An understanding of the influence of Shakespeare on the structure and language of Moby-Dick is important because the plays of Shakespeare gave Melville a sudden insight into the significance of form and because his absorption of Shakespearean rhetoric enabled him to solve a serious artistic problem. In Moby-Dick Melville wished to write a work of symbolic fiction which would have both epic scope and tragic depth, but his difficulty lay in finding a structural and stylistic method which would provide the amplitude necessary to epic and at the same time could achieve the compression and verbal economy necessary to tragedy. He solved this problem by learning from Shakespeare to create a multi-layered dramatic structure and to use a dramatic language which becomes one layer of that structure. In Shakespeare's greatest plays there is a virtual fusion of form and meaning, and it is this fusion which, in its greatest moments, the language of Moby-Dick achieves.

Wuthering Heights is a composite of opposites. Its two houses, its two families, its two generations, its two planes of existence are held in place by Emily Bronte's careful manipulation of repetitive, yet differentiated, symbols associated with each of these pairs. Using symbols to develop her polarities and to unify them along the imaginatively rendered horizontal axis connecting Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange, the vertical axis connecting the novel's several "heavens" and "hells," and the third dimensional axis connecting the spiritual and corporeal worlds, Emily Bronte gives the divided world of Wuthering Heights an almost perfect symmetry. This study divides the more than seven hundred symbols into physical and nonphysical. The physical symbols are subdivided into setting, animal life, plant life, people, celestial objects, and miscellaneous objects. The fewer nonphysical symbols are grouped under movement, light, time, emotions, concepts, and miscellaneous terms. Verticality and thresholds, the two most important symbolic motifs, are drawn from both physical and nonphysical symbols.

This thesis examines the diverse functions of -ji in Gugu- Yalanji, a language of Northeastern Australia. A general introduction to the syntax of the language is given. The verbal affix -Ji and its effect on sentences is detailed in Chapter I. Chapter II shows that the function of -ji_ in Yidiny and Dyirbal, two neighboring languages, is to intransitivize verbs to allow sentence coordination. Sentence coordination does not appear to be the primary function of Ji in Gugu-Yalanji. Other functions of the verbal affix J_ in Yidin and Dyirbal are examined in Chapter III. The affix -_ appears to be sensitive to the features of transitivity and marks transitive verbs as intransitive, shown in Chapter IV. Chapter V develops a new hypothesis regarding the use of -j in Gugu-Yalanji. There, after considering other uses of J as a nonverbal affix, it is concluded that the suffix is actually a formal mark of stativity.

This thesis consists of a poem in the form of three related dramatic monologues in free verse. The subject of the poem is King Philip's War, an Indian war which took place in New England in 1675 and 1676. The central figures in the poem are the Indian leader, Metacom (King Philip); Benjamin Church, the Englishman responsible for Metacom's death; and Metacom's wife, Melia.

Emerson frequently illustrates his philosophy with complementary scientific examples that clarify his ideas. This study examines Emerson's enumeration of the laws and powers of Intellect in conjunction with twentieth-century science, illustrating his ideas in the method he often employs. The physiological model of the two hemispheres of the brain parallels the two intelligences Emerson ascribes to man--understanding and reason. Hemispheric theories describe an analogue to the Emersonian epiphany-- hemispheric integration--and help to distinguish the epiphany from other experiences associated with altered states of consciousness. Quantum physics and relativity theory illustrate the vision of the unity of nature perceived during the epiphany. Using modern science to illustrate Emerson's ideas in this way makes us apprentice to a rhetorical technique used and advocated by him.

The forty-one poems comprising this thesis are written in a variety of styles and reflect my general international eclecticism. The most prominent influences on my work are ancient Chinese verse, as exemplified by the poems for N., and Zen tanka and haiku, as exemplified by "Detail from a Cubistic Autobiography." Largely imagistic rather than narrative, the poems were conceived in an effort to record my experiences and to define my reactions to those experiences.

In this dissertation I argue that in the characters in Lawrence Durrell's The Alexandria Quartet there is consistently evidenced a psychological orientation towards growth. An introductory Chapter One surveys and a concluding Chapter Six summarizes the dissertation, but the body of the text is four chapters demonstrating the growth-orientation in four characters.

The problem scrutinized in this thesis is the relationship between Robert Grosseteste, mentioned in the colophon of William of Shoreham's "Song to Mary," and the author of said poem. The influence of Grosseteste on William of Shoreham appears to be extensive. Many similarities of organization, diction, and, especially, imagery, exist in the works of both men. The images of the windowpane, the mirror, and Mary as a castle are found in more than one instance in both Grosseteste's Chasteau d'Amour and in several of Shoreham's poems. Moreover, the borrowed imagery in Shoreham's poetry is unquestionably superior to any other in his works. It is the conclusion of this thesis that Robert Grosseteste was a considerable influence on the works of William of Shoreham.

This study defines and applies a theory of tragedy which is based on the work of Friedrich Nietzsche in The Birth of Tragedy. In the first chapter the writer argues for the need of a widely accepted theory of tragedy and show that we do not presently have one. In the same chapter, the writer presents the theory that tragedy is a very specific art type which transcends genre and which is the product of a synthesis of the Dionysiac and Apollonian forces in Western culture. The writer argues that by understanding the philosophical and aesthetic nature of the forces as they are expressed in tragedy we can isolate and define the essential elements of tragedy. Tragedy must have a person of heroic stature as its main protagonist. It must have a specific kind of plot in which a reversal of the hero's experience of the universe occurs. It must have a choric element, which is a combination of two components: communality and lyricism. Finally, tragedy must contain a mythic background which allows for the expression of two themes, the Dionysiac theme and the Apollonian theme.

The four works in this collection are related by their central character, Tribulat Bonhomet. In "The Swan-Killer," the first, Bonhomet the music lover carries out his carefully planned excursion to kill swans to hear their last songs. "The Eventualists' Banquet," the second work, reports an after-dinner speech in which Bonhomet proposes a method for ridding France of revolutionaries. And the "Motion of Dr. Tribulat Bonhomet" sets forth a plan whereby earthquakes are harnessed to rid the world of poets and artists. The last and longest piece, "Claire Lenoir," a novella, recounts Dr. Bonhomet's visit to the Lenoir home. A highly philosophical work, "Claire Lenoir" explores questions of reality, revenge, and survival beyond death, ending with a bizarre murder and a grotesque climax.