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156995 https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.51770 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ 2018 iii, 171 pages Doctoral Dissertation Academic theses Text eng Downer, Jennifer Hawkes, David Ryner, Bradley Fox, Cora Arizona State University Partial requirement for: Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2018 Includes bibliographical references (pages 165-171) Field of study: English Among the many paradigm shifts brought about in the seventeenth century was an increased dissociation between the subject and time as a lived, shared experience. Clockwork Subjects in the Seventeenth Century: Shakespeare, Herbert, and Milton investigates how changes in the social understanding and experience of time, concurrent with changes in timekeeping technologies, were reflected in the literature of the period. This dissertation is closely concerned with the phenomenon of time from the perspective of the subject and the various ways subjects represent themselves as beings in time. Chapter One provides a theoretical introduction, establishing a Heideggerian framework of temporality and ontology, while emphasizing the characteristics of clock-time as time that is movable and separable from what Heidegger would term “originary time.” Chapter Two analyzes metaphors of hearing in Richard II in relation to the play’s pivotal conceit, in which a dethroned Richard compares himself to broken clockwork; exploring temporality in tandem with the phenomenon of hearing, I argue that aural captivation distorts Richard’s perception of his placement in a larger historical framework. Chapter Three employs a reading of Augustinian time George Herbert’s poems, “Even-song” and “Church-monuments,” analyzing the soul’s experience of time in contrast to temporal metaphors that ask, with Augustine, whether time can be measured by and within the self. Chapter Four, analyzing Milton’s Samson Agonistes, explores Samson’s attempt to act and interpret divine intent while in the middle of history, paralleling early modern efforts to construct an interpretive framework for nature and time. English Literature clockwork early modern Renaissance Seventeenth century Shakespeare Time Clocks and watches in literature Time in literature Clockwork subjects in the seventeenth century: Shakespeare, Herbert, and Milton