Thomas Wolfe\u27s Look Homeward, Angelis the story of such a search. Subtitled \u22A Story of the Buried Life,\u22 it takes its clue mainly from Plato, but also from the British Romantic poets, particularly William Wordsworth. This thesis will show Wolfe\u27s place in the Platonic-Romantic tradition, and look at the way Wolfe not only uses, but makes new, the Platonic myth of prenatal existence. I will look at his symbolism of \u22A stone, a leaf, a door\u22 in connection with Plato\u27s theory. And, in light of a letter he wrote in 1923, in which he said, \u22Someday, I\u27m going to write a play . . . for my soul\u27s ease and comfort\u22 (Wolfe Letters 41), I will try to determine if he was working toward a new mythology that would explain the fact of death for his own peace of mind.
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