This study argues that Adelaide Anne Procter's poetry is a hybrid of one of the century's most significant poetical modes, the Tractarian mode. The Tractarians viewed art and religion as complementary sources in ministering to the soul. Procter, like the Tractarians, used poetry as a handmaiden to religion, for almost each of her poems seems to have been written to help relieve women and men of their earthly affections and thus reach God. More specifically, the study applies the basic principles of Tractarian aesthetics (the cathartic benefits) as defined by John Keble in Lectures on Poetry and Occasional Papers and Reviews (both works by Keble) to Adelaide Procter's poetry. The similarities between Keble's ideas and Procter's work conclusively illustrate that Procter's poetry has affinities with Tractarian aesthetics, and because of the incessant themes about the spiritual gains in coping with the daily problems that beset humankind, the poetry can best be described as a "poetry of deliverance." / Because of Miss Procter's virtual obscurity to most contemporary scholars, Chapter One serves as an introduction to the poet as well as to the study. Chapters Two through Four apply three of Keble's principles, identified in works listed above, to the content, context, and images of Miss Procter' s poetics. Specifically, Chapter Two demonstrates how the poet used poetry to alleviate the stress of everyday living by showing the spiritual significance of each concern, thus responding to Keble's mandate that art should awaken moral and religious feelings in human beings. Chapter Three discusses Procter's use of poetry to attempt to effect social changes and to change conventional attitudes, thereby complying with Keble's principle that poetry should "better something imperfect." While the former two chapters address the benefits of poetry for the reader, Chapter Four focuses on the cathartic benefits that writing poetry provided Procter as poet, dramatizing Keble's principle that first and foremost poetry relieves the over-burdened mind of the artist and, in essence, prevents her or him from going insane. Finally, Chapter Five reiterates the therapeutic benefits of Adelaide Procter's work and the artist's view of the cathartic value of art in general. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-04, Section: A, page: 0976. / Major Professor: Fred Standley. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77148 |
| Contributors | Thomas, Leesther., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 258 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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