Since its initial appearance in 1852, Empedocles on Etna has continued to spark controversy. Now frequently celebrated as Matthew Arnold's most significant poem, Empedocles and its author are recognized as central to the development of the modern literary tradition. This study presents a socio-historical analysis of Empedocles and interpretations of it as an illustration of the process of literary-critical transformation. The primary methodological model is provided by Jerome McGann's The Beauty of Inflections: Investigations in Historical Method and Theory (1985). As Coleridge did for his Ancient Mariner, Arnold has also "underwritten" the entire interpretive tradition of Empedocles largely through the 1853 "Preface." The study begins with an examination of the original context of Empedocles. The Chapter 1 overview includes information that has been gathered by various critics from the poem's initial publication to the present regarding Arnold, his poem, and his critics during the period immediately preceding the first publication of Empedocles through the response to its 1867 republication. In addition to providing background information pertinent to the poem, Chapter 1 distinguishes between information available to Arnold's contemporaries and later information as it began to circulate in the reading communities. Chapters 2 through 4 categorize twentieth-century studies of Arnold and Empedocles. Chapter 2 examines the critical perception of Arnold's brand of Classicism as well as his ancient sources. Chapter 3 focuses on studies which stress Arnold's and his poem's complex relationship to Romanticism. Post Romanticism, Arnold, and Empedocles are addressed in chapter 4. The final chapter offers a reinterpretation of Empedocles. The study thus reveals the transformations inherent in not only the critical understanding of a particular work and its author, but also in the conception and practice of criticism as well. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: A, page: 1369. / Major Professor: Fred L. Standley. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77427 |
| Creators | Landis, Sandi Sheldon |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 189 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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