Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
English
Date of Award
12-2020
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Dr. Joshua Reid
Committee Members
Dr. Jesse Graves, Dr. Shawna Lichtenwalner
Abstract
The Elizabethan poet Samuel Daniel was popular in his day, producing lyric, dramatic, and narrative poems. Contemporary anthologies, however, memorialize him primarily as a lyric poet, one that usually gets few entries. My thesis shows how Daniel had a minor reputation as a lyric poet by the 1960’s, despite having high-profile admirers. These well-known poet-critics who engaged with his work are essential to analyzing his lyric reputation: owing to the Romantic emphasis on the lyric, I begin with William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s reception of his lyrics in the 19th century. I then analyze the turn of the century poet A.E. Housman’s glowing praise and end with the lukewarm reception of two 20th century Modernists, T.S. Eliot and Yvor Winters. I argue that, despite the enthusiasm of Coleridge and Housman, his lyrics failed to attract enough admirers, in part contributing to the current status of these poems.
Document Type
Thesis - embargo
Recommended Citation
McGhee, Caleb, "Samuel Daniel’s Lyric Reception: The Role of Poet-Critics from Wordsworth to Winters" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3826. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3826
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.