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In this thesis I argue that the image of a child lost in the bush became a central strand in the Australian colonial experience, creating a cultural legacy that remains to this day. I also argue that the way in which the image developed in Australia was unique among British-colonised societies. I explore the dominant themes of my thesis - the nature of childhood, the effect of environment upon colonisers, and the power of memory - primarily through stories. The bush-lost child is an image that developed mainly in the realms of ‘low’ culture, in popular journals, newspapers, stories and images including films, although it has been represented in such ‘high’ cultural forms as novels, art and opera. I have concentrated on the main forms of its representations because it is through these that the image achieves its longevity. (For complete abstract open document)

There have been many studies of keywords in Paradise Lost. Over the last fifty or so years words such as �wander�, �lapse�, �error�, �fruit�, �balmy�, �fall�, �hands�, among others, have attracted critics� attention. The present enquiry brings under scrutiny three linked keywords which have up to now escaped notice. These are the words �bliss�, �delight�, and �pleasure�. The fundamental proposition of the thesis is that Milton does not use these words haphazardly or interchangeably in his epic poem (though in other of his poetic productions he is by no means as fastidious). On the contrary, he self-consciously distinguishes among the three terms, assigning to each its own particular �theatre of operations�. Meant by this is that each keyword is selectively referred to a separate structural division of the epic, thus, �bliss� has reference specifically to Heaven (or to the earthly paradise viewed as a simulacrum of Heaven), �delight� to the earthly paradise in Eden and to the prelapsarian condition nourished by it; while �pleasure�, whose signification is ambiguous, refers in its favourable sense (which is but little removed from �delight�) to the Garden and the sensations associated with it, and in its unfavourable one to postlapsarian sensations and to the fallen characters. Insofar as the three structural divisions taken into account (Hell is not) are hierarchically organized in the epic, so too are the three keywords that answer to them. Moreover, in relating keywords to considerations of structure, the thesis breaks new ground in Paradise Lost studies.

Thesis--Univ. Karlsruhe, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-272). Also available electronically in PDF format.

In this paper I investigate why people define Lindelof’s shows so much by their creator and why they are so linked to one another. I ask if Lindelof’s case is an example of auteurism in television, and if so, what the implications of this are for television as a whole.

In my reading of Milton criticism I have discerned what I feel to be a major deficiency, a deficiency consequent upon a too narrow approach to Paradise Lost. Whether they are anti-Miltonists who claim that Paradise Lost offers little to the twentieth-century - except the first two books; or orthodox Christian critics: who read Paradise Lost with an extreme doctrinal bias; or critics favourable to Milton and not narrowly doctrinal - the major Milton scholars, by succumbing to Milton's stated intentions when those intentions come into conflict with the impressions of the poetry, have easily adopted the traditional attitude towards the action in Eden: they accept the dictum that Adam and Eve are not human, until! the Fall. They give Milton little credit for humour, for the creation- of domestic comedy. Professor A.J.A. Waldock (Paradise Lost and Its Critics)) has correctly noticed that Milton's statements of intention do not always match his performances. By reading the poem in the light of his thesis, I have in this paper -after my first chapter on Milton criticism - attempted to show how Milton the poet has transcended Milton the doctrinaire by creating In Eden a good deal of domestic comedy. It is my belief that Adam and Eve are individuals - and human - before the Fall, and that when we view them (and Raphael) as real people acting and interacting in character, we will see that the action in Paradise is instinct with the humour of domestic comedy. In the second chapter, although I have stressed the humour in the middle books, I have not neglected the pathos that accompanies this humour. In my third chapter I have tried to show how this reading of Eden - a reading which succumbs to the poetical impressions rather than to the doctrinal statements - has its effect on the poem as a whole, how it makes the poem rather a human tragedy than a divine comedy. The final chapter is summary impart; but in the last section: I endeavour to mitigate the impression- that the thesis might have created - that Paradise Lost is merely a tragedy of two individuals - by stressing the poetical power of the element of myth In the poem. This thesis is written in the belief that any approach to Paradise Lost which stresses - favourably or unfavourably -the doctrine of the poem as against the poetical impressions (when the two clash) will have little appeal to the non-orthodox reader, and will miss the vital humanity with which Milton has invested his epic. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

My thesis is a study of the poetic origin of Milton's Satan and his significance apart from his dramatic function in Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. I have tried to establish Satan's poetic origin by investigating the studies of a number of prominent critics, Milton's own prose works, such as the Eikonoklastes and his Second Defence, and also the correspondences between Satan's speeches and the words of King Charles I in his Eikon Bazilike. From these studies I have drawn the conclusion that Milton used King Charles I as he appears in the Eikon Bazilike as his model for Satan. Since Milton hated the King for his tyranny, Milton's emotional involvement and the human model resulted in the portrayal of a Satan, whose vividness and realism make him one of the most towering Satans in world literature. Satan's true significance lies in his revelation of Milton's personality. He reflects Milton's thoughts, his political and religious philosophy, his attitudes towards contemporary events, and his personality traits. Milton's development of Satan's personality reveals his unsurpassed craftsmanship as a poetic artist. As we follow Satan's career we discover a new Milton, differing enormously from the generally accepted conception of a stern Puritan. The Milton revealed in Satan's action has a keen appreciate of all that is beautiful in the universe, besides moral values. He has a sense of humour and a capacity for friendship, hitherto found incompatible with Milton's retiring character. Paradise Lost also shows us Milton's hope for the future. In man's regeneration he looks forward to an England liberated from the tyranny of kings, while his spiritual vision embraces the realization of God's initial purpose when he created man; namely, that "Earth be changed to Heaven, and Heaven to Earth." / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis is to isolate and examine aspects of Paradise lost which identify it as a myth. The problem involves two matters: how Milton's version of the creation and the fall differs from the Biblical and doctrinal accounts, and how Milton's poem reflects certain traits characteristic of mythologizing in general. The introductory first chapter establishes a working definition of "myth", based primarily upon Greek precedents. It also attempts to define the distinct kind of consciousness reflected by myths and mythic poets, a consciousness based upon an illusion of reality which is credited as accurate and factual. From this starting point, the four major figures of Paradise Lost are subsequently examined for evidence of how Milton's poem achieves a similar illusion and a clearly Puritan expression of the mysteries of life and death. Since the emphasis will be on Milton's myth and not on the development of mythologies or on Milton's place in Christian and classical traditions in English literature, discussion is limited to Paradise Lost itself, with only occasional and selected reference to the chief Greek mythic poets, Homer and Hesiod. In Chapters two through five, each of the four figures is discussed first from a logical point of view, to indicate in a negative way how they conform to the non-rational aspect typical of mythical thought. Each figure is then discussed in terms of the definition of myth laid down in chapter one to indicate how Milton adopts and expands upon non-rational and contradictory elements in order to achieve a new figure and to remake the mystery each figure embodies. The conclusion reached is that Paradise Lost is a myth in its own right, remodeled to suit Milton's particular purposes and expressive of Puritan consciousness. It is suggested that, once the key terms of Milton's myth ("Goodness," "Evil," "Disobedience," "Free Will) are understood as mysteries, not philosophical abstractions, and once it is understood how they complement and fulfill one another, the story of Paradise Lost becomes more comprehensive, valid, and pertinent. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

There exists a wide divergence of opinion as to whether Milton is an orthodox Christian. This thesis argues that upon examination Milton's alleged heresies come out quite clearly as transpositions of orthodox belief rather than as departures from it, and that Milton as the author of Paradise Lost emerges as an outstanding Christian apologist because he soared in his singing robes to present the orthodox Christian story of redemption with unsurpassed beauty and eloquence. This re-examination of the problem of Milton's relationship to orthodoxy centers upon Paradise Lost and The Christian Doctrine, in which there is doctrinal consistency. According to the poet's own terms of reference the appeal to Scripture as described in the Westminster Confession is the true criterion for orthodoxy. In the face of mainstream Christianity's claim that Milton's beliefs must be measured against the creedal statements, Milton holds that not only his beliefs but the creeds themselves must be weighed in the balance of Scripture. Milton's deviation from the established norm of the early creedal statements is seen to be negligible, but when he unequivocally disagrees with the Nicaean Creed which states definitively the Trinitarian position, he has been thought to put himself outside orthodoxy's circle. However, this thesis argues that Milton can only be charged with heresy if the question of his relationship to the Nicaean Creed is superficially regarded or grossly oversimplified. Accordingly, Milton's alleged heresies--his anti-Trinitarianism, materialism, and mortalism--are examined against the background not only of the content of the classical statements regarding these subjects but also of the fundamental conceptions that the statements of Athanasius, Augustine and others were intended radically to emphasize. Ultimately, the argument for Milton's orthodox imagination and intention depends upon a demonstration of the fact that Milton's theological deviations are not the result of the omission of any of creedal orthodoxy's vital elements but rather the result of emphasis of certain points. This proposition finds its crucial test in Milton's attitude toward the doctrine of the atonement. In Paradise Lost Milton uses several transpositions of orthodox belief rather than heresies and employs them to forward his poetic purposes. The process of selection and manipulation is seen to be governed not only by a powerful and positive religious sensibility, but also by an unerring sense of what is artistically appropriate. How Milton, the Puritan, achieved expression in the form of the epic is, in simple terms, the account of how his emphasis on will provides the momentum of the great argument, and how the elements of traditional Christianity are emphasized, subordinated, or transposed to suit the poet's driving purpose. Milton's announced purpose of justifying the ways of God to men is fulfilled in a strange but revealing manner. A God who is ipso facto beyond comprehension is subjected to rational analysis within the confines of epic convention. Some low moments and absurdities result. Yet, in spite of some logical impasses, Milton succeeds magnificently. Not all Adam's questions are answered but he experiences a Paradise within him, happier far. The consumation of Milton's argument and the resolution of the reader's doubt come with the realization, O goodness infinite, goodness immense! That all this good of evil shall produce, And evil turn to good; more wonderful Then that which by creation first brought forth Light out of darkness! (XII, 469-73) This ultimate triumph, so Miltonic and yet so entirely orthodox, so imaginatively satisfying and so in keeping with the whole structure of the poem, is the final proof that, doctrinally as well as poetically, we have here "nothing but well and fair". / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

This is a preliminary investigation of the empirical and formal conditions necessary to provide a full description of the metrical structure of Paradise Lost. My study is immediately concerned with the scansion of a corpus of 2018 lines of the poem. The centre of the study is the specification of a generative model set to provide structural descriptions, i.e., scansions. Some anomalies of this model are considered in the final chapter. A scansion is recorded for each line in the corpus. I provide an impressionistic survey of lexical and syntactic phenomena in the corpus, an analysis of equivalence-substitution metrical analysis, a taxonomy of elision by apocope in the corpus, a brief investigation of elision by syncope and a speculative analysis of caesura. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate