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. |
From inside the book
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Page v
... ( 1987 ) : 175– 93 . I am grateful to the editors of those articles for their help at the time of the original printing and for permission to reprint here . For Mark and Robin Acknowledgments xi Note on Editions xiv.
... ( 1987 ) : 175– 93 . I am grateful to the editors of those articles for their help at the time of the original printing and for permission to reprint here . For Mark and Robin Acknowledgments xi Note on Editions xiv.
Page 8
... original dyad ? What is clear from the left hand scenarios is that both Laura and Chloe control the scene of desire . Still to be examined in the right hand perspective is whether the woman's bodily initiative sig- nals a mind leap as ...
... original dyad ? What is clear from the left hand scenarios is that both Laura and Chloe control the scene of desire . Still to be examined in the right hand perspective is whether the woman's bodily initiative sig- nals a mind leap as ...
Page 10
... original representation . Laura describes the difference in the anamorphic frame that occurs as we begin to explore the scenarios brought to the surface by the woman's self - affirming and poem - denying gestures . " Uncovering " that ...
... original representation . Laura describes the difference in the anamorphic frame that occurs as we begin to explore the scenarios brought to the surface by the woman's self - affirming and poem - denying gestures . " Uncovering " that ...
Page 11
... original Daphne . The later chapters detail how the three Lauras complicate the Petrarchism of Wyatt , Donne , and Marvell , as they similarly thicken the texture of the main plot . The main plot assumes as a given Laura's ...
... original Daphne . The later chapters detail how the three Lauras complicate the Petrarchism of Wyatt , Donne , and Marvell , as they similarly thicken the texture of the main plot . The main plot assumes as a given Laura's ...
Page 14
... original objections . The three Lauras Petrarch uncovers make their way into the poetry of Wyatt , Donne , and Marvell as well . For the poet of the English Renais- sance , " the past ( of Petrarch's Rime sparse ] was [ not ] a foreign ...
... original objections . The three Lauras Petrarch uncovers make their way into the poetry of Wyatt , Donne , and Marvell as well . For the poet of the English Renais- sance , " the past ( of Petrarch's Rime sparse ] was [ not ] a foreign ...
Contents
Laura as Eve to Petrarchs Adam | 41 |
LIKE A MAN WHO THINKS AND WEEPS AND WRITES | 61 |
Wyatts Revenge in the Lyrics and Sustenance in the Psalms | 93 |
Telling Wyatts Feelings | 123 |
Defections from Petrarchan and Spenserian Poetics | 149 |
Returning Donnes Gifts | 180 |
Contracting and Abstracting the You in Donnes A Valediction of My Name in the Window and Elegy Change | 201 |
Appropriations of Female Power in Damon the Mower and The Gallery | 227 |
Marvells Nymph and the Revenge of Silence | 255 |
After the Garden in Appleton House | 278 |
MUSING AFTERWARD | 304 |
NOTES | 319 |
INDEX | 339 |
Other editions - View all
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 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 defines denial denies desire Diana discourse Donne Donne's dream dyad emerges eternity eyes fawn feeling female flee frame Funerall future Gallery gaze gender Genesis genre gesture idealized imagined imbricated imitates initial inspiration invents Jean-François Lyotard 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 opening original Ovid Petrarch Petrarchan Petrarchan poem poet poet's poetic poetry polyptych present Psalms reading Renaissance revenge Rime sparse 23 sequence sexual sighs song speaker speaks stanza story sublimation suggests tion turns vision Weeping Whoso list woman women words writes Wyatt
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