Laura: Uncovering Gender and Genre in Wyatt, Donne and MarvellHow do men imagine women? In the poetry of Petrarch and his English successors—Wyatt, Donne, and Marvell—the male poet persistently imagines pursuing a woman, Laura, whom he pursues even as she continues to deny his affections. Critics have long held that, in objectifying Laura, these male-authored texts deny the imaginative, intellectual, and physical life of the woman they idealize. In Laura, Barbara L. Estrin counters this traditional view by focusing not on the generative powers of the male poet, but on the subjectivity of the imagined woman and the imaginative space of the poems she occupies. Through close readings of the Rime sparse and the works of Wyatt, Donne, and Marvell, Estrin uncovers three Lauras: Laura-Daphne, who denies sexuality; Laura-Eve, who returns the poet’s love; and Laura-Mercury, who reinvents her own life. Estrin claims that in these three guises Laura subverts both genre and gender, thereby introducing multiple desires into the many layers of the poems. Drawing upon genre and gender theories advanced by Jean-François Lyotard and Judith Butler to situate female desire in the poem’s framework, Estrin shows how genre and gender in the Petrarchan tradition work together to undermine the stability of these very concepts. Estrin’s Laura constitutes a fundamental reconceptualization of the Petrarchan tradition and contributes greatly to the postmodern reassessment of the Renaissance period. In its descriptions of how early modern poets formulate questions about sexuality, society and poetry, Laura will appeal to scholars of the English and Italian Renaissance, of gender studies, and of literary criticism and theory generally. |
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Page 6
... represents , the Bor- done painting suggests both a fissured subject and multiple objects of desire . The " desired " in one story is the " desirer " in another . The pos- sibility of divided stories , in turn , brings in another ...
... represents , the Bor- done painting suggests both a fissured subject and multiple objects of desire . The " desired " in one story is the " desirer " in another . The pos- sibility of divided stories , in turn , brings in another ...
Page 8
... Representing what the woman wants , the Chloe circle , in Jessica Ben- jamin's words , " forms a boundary and opens up into endless possibility ; it evokes a particular kind of holding , similar to the first bodily holding by the mother ...
... Representing what the woman wants , the Chloe circle , in Jessica Ben- jamin's words , " forms a boundary and opens up into endless possibility ; it evokes a particular kind of holding , similar to the first bodily holding by the mother ...
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... representing stroke that produces the , still later , on - canvas sun would be impossible . Deprived of the force of ... ( represented to consciousness ) nor consigned to oblivion . " 51 Even as he describes Laura - Daphne , Petrarch ...
... representing stroke that produces the , still later , on - canvas sun would be impossible . Deprived of the force of ... ( represented to consciousness ) nor consigned to oblivion . " 51 Even as he describes Laura - Daphne , Petrarch ...
Page 24
... represented by Apollo and Daphne can be overcome . In posing the ques- tion , Donne is asking for a woman he can have ( Laura - Eve ) and a woman who has words ( Laura - Mercury ) . " He maintains that both Lauras are perfectly capable ...
... represented by Apollo and Daphne can be overcome . In posing the ques- tion , Donne is asking for a woman he can have ( Laura - Eve ) and a woman who has words ( Laura - Mercury ) . " He maintains that both Lauras are perfectly capable ...
Page 28
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Laura: Uncovering Gender and Genre in Wyatt, Donne and Marvell Barbara L. Estrin Limited preview - 1994 |
Laura: Uncovering Gender and Genre in Wyatt, Donne and Marvell Barbara L. Estrin No preview available - 1994 |
Common terms and phrases
Actaeon Adam Adam's already anamorphic Andrew Marvell anticipates Apollo Appleton House argues Battus becomes begins body Bordone Bordone painting Broken Heart calls Change Clora Coy Mistress critical Damon Daphne David death deer denial denies desire Diana discourse Donne's dream dyad emerges eternity eyes fawn feeling female flee Funerall future Gallery gaze gender Genesis genre gesture idealized imagined imitates initial inspiration invents Jeat Ring John Donne Juliana Kazimir Malevich lady lady's Laura Laura-Daphne Laura-Eve Laura-Mercury laurel list to hunt lover Lyotard lyric male Marvell Marvell's metaphor mirror Monique Wittig mower myth Nancy Vickers narrator nymph original Ovid Petrarch Petrarchan Petrarchan poem poet poet's poetic poetry polyptych present Psalms reading reflects Renaissance revenge Rime sparse 23 sequence sexual sighs song Sonnets space speaker speaks stanza story sublimation suggests tion turns University Press vision Weeping Whoso list woman women words writes Wyatt