Date of Award

4-26-1971

Degree Type

Master's Essay - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

Jerome Thale

Abstract

It is perhaps with some discomfort and embarrassment that a modern reader responds to Alfred, Lord Tennyson's expression of personal grief in the poem "In Memoriam." His might well be the sentiments of the essayist who writes that the lines are "mawkish rather than moving." And he would most likely endorse the feeling of that same essayist that "In literature a certain reticence in the language of both grief and of affection is more telling than a complete unpacking of the heart in words. It is better to say too little than to say too much." In a century and in a country where it is the manly thing and the admirable thing to control one's expression of personal emotion, it becomes quite easy to assume that people have always found control the proper mode of conduct. But, have they? More specifically, what was the attitude of the nineteenth century man. and woman toward the expression of emotion? How did they respond to "In Memoriam?

Comments

An Essay Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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