English Language and Literature

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/9876

This is the collection for the University of Waterloo's Department of English Language and Literature.

Research outputs are organized by type (eg. Master Thesis, Article, Conference Paper).

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Browsing English Language and Literature by Author "Graham, Kenneth"

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    Institutions, Theology, and the Language of Freedom in the Poetry and Prose of John Milton
    (University of Waterloo, 2018-08-20) Woodford, Benjamin; Graham, Kenneth
    Freedom is an essential topic in the writings of John Milton, but what he means by this term varies over the course of his career. Milton’s prose works centre on religious and political liberty, which explore how the church and state interact with Christians and citizens. His early prose tracts express skepticism about the contributions of institutions, particularly coercive institutions, to freedom. As the English Revolution progresses, Milton begins to separate religious and political liberty based on the role of institutions in each type of freedom. In Milton’s commonwealth and late prose, religious freedom protects the individual conscience from being coerced by any civil or ecclesiastical institution; institutions are limited to persuasion and admonition in religious matters. Political freedom, in contrast, involves parliament leading, schools educating, and the army compelling the English people so that they accept a commonwealth, as political freedom is only possible in a commonwealth. Although these institutions often act against the will of the electorate, Milton’s language presents them as expressions of popular sovereignty. In his epic poem Paradise Lost, Milton shifts the setting from England to the mythical realm of heaven and presents an additional dimension of liberty. Paradise Lost incorporates much of the language regarding freedom and institutions from Milton’s prose, but it expresses a theological freedom that focuses on a Christian’s relationship with God. Theological freedom involves both free choice and dependence on God. Milton uses the character God to articulate the principles of theological freedom, and the characters Satan and Adam and Eve to illustrate failures in theological freedom. These failures shake the reader’s confidence, but the poem ends with the restoration of freedom, encouraging the reader to accept freedom through dependence on God.
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    Shakespeare Adaptations in a Canadian Context and the Question of Canadian Identity.
    (University of Waterloo, 2017-08-24) Shoemaker, Corrie Lynn; Graham, Kenneth
    The doctoral thesis, Shakespeare Adaptations in a Canadian Context and the Question of Canadian Identity examines the representation, production and interpretation of Canadian identity through Shakespeare’s plays at two world renown Canadian Shakespearean Festivals: Ontario’s Stratford Festival of Canada and British Columbia’s Bard on the Beach. Using performance criticism and theatre studies the dissertation analyzes both festivals for their modern representation and adaptations of Shakespeare on the provincial and national Canadian stage. By studying the last ten years of both festivals, it provides a record of the Canadian identity turn on the stage, noting how specific provincial location, festival history and current events affect and alter perceived notions of Canadian identity, audience criticism and theatre production. Using archival research, cast and crew interviews, and on site observations the dissertation analyzes the point of negotiation between local and universal in four festival productions and will engage with the broader dialogue on nationality. The dissertation examines the representation of Canadian identity on the stage through a provincial lens while also providing a hitherto unrecorded history of Bard on the Beach in comparison with the Stratford Festival. The four productions analyzed include a repeat production of Miles Potter’s The Taming of the Shrew first performed at Stratford in 2003 and later at Bard in 2007, Bard’s 1950’s Windsor Ontario inspired The Merry Wives of Windsor presented in 2012, Stratford’s 2012 Henry V and Stratford’s 2006 first all black premier of Afro-Canadian playwright Djanet Sears’ Harlem Duet.