Poetic lyricism in Thomas Hardy's descriptions of nature
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: English, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Flores, Robert M.
issued: 2020-04-07T15:48:47Z
issued: 2020
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: The Introduction shows that scholars disagree strongly about Thomas Hardy’s creative abilities as a poet. To avoid this critical impasse, I limited the scope of my study to an aspect of Hardy’s work about whose artistic value Hardy scholars agree: i.e., the inherent lyricism in Hardy’s descriptions of nature. In Chapter 1, I study sixteen poems written by Hardy in which nature is either the principal or the sole subject of the poem and show that the nature section(s) may be isolated and stand on their own. In Chapter 2, I examine and versify some of Hardy’s prose descriptions of nature to (1) show that some prose passages, like the nature sections in the poems discussed in Chapter 1, may be taken out of the whole and stand as a poem or prose narrative on their own and (2) bring their lyricism to the fore. The following excerpt from The Return of the Native (Gatrell 17) is an example of what I did: MY VERSIFICATION There the form stood, | motionless as the hill beneath. | Above the plain rose the hill, | above the hill rose the barrow, | above the barrow rose the figure, | above the figure was nothing | that could be mapped elsewhere | than on a celestial globe. ORIGINAL TEXT - PROSE There the form stood, motionless as the hill beneath. Above the plain rose the hill, above the hill rose the barrow, above the barrow rose the figure. Above the figure was nothing that could be mapped elsewhere than on a celestial globe. The strong rhythm given to this prose passage by the shortness of the sentences, the repetition of the words “above the” (rhetorical anaphora) and “rose the hill,” “hill rose the barrow,” “barrow rose the figure,” “figure” (repetition and assonance) bring out Hardy’s poetic intent and lyricism. In the Epilogue, I summarise the basic conclusions reached in the main body of the essay in regard to: (1) the role that Hardy’s descriptions of nature play within the passages where they occur and (2) the most important syntactic elements found in Hardy’s lyrical…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/73939
note: POETIC LYRICISM IN THOMAS HARDY’S DESCRIPTIONS OF NATUREbyROBERT M. FLORESPhD, University of Cambridge, 1972A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OFTHE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OFMASTER OF ARTSinTHE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES(English)THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA(Vancouver)March 2020© Robert M. Flores, 2020The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommended to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the thesis entitled: Poetic lyricism in Thomas Hardy’s descriptions of natureSubmitted by Robert M. Flores in partial fulfillment of the requirements for ______________the degree of Master of Arts ______________in English ______________Examining Committee: Dr. Suzy Anger, Associate Professor, Department of English Language and Literatures, UBC____________________________________________________________________________Supervisor Dr. Nicholas Hudson, Professor, Department of English Language and Literatures, UBC____________________________________________________________________________Supervisory Committee MemberiiABSTRACTThe Introduction shows that scholars disagree strongly about Thomas Hardy’s creative abilities as a poet. To avoid this critical impasse, I limited the scope of my study to an aspect of Hardy’s work about whose artistic value Hardy scholars agree: i.e., the inherent lyricism in Hardy’s descriptions of nature. In Chapter 1, I study sixteen poems written by Hardy in which nature is either the principal or the sole subject of the poem and show that the nature section(s) may be isolated and stand on their own. In Chapter 2, I examine and versify some of Hardy’s prose descriptions of nature to (1) show that some prose passages, like the nature sections in the poems discussed in Chapter 1, may be taken out of the whole and stand as a poem or prose narrative on their own and (2) bring their lyricism to the fore. The following excerpt from The Return of the Native (Gatrell 17) is an exampl…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2020-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0389766
language: eng
degree discipline: English
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/73939