Play is a manifestation of overflowing excess. When applied to the study of discourse, this bounty can be understood in terms of figurativeness and depth. If "degree-zero" discourse is the almost entirely unfigured language of an instruction manual, then verse lies near the other extreme:...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Bibliographische Detailangaben

1. Verfasser:	Wright, Jarrell D. (VerfasserIn)
Format:	Abschlussarbeit Elektronisch E-Book
Sprache:	English
Veröffentlicht:	Pittsburgh, PA University of Pittsburgh 2015
Schlagworte:	Herbert, George > 1593-1633 Donne, John > 1572-1631 University of Pittsburgh ETD PeerReviewed Hochschulschrift
Online-Zugang:	kostenfrei
Zusammenfassung:	Play is a manifestation of overflowing excess. When applied to the study of discourse, this bounty can be understood in terms of figurativeness and depth. If "degree-zero" discourse is the almost entirely unfigured language of an instruction manual, then verse lies near the other extreme: highly figured and elaborate language open to rich interpretive possibilities. I posit a further pole yet on this continuum: the hyperabundant texts of the Renaissance, when ludics were at a height partially quashed by the Enlightenment preference for the plain style. These ludic texts are not merely decorative but rather reflect the incarnational impulse of Renaissance Christian thought; they attempt to praise and to imitate the power of Divine language, in which Word is made Flesh in the West’s master model of superabundance, grace through Christ’s Incarnation and Sacrifice. This project conducts three case studies of playfully incarnational discourses during the Renaissance: in speech, in imagery, and in verse. First, it analyzes sermons by John Donne that reflect candidly on the power of Donne’s own ludic speech, concluding that his transgressive, gamelike rhetoric was oriented toward stimulating responsive action. Next, it examines period images through the lens of contemporary popular works that conceive of images as puzzles to be decoded, solved, and read, concluding that period anamorphoses and similar works were efforts to infuse images with lively presence in a way that helps to account for iconophobic and iconophilic strains in English Reformation thought. Finally, it reads George Herbert’s deceptively simple poem, "The Altar," examining how the piece may be understood as an intervention into the shaped-verse tradition and how it reflects on period debates about Church fabric, concluding that the toylike or tricklike construction evokes the Eucharistic presence of the Divine in Herbert’s worshipful meditation. At stake are a greater appreciation for Renaissance artistry.
Beschreibung:	"At the request of the author or degree granting institution, this graduate work is not available to view or purchase until March 29 2026."
Beschreibung:	1 Online-Ressource (xxvii, 362 pages)
ISBN:	9781339099613