Bestiality, animality, and humanity: A study of the animal poems by D. H. Lawrence and Ted Hughes in their historical and cultural contexts (William Blake, England)

This dissertation is a study of the Romantic tradition in English poetry that regards the wild animal as an admirable force in both external nature and the inner nature of human beings. Being the first book-length study of the development of the tradition from William Blake to D. H. Lawrence and Ted Hughes, the dissertation places that tradition within the context of the changing representations of animals, particularly wild ones, in English poetry from the late eighteenth century to the second half of the twentieth century, as well as the context of changes in human-animal relations during that period of time. A key part of the dissertation is devoted to a close reading of selected poems by Lawrence and Hughes. Based on a careful and in-depth analysis of the themes and styles of the poems, the central argument of the dissertation focuses on the relations between bestiality, animality and humanity especially in Hellenistic and Judeo-Christian traditions, which these two poets have tended to see as wrongfully biased against the animal. Moreover, it is argued that the core of the Romantic tradition which the two poets share with Blake lies not only in its admiration of the instinctive energy of wild animals, but also in the distinction it makes between innocent animals in nature and the evil beast of human corruption, leading to an awareness of the need to have both animal impulses and so-called “higher” faculties work together in balance in order to be fully human.