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Traces the allegorical works made by Samuel Johnson at `The Rambler' periodical. How Johnson defines the term allegory; Observation of Johnson on the poem `Absalom and Achitopel'; Types of papers characterized by Johnson's retrospective analysis of the periodical; Interpretation on the allegorical histories written by Johnson for the periodical; Root of the differences between Wolfgang Iser's analysis and Johnson's theory and practice of didactic fiction.

Discusses a research paper on the significant questions concerning artistic career of author Henry Roth. Comment on Roth's promotion of a hegemonic or national culture; Criticism on the works of Roth; Samples of Roth's works.

THOMSON'S SEASONS is as eminently a religious, as it is a descriptive poem. Thoroughly impressed with sentiments of veneration for the author of that assemblage of order and beauty which [...]

Long relegated to the position of subservient wife of Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas is a distinctive writer in her own right; The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book is a [...]

From the days of his youth, Jorge Semprun has thought of himself as a writer. After his imprisonment in the Buchenwald concentration camp, however, he faced a momentous, potentially fatal [...]

Collected in May Swenson's 1970 book Iconographs, "The DNA Molecule" is a stunningly successful shaped poem. The layout of the text, in jagged blocks of type cascading irregularly down the [...]

A scandalous, but rarely discussed, element of the Christmas 'gomen' the Green Knight proposes at Camelot is its openness with regard to the kind of blow that initially can be [...]

It is difficult to untangle the puzzle of Henry de Montherlant. He has borne conflicting political and personal labels over the years, from rake to misogynist, from radically patriotic veteran [...]

If Alexander Pope or Samuel Johnson, both admirers of 'Cooper's Hill,' had traveled back in time to the scene of the poem's composition, they would have noticed a strong contrast [...]

The tender age of Juliet Capulet provides the focus of the initial conversation between Lord Capulet and Count Paris in Romeo and Juliet. She is still a child, says her [...]

'Culture and corruption,' murmured Dorian, 'I have known something of both.' --Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray I hold that no work of art can be tried otherwise than [...]

The last few decades of the nineteenth century and the first two of the twentieth have often been described as 'the golden age of the English ghost story' (Cox and [...]

British literature in the mid-seventeenth century often involved an intensive transformation of genres in order to make intelligible the experience of revolution that was unprecedented, unfamiliar, and disorientating. The Civil [...]

'The Fall of the House of Usher' is among those few stories that seem to elicit nearly as many critical interpretations as it has readers. More recent critical appraisals of [...]

This article presents literary criticism of the book "Animal Farm" by George Orwell, also known by his birth name, Eric Blair. The author discusses the possible role of the song "The Big Rock Candy Mountain," which was made popular when recorded by a homeless man in the 1920s, in Orwell's decision to include the song "Beasts of England," created by the character Old Major in the book. The article also explores the presence of the song in the book "Down and Out in Paris and London."

This article presents literary criticism of the works of E. M. Forster and discusses his career after the publication of the book "A Passage to India." Literary criticism of the books "Maurice," "A Room with a View," and "Howards End," the short stories "A Letter to Madan Blancard" and "The Story of a Siren," and the libretto "Billy Budd" are discussed in terms of homoerotic themes. The characters of gay men, especially Englishmen, as represented in the work of Forster are discussed.

This article offers literary criticism of the formative processes that lead naturalist Charles Darwin and lawyer Richard Dana to write the accounts of their travels, "The Voyage of the Beagle" and "Two Years Before the Mast," respectively. Topics include resistance to demands of culture and civilization, the journeys of Dana's ship, the "Pilgrim," and Darwin's ship, the "Beagle," and the textuality of the books. The author also addresses books read by Darwin and Dana on their journeys.

This article presents a literary criticism of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's narrative poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," discussing its use of paradoxical juxtaposition and the theme of atonement. Discussion is offered regarding the religious themes present in the work, examining Coleridge's internal debate over the Christian doctrines of the Atonement and Redemption.

The author discusses the poetic genres and the poem "The Seasons," by James Thomson. The author argues that "The Seasons" is not an epic poem. The genre of 18th century long poems is discussed. "The Seasons" is compared to other poems that are considered long poetry, including "The Excursion," by David Mallet. The criticism that "The Seasons" received by 18th century critics is presented.

This article explores the role of prophecy and responsibility through Doris Lessing's novel "The Golden Notebook," and "Cassandra: A Novel and Four Essays," by Christa Wolf. The author seeks to show the prevailing theme of warning against a potential nuclear war through the characters, plot, and narrative structure of the books.

This article provides an overview of the depiction of the learned lady in the play "Sir Patient Fancy: A Comedy," by Aphra Behn. In this play, Behn depicts the lady whom the main male character finds impertinent and intolerable and to whom he refers to as Madame Romance. There have been a number of scholars who argued that Behn's intention in the play is to mock the learned lady.

This article discusses the characterization of attitude as depicted in the book "The Captain's Doll," by D. H. Lawrence. The work by Lawrence has been viewed as a supreme example of his genius in conveying the shifts of poise and tone defining a delicate complexity of attitude. The subtle changes in character development and narrative perspective are considered to reflect nothing less than the range of a great dramatic poet.

Presents an analysis of the trilogy "U.S.A.," by John Dos Passos. Components of the trilogy; Description of the portrayal of the characters in the story; Information on the literary style of Passos.

Presents an analysis of Jotham's Parable of the Trees and "Battle of the Trees," by Robert Graves. Description of the framework of the story; Difference of parable and myth; Significance of the tree to the story.

Presents an analysis that rehabilitates the values embedded in Dryden's poetic treatment of the male and female contributions to body and soul in procreation and how those roles are integral to the experience of the poem "Absalom and Achitophel." Analysis of Susan Greenfield's argument against the poem; Refutation of the position of Greenfield; Basis of Dryden's characterization of David's inordinate affection for his son, Absalom.

Compares the manner in which authors Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol and Nathaniel Hawthorne use symbolic and physical embodiments of evil in their works. Religious and cultural background of the authors; Information on the works of the author; Ways in which devils were depicted in their works.

Shows how Heinrich von Kleist's works subvert the comic structure to which they apparently conform. Theme of Kleist's works; Views on how Kleist treats the subject of rape; Story and characters of the play `Amphitryon'; Character interpretation.

Examines the novel `The Two Drovers,' by Sir Walter Scott. Cultural aim of the novel; Theme; Characters.

Argues that `De Profundis' revealed Oscar Wilde's calculated efforts to disguise and deflect homoerotic elements of his relationship with Alfred Douglas. Analysis of the homoerotic theme encoded by Wilde in his book `The Picture of Dorian Gray'; Motive of Wilde in writing `De Profundis' as a letter to Douglas; Examination of the rhetoric strategies used by Wilde in `De Profundis' to disguise the erotic implications of his relationship with Douglas.

Interprets the poem `The Fall of the House of Usher,' by Edgar Allan Poe in the context of race relations and a biological nightmare scenario. Importance of `Usher' in the development of the Gothic genre in literature; Theme of `Usher'; Elements of the poem.

Examines the revisions made by Edith Wharton in her book `The Custom of the Country.' How Wharton integrated her private thought of morality as an artist in the revisions; Characters; Elements of the book; Theme.

Focuses on the fascination of Henry James with architectural metaphors in reference to his novel `The Golden Bowl.' Comments on James' fascination with the subjective quality of houses and setting; Two stages of the novel; Implication of the architectural metaphors in the novel; Description of the character of Adam Verver in the novel.

Comments on the play `Arcadia,' by Tom Stoppard. How the effect of a privileged perspective on the audience was conferred in the play; General description of the characters in the play; Analysis of the two historical moments covered in the play.

Criticizes the literary style of Hannah More, focusing on her play `The Search After Happiness: A Pastoral Drama for Young Ladies.' Characteristics of the English stagecraft to which critics objected on moral reasons cited in the prologue of the play; Discussion on the element of wit that More claimed to have omitted; Comments of eighteenth-century critics on the love plot in dramas and novels.

Examines the importance of World War I from Ernest Hemingway's life and fiction. Interpretation of Hemingway's biographical sources; Injuries and wounds suffered by Hemingway during World War I; Psychological effects of World War I on Hemingway; Interpretation of Hemingway's correspondence.

Discusses information on Eric Overmyer's drama `Amphitryon' adopted from Henrich von Kleist's original drama. Plot of the drama; Differences between Overmyer's and Kleist's drama; Interpretation of Kleist by Martin Greenberg.

Presents criticism and interpretation of Charles Dickens, focusing on his experimental novel `Hard Times.' Theme of the novel; Plot of the novel; Metaphors used in the novel; Characters of the novel.

Looks at Cranfordism in the novel `The Scraps, Patches, and Rags of Daily Life,' by Elizabeth Gaskell. Examples of Cranfordism in the novel; Rasselas as the oriental context of the novel; Cranford and the domestication of the oriental other.

Discusses ethical exegesis in the novel `The Rise of Silas Lapham,' by William Dean Howells. Assessment of the central character, Silas Lapham; Character tests on Lapham; Moral evaluation of the novel.

Interprets the new world woman in the novel `Sula,' by Toni Morrison. Theme of the novel; Her textual definition of a new world woman; Description of Sula's character.

Discusses the book `Bliss,' by Katherine Mansfield. Feminism and Marxism ideologies evident in the book; Focus of Mansfield to historical issues; Samples of the literary works of Mansfield; Textual criticism on her works.

Examines the book `The Buccaneers,' by Edith Wharton. Textual criticism on the book; Evidence of Pre-Raphaelitism in the book; Attempt of Marion Mainwaring, an author, to outdo Wharton's plotting and style of the story; Analysis on the some of commentaries on the book.

Investigates the ancient traditions and spiritual influences evident on the works of author Don DeLillo. Definition of mysticism; Analysis on mysticism of science and the science of mysticism in the book `Ratner's Star,' by DeLillo; Pythagorean influence on Kabbalism.

Discusses character and self-distantiation in the novel `I Married a Dead Man,' by Cornell Woolrich. Plot of the novel; Insights into how the idea of self-distantiation has been employed in the novel; Analysis of the character of the protagonist, Helen Georgesson.

Analyzes the poem `Cooper's Hill,' by John Denham. Insights into the fist publication of the poem in August of 1642; Semiotic evaluation of the poem; Characteristics of the poem.

Presents an essay which explores Oliver Goldsmith's poetry and his poetics, in the context of mid-eighteenth-century cultural and economic trends, with reference to Goldsmith's review of Edmund Burke's poem `A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful,' and one of Thomas Gray's `Odes' poems, as published in the `Monthly Review' periodical in May 1757, and September 1757 respectively.

Presents the essay `The Most Fatal of All Faults': Samuel Johnson on Prior's Solomon and the Need for Variety,' by Matthew M. Davis.

Discusses the religious influences for Charles Brockden Brown's metaphysical romance, `Wieland, or the Transformation: An American Tale'. Eclectic influences on the text; Brown's struggles with the cultural and epistemological crises affecting the late eighteenth century; Religious allusions.

Discusses the book `Wise Blood,' by Flannery O'Connor. Ambiguous portraits of the poor Southern refuge; Marriage of polarities and blindness in white trash characters; Association of the phallus with sin, guilt, and atonement; Low class protagonist named Hazel Motes.

Analyzes the issue of misogyny in David Bradley's book, `The Chaneysville Incident'. One man's tortuous journey out of misogyny; Literary pedigree; Oedipal issues; Characterizations of the final story.