The Poetic Symbolism of Disability from a Comparative-Historical Perspective: American Puritan Poetry and the Poetry of the American Renaissance

Tayfur Cihantimur

The Poetic Symbolism of Disability from a Comparative-Historical Perspective: American Puritan Poetry and the Poetry of the American Renaissance

Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Akdeniz Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, İNGİLİZ DİLİ VE EDEBİYATI ANABİLİM DALI, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2026

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: Tayfur Cihantimur

Danışman: Arda Arıkan

Açık Arşiv Koleksiyonu: AVESİS Açık Erişim Koleksiyonu

Özet:

Although disability has always been a biological reality for humans, the cultural, historical, and social meanings associated with it have evolved over time. Therefore, this thesis examines the poetic symbolism of disability in two periods of American literature, the Puritan Age and the American Renaissance, from a theoretical perspective to reveal how disability was constructed not only as a biological or individual condition but also as a cultural, theological, and aesthetic representation during these two periods, and how it related to the ideological structure of the time. During the Puritan period, disability was often viewed as a consequence of sin, a sign of divine punishment, or a means of spiritual purification, as evidenced in the works of poets such as Anne Bradstreet, Edward Taylor, and Michael Wigglesworth. This representation positioned the body as a scene of God's tests and grace. On the other hand, the poetry of the American Renaissance often addresses disability through the poems of such poets as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and Emily Dickinson who emphasized individuals' inner worlds, their emotional fragilities, existential questionings, and resistances to mainstream societal norms. By evaluating this historical transformation of how disability was depicted in the poems from each period through the lens of Disability Theory, this study argues that bodily difference is not just a metaphor but an element that reshapes and transforms the poetic content. Selected poems were analyzed using qualitative methods, close reading, and intertextual comparison. The thesis contributes by illuminating the challenge to normative perceptions of the body in American literature, revealing the multi-layered roles of disability in poetry within a historical context.