition of domestic imagery in Chapter II, an in-depth analysis of this imagery in In Memoriam will be studied. The first major cluster of domestic images is found in the beginning movement of the poem. In this movement images of domesticity proliferate. The aspects of home life which pertain to the poet's grief over the loss of his beloved friend will be explored and analyzed in depth in Chapter III. Moving away from the domestic scene, the poet concentrates in the next major movement on a specific symbol: the hand. This hand imagery is the vehicle for the poet's exploration of the tree aspects of love: agape, philia and eros. In Chapter V, it will be shown that the poet, in his grief, progresses through a movement of mind from negation to indifference. These attitudes of denial and insouciance are not conveyed by a single cluster of images such as those of domesticity and the home, but rather by disparate images as widely scattered as physical objects, states of mind, and human relationships. In delineating the progress of Tennyson's grief from despair through indefference to affirmation, the poet traversed essentially those elements found in Hegelian Triad - thesis, antithesis and synthesis - or in the Carlylian diction of the Everlasting Nay, the Centre of Indifference, and the Everlasting Yea. The Everlasting Yea, or rather, the arrival of the poet at a tentative affirmation is the subject matter of Chapter VI. The final movement of the poem considered in this chapter makes use of all previously used symbols to some degree for the purpose of revealing the emergence of a new state of mind and a more healthy attitude toward life as exhibited by the poet. By way of conclusion, a synthesis of the six preceding chapters will be presented in which the interaction and interrelation of domestic imagery, hand imagery, scenes of domestic relationship, and states of mind show a persistent progression from uncontrolled grief through a period of apathy and indifference to arrive finally at a state of acceptance of life as it is and of affirmation, although qualified, of the significance of life.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate, and hopefully, to elevate the literary "currency" of Richard Lovelace. To this end, various methods and approaches will be utilized in order to capture a comprehensive, yet coherent view of Lovelace and his poetry. Specifically, these methods and approaches will include: a survey of Lovelace's biography, including clarification of discrepancies among authorities concerning pertinent details of his life; a location of Lovelace in the primary social, philosophical, and poetical movements of the early seventeenth century; an identification of Lovelace as a Cavalier poet, differentiating him from other Cavaliers; an analysis of representative poetry according to theme, imagery, and conflict-structures; and a summation of Lovelace's critical reception since the Publication of Lucasta. Recent criticism, while inconclusive and sparse, points to an increased awareness of Lovelace's conscious craftsmanship. This study is an effort at bringing this vision of Lovelace into clearer focus.

The purpose of this study is to investigate a limited number of the most influential and interesting studies dealing in depth with the question of Hopkins' religion and its resultant influence on his poetic talent, and to attempt to resolve some of the points of dispute. some of the studies investigated argue that Hopkins was hindered in his poetic endeavors by his religion, while others attempt to prove that his religion enhanced his poetry. The present study is not intended as an evaluation of individual works; its purpose is rather to present the pertinent and relevant ideas projected in each study discussed, thus giving the reader an understanding of the general trend of critical thought dealing with the religious problem in Hopkins.

An investigation of the literary conventions and an evaluation of the way they are employed by Daniel will help to provide some indication of his literary importance. To examine the traditional conventions he uses will, to some degree, indicate where Daniel fits into the literary society of the Elizabethan Age. A study of some of his innovations and a few of his distinctive ways of using traditional motifs will help to demonstrate his overall importance to literature.

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"August 2003." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-177) Pt. 1. At the flash & at the baci: contents, poems, notes to poems -- pt. 2. Exegetical essay: note on the text, essay: How I remember writing some of my poems - why, even Consists principally of poems. The collection does not pursue any particular theme. It is organized chronologically. An exegetical essay written as a poem forms the second part of the thesis. The essay does not explain the poem's 'meanings' to any great extent but considers the poems' relation to each other and to poems written in the past.

"August 2003." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-177) / 2 v. (131, 177 leaves) ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Consists principally of poems. The collection does not pursue any particular theme. It is organized chronologically. An exegetical essay written as a poem forms the second part of the thesis. The essay does not explain the poem's 'meanings' to any great extent but considers the poems' relation to each other and to poems written in the past. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of English, 2003?