Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rochester, 1973. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves 250-252.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis is a cultural history of the textual afterlives and poetic appropriations of John Donne's verse. I use print and manuscript miscellanies, hitherto unstudied commonplace books, letters, diaries and seventeenth and eighteenth century criticism to ask, who was reading Donne and in what physical forms? By looking at allusive strategies and reading practices of the time, I demonstrate how many different Donnes can be identified when we strip away modern notions of what 'Donne' is and seek multiple afterlives. I nuance the idea of Donne as a determinedly coterie poet, suggesting his print presence might have looked to his early audience like a strategic writer who had not, despite Izaak Walton's narrative, closed off the possibility of public authorship. I find there was a period of radical re-appropriation and re-reading of Donne in the seventeenth and eighteenth century: Donne was as a guiding influence to canonical poets. Rochester is perhaps the poet whose voice most vividly recalls Donne's swaggering persona and intricately-constructed rendering of apparent spontaneity. Katherine Philips's verse makes sophisticated use of Donne's voice in her intimate quasi-erotic verse; I contrast this with the voice of her poems written for state occasions to show how Donne becomes a resource for self-revelation. Dryden offers a sustained critical vision of Donne: although, as the primary mercenary proponent of mass popular literature, he may seem initially wholly unDonnean, I show how his verse both explicitly and obliquely negotiates with Donne's wit and form. I end by looking at the problematic offered by the negotiates with Donne's wit and form. I end by looking at the problematic offered by the dual critique and celebration in Pope's versification of Donne's Satyres, and at the Dunciad, to see where the limits of allusion come up against Pope's cacophonous multiplicity of voices. These four poets take different threads from Donne's canon to different ends and, in so doing, create different Donnes.

In 1960 Louis Kahn’s theoretical concerns began to focus on a concept which he called “form”, not meaning a building’s three dimensional shape, but the essence of its underlying type. The current study considers Kahn’s post-1960 concept of “form”, as espoused in his 1961 article, “Form and Design”, in relation to Plato’s theory of Forms, as that theory is presented in The Republic. A deeper appreciation of Kahn’s text is achieved through an examination of the hypothesis that the word “form”, as it is defined in Kahn’s article, is congruous with Plato’s famous concept, whereby Forms are said to be independent of humans and particulars. This leads to a related hypothesis, that Kahn’s shift in emphasis towards transcendent types is reflected in his development of what could be called Platonising architectural strategies, because they reflect parallel aims between Plato and Kahn. While Kahn and Plato are quite different figures, separated by time, profession and intentions, consideration of Plato’s treatment of the Forms in The Republic illuminates a new interpretation of “Form and Design” and the building which is most closely associated with that text, Kahn’s First Unitarian Church and School in Rochester. The thesis identifies ideas within Kahn’s text which resonate with Plato’s philosophy, suggesting that Kahn’s theory can be interpreted through notions stemming from the early moments of the Western philosophical tradition. It also identifies inconsistencies between Kahn’s text and Plato’s and between various statements made by Kahn, highlighting the fact that Kahn’s philosophical musings are not those of a trained philosopher. / PhD Doctorate

This dissertation examines the role of ethical monism in the theology of Augustus Hopkins Strong. Chapter 1 discusses some of the reasons for examining Strong's theology and some of the difficulties entailed in such a study. Chapter 2 surveys the life of Strong up until the time when he returned to Rochester Theological Seminary and assumed the dual role of president and professor of theology in 1872. Special attention is given to factors which affected or pointed toward his later decision to embrace ethical monism. Chapter 3 explores the writings of several German thinkers who seem to have provided some of the philosophical building blocks which Strong used to construct his ethical monism. It also examines the writings of several English-speaking philosophers who emphasized the doctrine of divine immanence and who appear to have pushed Strong's thinking toward ethical monism. Chapter 4 discusses the various stages in Strong's decision to adopt ethical monism. It also traces his early incorporation of ethical monism into his larger theological system. Chapter 5 examines the impact which ethical monism had on other areas of Strong's theology. In particular, it discusses how ethical monism affected Strong's view of Scripture and experience, evolution and miracles, and sin and the atonement. Chapter 6 explores how other theologians viewed Strong's final theology and how Strong's theological journey affected the institution and people whom he impacted most. It argues that neither Rochester Theological Seminary nor the integrity of his theological system remained unaffected by his decision to embrace ethical monism. It also notes that both theological liberals and theological conservatives were generally critical of Strong's ethical monism, though for different reasons. This work contends that ethical monism was a means by which Strong attempted to reconcile Christian theology and modern thought while also trying to solve tensions within his own theology. In the end, Strong was unable to persuade modernists to embrace ethical monism or to convince conservatives that ethical monism was a legitimate theological option. Strong's attempt at a theological synthesis failed due largely to the contradictions which ethical monism produced within both Christian theology and philosophical monism.

This thesis examines the history of Turks migrated from Turkey to Rochester and their changing constructions of identities. In the early 1960&rsquo / s, there was only a small group of Turkish immigrants in Rochester, who were well educated professionals. After 1967, Turkish tailors and their families, who were seeking better employment in Western countries started to migrate to Rochester. Different than the common aspect of homeland based Turkish labor migration to West, Turkish tailors in Rochester came from different cities of Turkey. As a result of the communication between high skilled Turks and the tailor-migrants, Turkish Society of Rochester was founded as a distinctive immigrant association. This study focuses on Turkish Society of Rochester and the other Turkish organizations in Rochester which were established after 1990&rsquo / s, in order to investigate the role of ethnic, cultural and political identities on the formation of collective behavior of Turks in Rochester. The thesis considers the concept of integration as a bidirectional phenomenon, whereby Turks can integrate with the larger American society and/or with the Turkish community within the US as well. This study has concluded that the religious identity is becoming more prominent within the changing social context of Rochester.

This essay investigates the narration in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre by applying narratologist Great Olson’s model of unreliable narration to Jane, the novel’s narrator. Further, the novel discusses how Jane’s reliability affects the portrayal of the character Bertha Mason. The essay argues that the narrator’s characterization of Bertha Mason is deliberately misleading.

Studies of the political reactions of both the ‘county’ community and various provincial towns during the English Civil War have been tackled over the past fifty years. However no individual modern study has been undertaken of a Kent town or city for this period; neither has an examination of the relationship between two neighbouring strategic towns. This thesis intends to examine the relationship between the cathedral city of Rochester and adjacent dockyard town of Chatham in Kent from 1640 to 1660, which were both vital strategically to maintain the Parliamentarian stranglehold over the county. There is much debate in recent historiography whether those below the gentry had access to and participated in the current ideological debates. This study explores the political and religious reactions of Rochester and Chatham inhabitants to the upheaval of the English Revolution with the contention that those below the gentry were both able to understand the wider discussions and participate in them. The townsfolk were both articulate and able to couch their responses and concerns within a wider ideological framework. They expressed their opinion to central government by a variety of means, exploiting whatever weaponry was at hand. Local people’s reactions and allegiance did not standstill, but shifted with the changing circumstances of civil war. Current research has demonstrated that the religious radicalism of the English Revolution created both diversity and conflict; particularly in the county of Kent. Yet no detailed study of the impact of religious radicalism upon a local community has so far been attempted. Part of this thesis investigates the effect that a proliferation of different religious groups had upon the Medway Towns of Rochester and Chatham. Whilst some people embraced the new sects and ideas circulating, others felt threatened by the changes taking place and responded by attacking these radical beliefs and preachers. Religious diversity was to a degree tolerated, but when it threatened the perceived social order the authorities were quick to act and prevent the spread of ‘erroneous’ ideas.

No description available.

Thesis (MFA)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references.