Date of Award
8-2010
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Legacy Department
English
Committee Chair/Advisor
McGrath, Brian
Committee Member
Paul , Catherine
Committee Member
Weise , Jillian
Abstract
This thesis explores the continuing aesthetic, philosophical, and social influences of Romantic and Modernist poetics. I trace the influence of Romanticism and Modernism as one that allows for a medium of expression that more clearly interprets both the act of reading and writing. These artistic periods and styles mutually serve to establish and validate enlightened ways of thinking that are currently lacking in the present day. I look to the poetry, philosophy, and prophecy of artists from both eras as they fuse and diffuse demonstrating the unique points of connection and disconnection for each of the poets whose texts are analyzed. The poets included in this inquiry into modes of thought that are explored and revealed during these two periods are: Schlegel, Blake, Coleridge, Hulme, Eliot, and H.D. I use this unique, and perhaps unexpected blend, to demonstrate how it is both the likenesses and differences in each of these poets aesthetics that render them equally reflective of enlightened thought. The idea that the individual is and remains whole, while also reaching for unity with a greater more infinite whole affects all these writers. It also affects how readers view these writers. And it certainly affects how this thesis is constructed.
Recommended Citation
Haines, Leslie, "'Shored Against the Ruins': Edifying Romantic and Modernist Thought" (2010). All Theses. 958.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/958