1,721,012 research outputs found
The Eye of Storms: A Short Novel
No full textThe Eye of Storms: A Short Novel is an exploration in narrative voice. Although intended to be the first part of a full-length fantasy novel, this story can stand alone as a complete work. Everything takes place in a made-up world with made-up people. Even some of the dialogue contains a language created by the author. No it’s not like Tolkien and stuff.Englis
Genesis B: Effectively Teaching Old English Literature to High School English Students
No full textGenesis B, an Old English text, is the second section in the creation story Genesis, which describes the fall of Satan and his angels illustrated with experiences and dialogue from Satan, his angels, Adam, Eve and God. Texas twelfth grade English teachers are required by the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKS, to introduce Old English literature such as Beowulf to uniformly prepare their pupils for higher education. This thesis will explicate how Genesis B can be effectively taught as literature in a high school setting and fulfill the requirements of an entire TEKS section. The importance of Genesis B as literature, by the study of its various literary devices, vocabulary, and historical influences, will be demonstrated in that students will highly benefit by studying this specific literary text.Englis
Mystical Relations: A Study of Feminine Relationships with Christ in the High Middle Ages and Beyond
No full textFrom a modern perspective, the notion of Christ as a feminized figure appears to stand contrary to long accepted Christian beliefs. However, Christ has been feminized in literature for centuries by women and men, nuns and monks, abbesses and abbots. This is not to say that Christ was not physically and anatomically male, rather that his nature and flesh are associated with femininity. The concept of Christ as a female figure is especially prevalent in the late Middle Ages, notably in the writings of figures such as St. Ambrose, Bernard of Clairvaux, Hildegard of Bingen, Hadewijch of Brabant, Julian of Norwich, and Catherine of Siena. Not only do these writers draw a picture of a feminized Christ, they often draw a motherly Christ.
The following pages explore the place of femininity in the Christianity of the High Middle Ages: how feminine relationships and allegories have encouraged greater understanding of Christ and influenced the ideas associated with Christ today— the feminine attributes of Christ’s flesh and his nature and the feminine allegories people of both genders have used to heighten spiritual understanding. Also explored are the women who sought greater understanding of him and his humanity through unusual and, often, controversial relationships and methods. This paper will strive to highlight the vital role femininity plays in Christianity in regards to understanding Christ.Englis
Women in the Body and Spirit
No full textMedieval England was deeply connected to the Christian church in many different ways. Most social and cultural influences came from the church, and one of the major parts of that cultural influence was the established patriarchal society perpetuated by religious leaders. Women were considered to be of a lower class than men, not only in secular circles but religious ones especially. Here, I examine some of the texts which were foundational to this history of misogyny in the church, and what they say about women and their role in the religious world. Additionally, I look at what women writing at the time had to say about themselves and their relationship to God and the church. Through all of this, I intend to question what influence medieval English women had on Christian doctrine and theology, and what impact their writing may have had in the long term.Englis
Spring Comes to Hades and Keeps Coming Back: An Analysis of Historical and Modern Adaptations of the Persephone Myth
No full textThe arrival of the twenty-first century signaled a new era of development and reevaluation of cultural beliefs and mores. Changes to the West can be observed in new forms of media and perspectives on gender, power, and choice. The myth of Persephone, after being adapted sporadically in the last two hundred years, experienced a resurgence in the new millennia. Its new adaptations by young creators exemplify a shift in the West towards acceptance and common ground. By analyzing works of art and literature both before and after the year 2000, this thesis will assess what trends are upheld and which are discarded with the new age. Decreased gender rigidity, reevaluation of choice, and exploration of power are all rising themes in new adaptations of the Persephone myth, mirroring societal development and new accepted norms in modern Western culture.Englis
Things and Beings: A Literary Criticism of Objects
No full textIn the corner of my family’s home office, in a quart sized Ziploc bag, a hoard of white and red pens filled the plastic vessel. These pens were an advertising tool provided for a pharmaceutical company. When a change in policies came about, the pens were set aside, no longer a valid item for distribution. As a result, my dad left the pens here, untouched. It could have been their color or their sheer availability that sparked my use of them, but this initial reasoning does not strike me as much as the prolonged use that followed. I utilized the pens from childhood through high school. When it came time to leave for college, my dad willfully let me take the rest of them.
Now, so many years later, the last of the stash begins to run dry. Pens must not have been meant to last more than a decade. They completed their job, one after another. They have been scattered, discarded over both a large span of time and geography. Every stylo is wrapped with a soft grip, so each gives an individual press against my right index finger. They leave a trace upon most of my work, agendas, assignments, and journals. These simple utensils possess a history; they are totems that have endowed me with communication as well as comfort.
Having acknowledged this particular objects’ continual impact upon my life, I plan to reveal the Vibrant Materiality, or universal energy, experienced by and between all things human and nonhuman throughout this thesis. By observing different authors’ interactions with objects across a wide span of time and space, a vast survey of the impact of objects will present itself.Englis
Redemption through Sexual Renunciation: A Study of Male Purity in Medieval Literature
No full textNo abstract prepared.Englis
Homoerotic Masculinities: Idealized Male Sexuality in Renaissance Art, Poetry, and Theater
No full textNo abstract prepared.Englis
Concerning the Conversation of the Middle Angles and the Last Great Pagan Prince, Penda of Mercia
No full textFledgling Christianity in early English societies had a mutually empowering effect that at once offered Rome an avenue to restore its ecclesiastic primacy (otherwise obsolete in the nominally christian continental kingdoms) while providing significant cultural clout to burgeoning English kingdoms. That Penda, King of Mercia, saw no need for this extraneous bulwark in his successful career suggests that his strength of person and administration was well under control without need for foreign aid. That it was the last raises questions about the socio-political climate of seventh century England and why the Mercian kingdom was the last to convert, which may be addressed through informed speculation that considers the sparse contemporary source material for this time period. The following work is a model of a critical edition collection of “contemporary sources” that explores the effects of classical Christianity upon pagan Germanic cultures in Britain while simultaneously exploring the power of oral and recorded history.Englis
A Lineage of Literary Influence on Modern BDSM Communities
No full textAll literary representations of alternative lifestyles have the potential to impact alternative lifestyle communities and practitioners, but this influential power is under-explored with regard to some minority groups. My intention is to study literature's potential to impact BDSM (Bondage and Discipline, Domination and Submission, Sadism and Masochism) practitioners, while carefully dissecting depictions of eroticism that are distinguished by a distinct power imbalance. As a case study, I use Clive Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart, while analyzing the powerful effect its film adaptation, Hellraiser, has had on both mainstream audiences and BDSM communities. This reading does not attempt to use psychoanalytical criticism to uncover allegedly repressed/sublimated desires of individual authors; rather, this thesis takes a more pragmatic approach that pays attention to ethics and the writer's accountability for positive/negative portrayals of sexual power fantasies. Additionally, it draws a lineage of artistic heritage between modern BDSM communities and various authors in the gothic and transgressive literary movements, particularly Georges Bataille, Edgar Allen Poe, and Matthew Gregory Lewis, who have had a substantial influence on Barker's fiction and subsequently on modern BDSM communities.Englis
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