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

Edwin Muir's poetic vision is bound up with that belief in a twofold structure of reality that in European culture has been called Platonist but which is so ancient and widespread that no one can determine its origins. Though no longer fashionable in a time when materialist philosophies flourish and even Christian clerics are busy "de-mythologizing" their faith, it has been the potent source of our greatest poetry and perhaps, as Kathleen Raine believes, of all true poetry. Those who hold this conviction regard the sensible world as the reflection of an "intelligible" or spiritual world which gives meaning and purpose to life, and they see the objects of nature as images that evoke the ideal forms of a divine reality. For poets, as for traditional men, this belief is less a metaphysic than an intuitive way of apprehending and ordering experience, a "learning of the imagination" inherited from ancient and mysterious sources. To Muir it came directly and spontaneously in the symbolic images of dreams, and the fact that he entitled the first version of his autobiography The Story and the Fable testifies to the importance, both for his life and his poetry, of his belief in two corresponding orders of experience. Intro., p. 1-2.

From the canon of the poetry of E. J. Pratt emerges a composite picture of man, the various elements of which are given cohesion by patterns of images and symbols. It is the purpose of this thesis to trace these patterns, to discover their relation to Pratt's main themes of man and the mechanical universe, and to reveal his view of man. Chapter I discusses the patterns of images and symbols that exist in Pratt's lyrics and less successful narratives. Image patterns of the sea, ships, machinery, heroes, light and religion reveal that Pratt sees man as surrounded by death, which he fights with machines, the products of his reason, and with his feelings which may lead him to sacrifice himself so that others may live. The two most significant image patterns in these poems are those of the sea and of light. The sea symbolizes both death and the Void of the universe, from which, in Pratt, all life comes and to which all life returns. Light symbolizes the determination of the human spirit to overcome death, but in images of hell-fire, light symbolizes the evil in men. Christianity is not so important in Pratt's work as Desmond Pacey and John Sutherland maintain. Pratt does not view Christ as divine. God is no more caring of man than He is of his other natural, products. Chapter II deals with The Roosevelt and the Antinoe as Pratt's greatest expression of the conflict between man and death. Common men rise to godhead when they overcome the forces of death (symbolized by the sea) through feeling for others and through their determination to succeed (symbolized by light). A pattern of images of machines reveals that the power of men acting for others' benefit transcends the power of the natural universe. Religious images suggest that, to Pratt, God is uncaring of men and that those who believe that He is beneficient are deluded. Pratt's world emerges as a world of chance. Chapter III examines The Titanic, in which Fate, rather than death, is the antagonist. The transcience of the material world of man (symbolized by the "Titanic") is posed against the permanence of the natural world (symbolized by the stars). Fate is an eternal force. Patterns of imagery of light dominate the world of the ship and symbolize men's illusions of strength over death, nature, and Fate. A pattern of images of heroes is discussed in relation to the wealthy passengers whose self-sacrifice is a ritual atonement for their hubris, and for the catastrophic results of their materialism on the rest of mankind, represented by the immigrant passengers. Chapter IV examines the patterns of fire, religion, and hero images in Brébeuf and His Brethren. These patterns present Pratt's view that the Jesuits are misguided. Their ambition to succeed as martyrs and as Jesuits blinds them to the need for communication of feeling among men. The Jesuits exist in the illusion that religious abstractions are more vital to men's welfare than are kindness and charity. Both Jesuits and most of the Indians, in their zeal, devote their energies to death rather than to life, and both exhibit in extreme the misdirection of the human will to succeed. Chapter V presents minor patterns of imagery and symbolism in which images are contrasted or balanced to reveal the strengths and weaknesses in men. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the total image of man in Pratt's work: man is both good and evil; he rises to his highest levels through communication with other men in transcending death by heroically opposing it; he sinks to his lowest levels when he becomes an incommunicative agent of death. Man exists in illusion when he believes that his machines or his faith in God and hope in religious systems can overcome death. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

This thesis provides for the first time a critical edition of the work "Europae Speculum, or A View or Survey of the State of Religion in the Western Parts of the World" by Sir Edwin Sandys (1561-1629). A sub-title expands further: "Wherein the Romane Religion, and the Pregnant Policies of the Church of Rome to support the same, are notably displayed with some other memorable discoveries and memorations." Sandys states that the purpose of his travels is the observation of the various religions of western Europe, especially the Reformed churches, with a view to the possibilities for unity; what he actually produced is an account of the religious/political situation in Europe at the end of the sixteenth century. Far from concentrating on Reformed churches—near the end of the work he promises to discuss them at a later time—he devoted forty-two out of sixty sections (as they are numbered in the 1605 editions) to the delineation of various aspects of Roman Catholicism, enumerating their beliefs, practices, government, and the means used to increase power, frequently finding merit in their customs and ideas while disapproving of the way in which these were put into practice. Such a preoccupation with Catholicism and reconciliation must have seemed revolutionary to his readers in an age when people were fighting about religion and had, at best, only condemnation for their opponents. Completed in 1599, Sandys's book did not appear in printed form until 1605 when it was entered into the Stationers' Register on 21 June. This publication was disowned as a 'spurious' stolen copy by the author who may have initiated, but at least agreed to, the burning of all copies available (the exact number is not known) in 1605. The 1605 edition was later published in expanded form in 1629, the year of the author's death. Whether this publication appeared before or after his death in October 1629, whether Sandys himself had a hand in the expansion, one cannot be certain, particularly since the site of publication is listed as The Hague. The work's popularity is seen in the number of editions and reprints: three appeared in 1605, one in each of 1629, 1632, 1637, 1638, 1673, and 1687. There were also at least seven manuscript copies made. It was translated into Italian in 1625, French in 1626, and Dutch in 1675. The main reason for its popularity probably arose from the various machinations to unite the churches into an anti-papal congregation, though the foreign translators may have had other reasons for their work. This thesis collates the three 1605 editions and compares them not only with the 1629 edition and the 1632 edition (the first certain posthumous one) but also with the seven extant manuscript copies of the work. The 1629 text was chosen as copy text in accordance with the dictum that a bibliographer should work from print material, where available, rather than manuscript, and use that printed text which is the last one in which the author might have had a hand rather than a posthumous text. Because the Lambeth manuscript, which is listed as the presentation copy, is very close in content and phraseology to the 1629 text, few changes have been made in the text itself. Any differences between the 1629 text and the various copies are given in the notes or textual apparatus, and explanations of practices, personalities, or foreign phrases which might be obscure to many current readers, follow in a brief set of explanatory notes. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

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The purpose of this investigation is to provide a preliminary critical study of a contemporary Texas novelist. Edwin Shrake. No critical studies on his works have been published; therefore, the sources of data for the paper are limited to the novels and reviews of the books. One chapter is devoted to each of Shrake's major works-- But. Not for Love, Blessed McGill, and Strange Peaches. The plot, characterization, themes, regionalism, and artistic techniques of each novel are studied, and the strengths and weaknesses of each are discussed in order to determine its literary merit. The study concludes that Shrake is a regional novelist whose use of a limited setting does not limit the impact of his books. Through his universal themes, Shrake creates novels that are international in scope.

E. A. Burtt's The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science (1924) has been described by H. Floris Cohen, writing on the historiography of the Scientific Revolution in 1994, as the "individual thought of an individual thinker...beyond philosophical or historical currents or fashion." The book is something of a puzzle within the context of American twentieth-century intellectual history and more specifically, of the philosophy and history of science of North America and Europe. / Burtt's inter-disciplinary study---as it would be called today---has proved to be both pioneering and prophetic in its rejection of both scientism and positivism. The thesis examines the author's novel interpretation of Isaac Newton's achievement, as well as that of Newton's predecessors in the Scientific Revolution. Burtt's singular view of the rise of modern science from religious underpinnings was, for the most part, either misunderstood or ignored at the time. In fact, the whole idea of a Scientific Revolution was only introduced into the curriculum at leading American universities following the Second World War, in response to Herbert Butterfield and Alexandre Koyre, both of whom owe unacknowledged debts to Burtt. / The Metaphysical Foundations was conceived in the progressive era of the 1920s, the latter part of the "Golden Age" in American philosophy. The thesis examines the role of innovating intellects such as John Dewey, James Harvey Robinson, and Morris R. Cohen in shaping Burtt's view, described against the background of his studies at Columbia university. Under the sway of pragmatic naturalism, Burtt's interpretation of Newton was part of a grand scheme to develop a new philosophy of mind which he intended would overcome the problems of Cartesian dualism. / The dissertation concludes with an extended analysis of Burtt's public, academic, and personal life based upon archives, correspondence and interviews with those who remember him. It considers his politics of conscience during the Cold War and concludes that integrity combined with the relentless search for philosophic understanding drove his more exotic philosophical quests and steered his personal life, including its tragic dimension, toward simple virtues.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--University of Louisville, 2004. / Department of Theatre Arts. Vita. "May 2004." Includes bibliographical references (leaf 40).

This thesis is a study of Robinson's general mental and philosophical development and the forces which contributed to it, the kinds and sources of Robinson's characters and the method and importance of their portrayal, Robinson's single portraits of men, Robinson's portrayal of women characters, Robinson's historical portraits, and the relationship of the short poems to Robinson's total work.