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 13
... speaks in the Rime sparse . Occasionally she sings . Dead , she is more verbose , descending from heaven to give Petrarch a glimpse of the afterlife . Therefore the dramatic moment in Rime sparse 23 where she does comment on her ...
... speaks in the Rime sparse . Occasionally she sings . Dead , she is more verbose , descending from heaven to give Petrarch a glimpse of the afterlife . Therefore the dramatic moment in Rime sparse 23 where she does comment on her ...
Page 14
... speak away the woman . Following the seminal studies of Sheila Fisher , Janet Halley , Nancy Vickers , and Marguerite Waller , feminist critics can continue to show how the woman is fragmented by , and secondary to , the poet's self ...
... speak away the woman . Following the seminal studies of Sheila Fisher , Janet Halley , Nancy Vickers , and Marguerite Waller , feminist critics can continue to show how the woman is fragmented by , and secondary to , the poet's self ...
Page 16
... of homosexuality to heterosexuality . " " In figuring desire as central to the matrix of imagination , it also assumes , with Denise Riley , that " to speak about the individual temporality of being a woman is really 16 INTRODUCTION.
... of homosexuality to heterosexuality . " " In figuring desire as central to the matrix of imagination , it also assumes , with Denise Riley , that " to speak about the individual temporality of being a woman is really 16 INTRODUCTION.
Page 17
... speak about the movements between temporalities of a designation . " 33 Can the temporalities of Lyotard — who sees genre as pliable and con- tingent — and Butler — who sees gender as performative and variable — be applied to Petrarchan ...
... speak about the movements between temporalities of a designation . " 33 Can the temporalities of Lyotard — who sees genre as pliable and con- tingent — and Butler — who sees gender as performative and variable — be applied to Petrarchan ...
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