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Missouri State University

Essays in the History of the Masque: Essence and Echoes

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Literary genres are dynamic; they do not remain permanently fixed, but reflect the mutability of society and literary tradition. In this respect, genre development can be viewed as a series of evolutionary stages which culminate, not in a single or simple form but in "modes" which are then mixed and reshaped within subsequent works of literature. The essays included in this thesis explore the resiliency and the creative range of one particular genre, the English masque, in its development during the seventeenth century as a viable literary and political form (what I have called "essence") into its present appearance as mode--that is, as a more fragmentary collection of elements (what I have called "echoes") recurring within the framework of other genres. Contents: An account of the life and death of a political art form : the Jonsonian masque -- The masque as metaphor : symbols and structure in Much Ado About Nothing -- Art and arms : The poetry and politics of Alfred -- Echoes of the masque in the The Magus.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts in English
Level thesis:degree_level
Masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
English
Year
1995

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Robison, Jane Ellen
Contributors dc:contributor
  • James Baumlin

Subjects

dc:subject × 1

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • © Jane Ellen Robison

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/231
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:bearworks.missouristate.edu:theses-1232

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Missouri State University
Base URL
bearworks.missouristate.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Robison, Jane Ellen. Essays in the History of the Masque: Essence and Echoes. Masters thesis, 1995. https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/231