Showing papers in "English Studies in 2006"
TL;DR: Several notable studies exist which investigate the phonologies of West African varieties of English as discussed by the authors and have adopted a comparative approach in investigating the phonologica of these phonologies using a comparative method.
Abstract: Several notable studies exist which investigate the phonologies of West African varieties of English. 1 Studies also exist which have adopted a comparative approach in investigating the phonologica...
13 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe love as a smoke made with the fume of sighs, purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes; being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers' tears.
Abstract: When William Shakespeare has Romeo exclaim: Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes; Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers' tears. What is it ...
12 citations
TL;DR: A. A. Mendilow as discussed by the authors describes the narrative frame of Thomas Hoccleve's fifteenth-century poem commonly known as "Tales about Time" as "a story about time".
Abstract: “Tales about time” is how A. A. Mendilow classifies some modern novels, but it is also a term that aptly describes the narrative frame of Thomas Hoccleve's fifteenth-century poem commonly known as ...
12 citations
Abstract: The poems of praise, love, jealousy, betrayal and resignation comprising SHAKE-SPEARES Sonnets, published in 1609, are the vehicles for a story concisely summarized in Sonnet 144: the poet loves tw...
11 citations
TL;DR: The literature of the Middle Ages is populated with fantastic creatures that captivated the imagination of writers and their audiences alike as discussed by the authors. One such creature is the Wild Man, who with his pseudo-...
Abstract: The literature of the Middle Ages is populated with fantastic creatures that captivated the imagination of writers and their audiences alike. One such creature is the Wild Man, who with his pseudo-...
11 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that "naming things" is to a great degree motivated by cognitive linguistics (CL), which is in line with Cognitive linguistics, which claims that our conceptual c...
Abstract: The idea of this paper is based on Whorf, who argued that “naming things” is to a great degree motivated. This thought is in line with cognitive linguistics (CL), which claims that our conceptual c...
10 citations
TL;DR: Rothwell, W., 'Anglo-French and English Society in Chaucer's 'The Reeve's Tale'', English Studies (2006) 87(5) pp.511-538 RAE2008
Abstract: Rothwell, W., 'Anglo-French and English Society in Chaucer's “The Reeve's Tale”', English Studies (2006) 87(5) pp.511-538 RAE2008
9 citations
TL;DR: Since the 1960s, with the development of feminist theory and criticism, numerous works by women writers have been interpreted or reinterpreted from a feminist perspective, but Katherine Mansfield,...
Abstract: Since the 1960s, with the development of feminist theory and criticism, numerous works by women writers have been interpreted or reinterpreted from a feminist perspective, but Katherine Mansfield, ...
8 citations
TL;DR: The Deserted Village (1770) as discussed by the authors joins landscape representation and a particular kind of ideology, namely, rural virtues leave the land, with Oliver Goldsmith's line "I see the rural virtues leaving the land".
Abstract: “I see the rural virtues leave the land” (line 398). 1 With this statement, Oliver Goldsmith's The Deserted Village (1770) joins landscape representation and a particular kind of ideology. Goldsmit...
8 citations
TL;DR: In a pre-Christian pagan land that worships the gods of Rome, King Lear as mentioned in this paper is set in a pre Christian pagan land and includes a deity rarely encountered in classical mythologies.
Abstract: Like several of Shakespeare's romances, King Lear is set in a pre-Christian pagan land that worships the gods of Rome. These plays include, however, a deity rarely encountered in classical mytholog...
8 citations
TL;DR: Turn out that eyeless villain; throw this slave upon the dunghill, III.vii.95-viii.6) Julia O'Faolain this article describes in her novel No Country...
Abstract: Turn out that eyeless villain; throw this slave upon the dunghill. (King Lear, III.vii.95 – 6) Julia O'Faolain, acclaimed novelist and daughter of Sean O'Faolain, describes in her novel No Country ...
TL;DR: The comparative degree in English is expressed in two main ways: by the addition of suffix -er to the adjectival stem (inflectional or synthetic comparison, as in hard:harder), or by means of the p...
Abstract: The comparative degree in English is expressed in two main ways: by the addition of suffix -er to the adjectival stem (inflectional or synthetic comparison, as in hard:harder), or by means of the p...
[...]
TL;DR: The story of Cædmon and his Hymn appeared in oral form for as much as half a century before it was recorded by Bede as discussed by the authors, and there is evidence which suggests that Bede may have Latinized the oral tale he received.
Abstract: The story of Cædmon and his Hymn apparently circulated in oral form for as much as half a century before it was recorded by Bede. Despite this oral background, Bede’s own presentation is quite literary. The story is preceded by an introduction presenting Bede’s own interpretation of the significance of the events he is about to narrate, the narrative itself is interwoven with Biblical echoes and quotations, and as Andy Orchard has recently argued, there is evidence which suggests that Bede may have Latinized the oral tale he received. As Orchard demonstrates, Bede was clearly familiar with the ways that Christian poets contrasted Christian inspiration with the various modes of inspiration presented in the works of pagan poets. If Bede did Latinize the tale of Cædmon as Orchard suggests, he may have been able to do so fairly easily, for the story shares many parallels with the story of Hesiod in the Theogony, the earliest account of poetic inspiration in Western literature and the source from which many of the motifs of inspiration present in later classical poets were derived and developed. Whatever shape the story took when Bede received it, it may have lent itself quite naturally to a process of Latinization, which would thus have been more a matter of subtle emphasis, omission and contextualization than a thorough reworking. These two stories of poetic inspiration served similar functions. They both arose in times of transition and enabled their cultures to negotiate profound shifts in their poetic traditions. Their similar cultural functions suggest that the parallels that shape these stories are unlikely to be accidental, that on some level they are similar responses to a particular cultural situation. And yet there can be no question of direct influence from the Theogony on Bede’s story of Cædmon, and Bede’s reputation as a
TL;DR: While readers do not concur on what Laura Sheridan learns in Katherine Mansfield's "The Garden-Party", they do agree that Laura undergoes an important experience, an epiphany of sorts.
Abstract: While readers do not concur on what Laura Sheridan learns in Katherine Mansfield's “The Garden-Party,” they do agree that Laura undergoes an important experience, an epiphany of sorts. Almost fifty...
TL;DR: It has been remarked that Macbeth can be read as a play about names and naming, and also about the deeply problematical status of the identities that names are presumed to designate.
Abstract: It has more than once been remarked that Macbeth can be read as a play about names and naming, and also about the deeply problematical status of the identities that names are presumed to designate....
TL;DR: The canon of early modern Scottish literature, like any other literary canon, is receptive to changes as discussed by the authors, however, it is not dynamic and once institutionalised, authors prove difficu...
Abstract: The canon of early modern Scottish literature, like any other literary canon, is receptive to changes. This is not to say, however, that it is dynamic. Once institutionalised, authors prove difficu...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors turn to the latter part of the first scene, in the course of which she overcomes passivity and gains intellectual and emotional strength, becoming ready for an undertaking that will test her abilities and that will lead, if successful, to marked improvement of her social position, through marriage.
Abstract: Joan Kelly asked, ‘‘Did Women Have a Renaissance?’’ Kelly was an historian studying France and Italy. Her question is engaged in this essay as it arises in England and in a drama, Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well. For evidence that Helena, the play’s heroine, does experience a Renaissance—of Shakespeare’s own age and milieu, and bearing Shakespeare’s own imprint—we will turn to the latter part of the first scene, in the course of which she overcomes passivity and gains intellectual and emotional strength. She becomes ready for an undertaking that will test her abilities and that will lead, if successful, to marked improvement of her social position, through marriage. The scene ends with Helena at the peak of excitement for her undertaking. She will slip and never regain this peak; one consequence is that critics attribute to her only a domestic concern, marriage. But she does, for a moment, achieve a Renaissance frame of mind and ready herself for a Renaissance challenge. The Renaissance with which I am identifying Helena is associated with personal ambition with distinctive characteristics. The ambition develops alongside the conviction that the status quo is less secure than the ruling order represents it as being. Economic and social ferment make it possible to carve out a niche for oneself. Renaissance ambition is also nourished by an environment rich in ideas about the nature and use of knowledge. This Renaissance mistrusts inherited notions of a rationalistic universe, and encourages, instead, fresh empirical study—of the natural world, of human nature, of social and political organization. Bacon expresses the faith of this Renaissance when he says that ‘‘nature is not conquered except by obeying it,’’ with the implication that Nature and human affairs may be brought under at least partial control. A number of early modern dramatic types represent aspects of the Renaissance’s restive search for knowledge and power—for example, the Faustian reacher (and overreacher), and the Machiavel. Other characters engage in Montaigne-like ruminations on the vagaries of human nature. Helena embodies aspects of these three dramatic figures, and of another as well. She is one of several protagonists who are stand-ins for a dramatist who wishes to show through dramatic plotting how the world may be manipulated to achieve one’s goals. The Renaissance I have just sketched is different in fundamental ways from another, more conservative Renaissance (often associated with the mainstream of
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an accepted manuscript of their paper, which can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00138380600757778
Abstract: This is the author's accepted manuscript. The published version can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00138380600757778
TL;DR: This paper analyzed four plays taken from the Bodleian Digby MSS 133 which seem to belong to the East Anglian dialect, and more precisely to the Norfolk county: The Conversion of St Paul, Mary Magdalene, The Killing of the Children, and Wisdom.
Abstract: The Hymn to the Virgin is the play taken by modern editors and philologists as an example of the earliest proof which testifies to the diphthongization process of Middle English (henceforth ME) i. They claim that, by writing , the Welsh scribe who copied that play was trying to represent the sound of late ME i. In some Norfolk plays of the late 15th century, too, there
is evidence of the occurrence of the diagraph in some words (but not all) which have radical ME i. Assuming that the -type spelling revealed a diphthongized pronunciation of the result of ME i, I will try to investigate when such an -grapheme occurred and why it appeared in few words of these 15th century Norfolk works.
In order to carry out this study, I analyzed four plays taken from the Bodleian Digby MSS 133 which seem to belong to the East Anglian dialect, and more precisely to the Norfolk county: The Conversion of St Paul, Mary Magdalene, The Killing of the Children, and Wisdom. I then compared the results I had found in these plays with those of the Paston Letters, a collection of family letters written in the Norfolk dialect throughout the 15th century. The data I obtained seem to cast a new light on the Great Vowel Shift (henceforth GVS) phenomenon, as it appears that the diphthongization of ME i may have been helped by a phonetic coarticulation process induced by the consonant which follows the radical vowel and which, apparently, had a fundamental role in the development of a centralized and lowered diphthongal onset.
TL;DR: The assumption that the Old English Daniel is essentially a monastic poem was first made by as mentioned in this paper, who showed that it has a strong connection with the monastic environment strong enough to permit us to assume that it is monastic.
Abstract: I begin with the assumption that the Old English Daniel is essentially a monastic poem. Like other Caedmonian poems, it has ties with a monastic environment strong enough to permit us to assume tha...
TL;DR: The speaker's perspective, attitude, the speaker's epistemological beliefs, and attitude of a speaker leave traces in the structure of language as mentioned in this paper, and speakers leave traces of themselves in the language structure.
Abstract: Utterances do not exist without speakers. Naturally, therefore, speakers leave traces in the structure of language. The speaker's perspective, the speaker's attitude, the speaker's epistemological ...
TL;DR: In The Battle of Maldon, the conflict between the English and the Vikings is represented as a series of exchanges as mentioned in this paper, where lives are exchanged for lives, the weapons of one faction are taken up and redeployed by the other faction, and the possessions of fallen warriors are looted by their adversaries and kinsmen alike.
Abstract: In The Battle of Maldon, the conflict between the English and the Vikings is represented as a series of exchanges. As lives are exchanged for lives, the weapons of one faction are taken up and redeployed by the other faction, and the possessions of fallen warriors are looted by their adversaries and kinsmen alike. These exchanges take place in the confusion of heated battle and may appear chaotic or random, but the Maldon poet has carefully situated them in the context of a larger economic relationship explicitly negotiated between the combatants. As I will argue, what is at stake in this economic relationship is not the material objects that each side exchanges, but the subject positions that the combatants are allowed to take up by exchanging these objects. Before the battle, the Vikings send a messenger to Byrhtnoth. Their encounter is usually referred to as a flyting. However, the confrontation is more restrained than most of the boasting matches that are identified by the term. Carol J. Clover has argued that ‘‘flyting is not just a prelude to violence but itself the oral equivalent of war’’. Flyting is a competition of ‘‘verbal skill’’ which is ‘‘complete in itself, with its own logic, rules, winners and losers’’. While the exchange between the messenger and Byrhtnoth certainly involves boasting, it does not contain the rhetorical excesses one expects from flyting, and it is not a self-contained competition with a clear winner at its end. Instead, it serves as a very concise statement of the rules of a game that will be played on the battlefield. It is not until these rules have been established and the game begun that winners and losers will emerge. The Viking messenger offers the English two alternative models of exchange. Their choice will determine what guidelines will define the Viking – English relationship. The symmetry between these two options has not been emphasized
TL;DR: The critical reception of the female body in Urania as represented through many transgressively desiring female characters, who themselves inhabit the outer-reaches of Urania's often exclusionary societies as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Though Urania and its author, Lady Mary Wroth, are currently enjoying a great deal of close critical attention and acclaim, both have historically dwelt at the margins of literary respectability and academic interest. This marginalization, which began during Wroth’s own lifetime, continues to plague the critical reception of the female body in Urania as represented through many transgressively desiring female characters, who themselves inhabit the outer-reaches of Urania’s often exclusionary societies. With the feminist reclamation of neglected women’s texts that began in the early nineteen eighties, both Wroth and Urania were lifted out of obscurity and brought to
TL;DR: For a writer who is also a playwright, the personae employed in his poems are so numerous and diverse that they form a complete cast of characters that make up a complete playwright as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Unsurprisingly for a writer who is also a playwright, Derek Walcott's poetry is remarkably theatrical—the personae employed in his poems are so numerous and diverse that they form a complete cast o...
TL;DR: It was incorrectly implied in “PMEU LXXXI” that Sylvia Chalker said manuals of usage in general were for the guidance of civil servants as mentioned in this paper, which should have applied only to Sir Ernest Gowers.
Abstract: It was incorrectly implied in “PMEU LXXXI” that Sylvia Chalker said manuals of usage in general were for the guidance of civil servants. This statement should have applied only to Sir Ernest Gowers...
TL;DR: The history of literary theories has been the history of critics' attempts to look for an answer to this lon... as discussed by the authors, and the quest for authorial meaning is an appropriate aim of literary analysis.
Abstract: Is the quest for authorial meaning an appropriate aim of literary analysis? The history of literary theories, in a sense, has been the history of critics' attempts to look for an answer to this lon...
TL;DR: It is a common misconception, perpetuated especially by some twentieth-century (literary) critics whose subject is the eighteenth-century English novelist Samuel Richardson, 1 to associate the Engl...
Abstract: It is a common misconception, perpetuated especially by some twentieth-century (literary) critics whose subject is the eighteenth-century English novelist Samuel Richardson, 1 to associate the Engl...
TL;DR: This article found that critics of Joyce Cary's African fiction find his novels deterministic in their constructions of Africa, and they also found that the authors of these novels were deterministic.
Abstract: Almost without exception, critics of Joyce Cary's African fiction find his novels deterministic in their constructions of Africa. 1 In Joyce Cary's Africa (1964), M. M. Mahood, one of the first cri...
[...]
TL;DR: Park Honan's book as mentioned in this paper is the most comprehensive account of Marlowe's life and personality and his distinctive achievements as a writer and criticises Riggs and Riggs's book as a recent book purveying misinformation.
Abstract: If it is true that, as J. A. Downie flatly declares, ‘‘We know next to nothing about Christopher Marlowe’’, we have had much ado about nothing in recent years. Park Honan’s biography comes hot on the heels of Constance Kuriyama’s Christopher Marlowe: A Renaissance Life (2002), the revised version of Charles Nicholl’s The Reckoning (2002, first published 1992) and David Riggs’s The World of Christopher Marlowe (2004). Honan is cool about these predecessors. Kuriyama’s, he says, is ‘‘a thoughtful biography with debatable interpretations’’ (as is his own); Nicholl’s is ‘‘not a biography’’ but has useful material on the Elizabethan espionage network (fair enough); Riggs’s is ‘‘intelligent on Marlowe’s art’’ but is elsewhere disdained anonymously as ‘‘a recent book’’ purveying misinformation. Honan corrects Riggs’s factual errors, as he should, but, for many, Riggs’s will be the more convincing account of the formation of Marlowe’s mind and personality, and of his distinctive achievements as a writer. Writers on Marlowe have always had to be wary of circularity; the man is deduced from the works, which are then used to interpret the man. ‘‘Scholars who claim to know the ‘real’ Marlowe’’, Lukas Erne points out in a recent trenchant essay, ‘‘claim to have access to the personality that it would have been Marlowe’s regular business
TL;DR: For example, the authors argues that for Murphy to be publishable it must somehow follow the novelistic conventions that require a respectable and coherent plot presented in more or less lucid language, no matter how vehemently Beckett loathed these conventions.
Abstract: When Samuel Beckett came to write Murphy in 1935, he most likely had learned a bitter lesson from the publication failure of Dream of Fair to Middling Women (Dream hereafter), a wildly experimental novel in every sense, which was turned down by several publishers and was only posthumously published in 1992. That lesson is for Murphy to be publishable it must somehow follow the novelistic conventions that require a respectable and coherent plot presented in more or less lucid language, no matter how vehemently Beckett loathed these conventions. The publishers’ unfavourable responses to Dream, the almost unsellable record of More Pricks Than Kicks (1934), Beckett’s economic dependence on his parents and their grudge against it, and his own eager aspiration to become a professional writer all made it imperative for Murphy to be a success. For this purpose, Beckett was forced to make a major compromise by giving Murphy a reasonably coherent plot, though a loose one, with two lovers controlling the dynamic and progress of the narrative. In this sense, John Pilling is right to suggest that Beckett’s English fiction in general is ‘‘extremely ambitious, courageously experimental, but a little too exotic (with the obvious exception of Murphy) to take root and be widely admired’’. But even after Beckett’s compromise with the novelistic conventions, particularly, the nineteenth-century realist tradition, critics are quick to discern Beckett’s parodic