"Rural Sports: The Poetry of Fishing, Fowling, and Hunting, 1650-1800" traces the evolution of poetry on the field sports over a 150-year span, with a view toward considering these poems in the first instance as sporting texts. This thesis analyzes sportsmen's attitudes toward their activities, noting the larger social implications of their sporting performances. The thesis also seeks to classify and understand the poems as distinct literary sub-genres. Current sociological insights into angling and hunting help to illustrate the poems' resemblances to one another, particularly Hobson Bryan's concept of "recreational specialization" and Norbert Elias's concept of "tension equilibrium." In providing a systematic survey of the rural sports poetry, this thesis argues that during successive stages of the period, poetry on certain sports came into vogue and then receded from fashion. This followed from historical and political developments but also from literary ones. The poetry on fishing after Izaak Walton's Compleat Angler (1653) maintained a dialogue between pastoral and georgic elements, as the two modes offered scope for the experience of angling. In the eighteenth century, the writers of hunting verse balanced a passion for sport with social and political awareness; hence, they tended to employ the techniques of the prospect view and topographical poetry, intermixing descriptive elements with didactic ones in the georgic mould. As the century progressed, hunting and shooting were either reproved in an increasing number of sentimental poems representing hunters as uncaring and pitiless toward animals or they were celebrated for their gentlemanly values and virtues in the manner of William Somervile's influential poem The Chace (1735) and George Markland's Pteryplegia (1727).

"Rural Sports: The Poetry of Fishing, Fowling, and Hunting, 1650-1800" traces the evolution of poetry on the field sports over a 150-year span, with a view toward considering these poems in the first instance as sporting texts. This thesis analyzes sportsmen's attitudes toward their activities, noting the larger social implications of their sporting performances. The thesis also seeks to classify and understand the poems as distinct literary sub-genres. Current sociological insights into angling and hunting help to illustrate the poems' resemblances to one another, particularly Hobson Bryan's concept of "recreational specialization" and Norbert Elias's concept of "tension equilibrium." In providing a systematic survey of the rural sports poetry, this thesis argues that during successive stages of the period, poetry on certain sports came into vogue and then receded from fashion. This followed from historical and political developments but also from literary ones. The poetry on fishing after Izaak Walton's Compleat Angler (1653) maintained a dialogue between pastoral and georgic elements, as the two modes offered scope for the experience of angling. In the eighteenth century, the writers of hunting verse balanced a passion for sport with social and political awareness; hence, they tended to employ the techniques of the prospect view and topographical poetry, intermixing descriptive elements with didactic ones in the georgic mould. As the century progressed, hunting and shooting were either reproved in an increasing number of sentimental poems representing hunters as uncaring and pitiless toward animals or they were celebrated for their gentlemanly values and virtues in the manner of William Somervile's influential poem The Chace (1735) and George Markland's Pteryplegia (1727).

This dissertation recasts how historians and scholars have come to understand bound labor in eighteenth-century Virginia. Servants—including indentured servants, customary servants, convicts, Virginia-born servants, and apprentices—remained a part of Virginia’s work force throughout the eighteenth century. Servants were a people between and navigated the worlds of freedom and unfreedom on a daily basis, working alongside slaves, negotiating with their masters, and attempting to make sense of their place in Virginia society as an alternative source of bound labor. Some historians, however, dismiss servants, claiming that by the end of the seventeenth century they had all but disappeared and that a general solidarity existed between all whites by the early eighteenth century. Other scholars acknowledge the presence of servants after the turn of the century, but rarely discuss their significance outside of economic analyses or migration studies. Throughout the eighteenth century Virginia masters failed to find common cause with this white labor force—despite its largely European origins and temporary bondage—and servants were constantly ensnared in the power relationships dictated by race, gender, and labor in colonial Virginia. The presence of servants throughout the eighteenth century suggests a need to reconsider colonial society not only across the lines of color but also along the lines of condition.

Shipwrecks have a way of catching the imagination of both professionals and the general public. During the fall of 2004 a shipwreck was discovered in Delaware Bay near Lewes, Delaware. This vessel, believed to be British, was lost during the second half of the eighteenth century. Preliminary examination of the wreck site suggested that it was a merchant ship bound for the colonies. While wrecks dating to this period representing various countries have been found, no British merchant vessels bound for the colonies have been examined archaeologically. This project provided the opportunity to investigate a ship and its cargo in light of the historical events of the period. Analysis of artifacts recovered from the site provided important glimpses of colonial American consumer practices in the period leading up to the American Revolution. In light of the general colonial displeasure over increased Parliamentary restrictions, colonists adjusted their buying habits. Study of the artifact assemblage suggests British merchants were attempting to substitute non-British manufactured goods for some objects. This study also indicated that colonists were perhaps not idealistic in practice when it came to denying themselves consumer goods. Further excavation of this vessel, and the study of other inbound merchantmen, should help confirm the conclusions regarding British policy and its effect on pre-revolutionary consumer practices. Based upon evidence derived from a handful of artifacts, this study tentatively identified the vessel as the ship Severn, lost in 1774 off the coast of Delaware.

This thesis discusses the funerary monuments of Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquis of Rockingham (1730-1782) and William Weddell (1736-1792). It investigates how each man’s political, social, cultural and collecting activities constructed their self-identities. Then, it discusses the construction and formal characteristics of their funerary monuments. Finally, it analyzes how the monuments reflect these identities and evaluates the relative efficacy of the practice. / text

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"Rural Sports: The Poetry of Fishing, Fowling, and Hunting, 1650-1800" traces the evolution of poetry on the field sports over a 150-year span, with a view toward considering these poems in the first instance as sporting texts. This thesis analyzes sportsmen's attitudes toward their activities, noting the larger social implications of their sporting performances. The thesis also seeks to classify and understand the poems as distinct literary sub-genres. Current sociological insights into angling and hunting help to illustrate the poems' resemblances to one another, particularly Hobson Bryan's concept of "recreational specialization" and Norbert Elias's concept of "tension equilibrium." In providing a systematic survey of the rural sports poetry, this thesis argues that during successive stages of the period, poetry on certain sports came into vogue and then receded from fashion. This followed from historical and political developments but also from literary ones. The poetry on fishing after Izaak Walton's Compleat Angler (1653) maintained a dialogue between pastoral and georgic elements, as the two modes offered scope for the experience of angling. In the eighteenth century, the writers of hunting verse balanced a passion for sport with social and political awareness; hence, they tended to employ the techniques of the prospect view and topographical poetry, intermixing descriptive elements with didactic ones in the georgic mould. As the century progressed, hunting and shooting were either reproved in an increasing number of sentimental poems representing hunters as uncaring and pitiless toward animals or they were celebrated for their gentlemanly values and virtues in the manner of William Somervile's influential poem The Chace (1735) and George Markland's Pteryplegia (1727).

Much women's writing in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries attempts to depict other women visually through textual description, use of optical devices, and discussion of bodies and appearances. This thesis argues that they were trying to see and show other women as a way of understanding themselves and each other by examining intersections between visual culture and text through mirrors, miniatures, and portraits. This thesis demonstrates how these works reflect larger shifts in the optical unconscious of the eighteenth century. I focus on works by Joanna Baillie and Louisa Stuart Costello, who theorize the viewing process in their prose and manipulate the viewing process in their drama and poetry, respectively. By manipulating the gaze these authors show readers new ways of seeing women, and subsequently, themselves, and seek to make them conscious of their optical unconscious; their works become the optical devices that allow this to happen. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts / English / MA / Thesis