Plowing the land : images of the human bond with the earth

Author

Betty Ann Brynoff

Date of Award

5-1992

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

English

Major Professor

Allison Ensor

Abstract

This study explores the ideas and qualities associated with the literary use of the image of the plow, of plowing, and of the plowman. When a writer presents the plow image, he or she suggests to the reader a cluster of ideas derived from the historical associations that have been made with the plow as an implement binding mankind to the earth. This study attempts to discover the primary associations that are inherent in plow-related images and to determine the extent to which the associations persist over time. Since such an investigation cannot be exhaustive, works included were selected on this basis: first, the plow-related images play a significant role in creating the overall meaning of the work; second, the work has been given wide enough critical acceptance to be influential in shaping attitudes toward cultivating the land; and third, the works cover a broad time frame, giving an opportunity to detect change in the meaning of the images. With these criteria, the Bible and the Georgics were selected from the ancient world; Piers Plowman from medieval England; short excerpts from writers who represent English attitudes from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century; Crevecoeur and Jefferson from eighteenth-century America; Cooper as the first significant American novelist concerned with use of the land; Emerson and Thoreau as philosophers interested in mankind's relationship with nature; the heart of the study, four American novelists-Glasgow, Rolvaag, Gather, and Garland-who frequently use plowman-farmers as main characters; and finally, the Nashville Agrarians as modem theorists. The result of this survey shows historical consistency in the use of the image of the plow and of plowing. The plowman image is less stable. Four things most consistently associated with the plow image are civilization, hope, labor, and change. Images of the actual plowing suggest viewing that activity as ritual, as renewal, as record, and as orientation. As for the plowman, the most persistent qualities are subsumed in diligence, morality, humility, and competence.

Recommended Citation

Brynoff, Betty Ann, "Plowing the land : images of the human bond with the earth. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1992.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/10848