Sonnets and the English Woman Writer, 1560-1621 : The Politics of Absence

This study explores why women in the English Renaissance wrote so few sonnet sequences, in comparison with the traditions of Continental women writers and of English male authors. In this focus on a single genre, Rosalind Smith examines the relationship between gender and genre in the early modern period, and the critical assumptions currently underpinning questions of feminine agency within genre. Eros And Poetry At The Court Of Mary Queen Of Scots And James Vi Examines The Erotics Of Literary Desire At The Stewart Court In Scotland During The Reigns Of Mary Queen Of Scots And James Vi. Encompassing The Period From The Early 1560s To The Late 1590s, This Is The First Study To Link Together Scottish Marian And Jacobean Court Literature, Presenting A Relatively Unknown Body Of Writing, Newly Theorized And Contextualized. It Argues That In This Period Erotic Poetry Can Only Be Considered In Relation To The Figure Of The Monarch, And That The Formation Of Elite Lyric Culture Takes Place Under The Shaping Influence Of Desire For, And Against, The Sovereign, And Her Or His 'passional' And Symbolic Powers.--jacket. Introduction: Amorous Histories -- From Marian To Jacobean Eros -- Pt. 1. The Marian Period. 1. Feminine Eros: Mary Queen Of Scots And The Emergence Of Desire. 2. Demonic And Angelic Women: The Erotics Of Renunciation And Mariology In The Bannatyne Manuscript -- Pt. 2. The Jacobean Period. 3. Fables Of Eros: James Vi And The Revelation Of Desire. 4. Devotional Artefacts: John Stewart And The Eroticisation Of The Courtly. 5. Love's Altar: Alexander Montgomerie And The Erotics Of Representation. 6. Heretical Love-words: The Poetry Of William Fowler. Conclusion: Love's End. Sarah M. Dunnigan. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 7 Preface 8 List of Abbreviations 12 Introduction: Gender, Genre and Attribution in EarlyModem Women's Sonnet Sequences and Collections 13 1 'In a mirrour clere': Anne Lock's Miserere mei Deus asAdmonitory Protestantism 25 Attribution and agency in early modern women'swriting: The case of the Meditation 27 The politics of dedication and circulation Out-troping Wyatt 38 2 Generating Absence: The Sonnets of Mary Stuart 51 The casket sonnets: Attribution, circulation and sovereigntextuality 52 The politics of absence: The casket sonnets and thefeminine erotic lyric 58 The devotional sonnets 67 3 The Politics of Prosopopoeia: The Pandora Sonnets 73 The Pandora sonnets: Translations from Desportes Ventriloquizing Elizabeth I 77 The politics of prosopopoeia 91 4 The Politics of Withdrawal: Lady Mary Wroth's Pamphiliato Amphilanthus and Lindamira's Complaint 100 'Bard ... of Light': Spenserian negotiations in Pamphiliato Amphilanthus 104 'I thus goe arm'd to field': Lindamira's Complaint 121 Conclusion 131 Notes 135 Bibliography 157 Index 177 "A Roman triumph was the procession of a victorious general through the city. The festivity combined religious thanksgiving, political legitimation, and carnival release. Early modern England, from the Armada period of the 1580s to the Cromwellian Protectorate in the 1650s, revived and appropriated the Roman model in a wide variety of forms. The result is a characteristic product of early modern culture." "English use of the triumph included ceremonies, stage performances, and poetic or pictorial representations. This book gives particular attention to the researches of humanist antiquarians, the vigorous tradition of pamphlet triumphs, and the literary or dramatic versions produced by Spenser, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Marvell and Milton, as well as by non-canonical writers. It discloses the ways in which all these texts are implicated in contemporary political conflicts and discourses. The book also discusses adaptations such as the subversive triumph of love, the paradoxical triumph of peace, and Christian triumphs of humility and patience."--Jacket "The advent of relatively cheap printed editions of verse in the mid-sixteenth century produced an explosion of verse, much of which represented the first-person speaker as a version of the author. This book examines the way in which writers, often seeking advancement in their careers, harnessed the powers of verse and print for self-promotional purposes. Close attention to the self-constructions of these writers reveals conflicts and contradictions in available models of the self, as well as doubts about the powers of verse to express the inner self. Texts studied include: an extraordinary manuscript autobiography by Thomas Whythorne; printed verse by a woman, Isabella Whitney; an erotic romance by George Gascoigne, hailed as the first 'novel' in English; little-known but memorable narratives of travel to Russia and Africa, and of the experience of war; and more canonical works by Spenser, Sidney and Shakespeare."--Jacket Sonnets and the English Woman Writer, 1560-1621 examines why women in the English Renaissance wrote so few sonnet sequences, in comparison with the traditions of Continental women writers and of English male authors. It attributes the absence in part to the widespread circulation of the scandalous casket sonnets attributed to Mary Queen of Scots, and examines the ways in which women in England practised the genre before the publication of the casket sonnets and in its wake, In a set of detailed historical analyses of female authorship and female writing within this single genre, this study examines the complex intersection of gender and genre in the period, and exposes some of the methodological problems currently underpinning our understanding of the practises and boundaries of early modern women's writing Eros and Poetry examines the erotics of literary desire at the Stewart court in Scotland during the reigns of Mary, Queen of Scots and James VI. Encompassing the period from the early 1560s to the late 1590s, this is the first study to link together Scottish Marian and Jacobean court literatures, presenting a relatively unknown body of writing, newly theorized and contextualized. It argues that in this period erotic poetry can only be considered in relation to the figure of the monarch, and that the formation of elite lyric culture takes place under the shaping influence of desire for, and against, the sovereign, and her or his 'passional' and symbolic powers Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction: Gender, Genre and Attribution in Early Modern Women’s Sonnet Sequences and Collections....Pages 1-12 ‘In a mirrour clere’: Anne Lock’s Miserere mei Deus as Admonitory Protestantism....Pages 13-38 Generating Absence: The Sonnets of Mary Stuart....Pages 39-60 The Politics of Prosopopoeia: The Pandora Sonnets....Pages 61-87 The Politics of Withdrawal: Lady Mary Wroth’s Pamphilia to Amphilanthus and Lindamira’s Complaint....Pages 88-118 Conclusion....Pages 119-122 Back Matter....Pages 123-169 "Sonnets and the English Woman Writer, 1560-1621 examines why women in the English Renaissance wrote so few sonnet sequences, in comparison with the traditions of Continental women writers and of English male authors. It attributes this absence in part to the widespread circulation of the scandalous casket sonnets attributed to Mary Queen of Scots, and examines the ways in which women in England practised the genre before the publication of the casket sonnets and in its wake