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 3
... tion . She acquires her pedigree — angel , saint , goddess — because Petrarch's ardor confers it on her . The puzzle about the painting suggests not just that Bordone was confused about iconography but that the generic framework upon ...
... tion . She acquires her pedigree — angel , saint , goddess — because Petrarch's ardor confers it on her . The puzzle about the painting suggests not just that Bordone was confused about iconography but that the generic framework upon ...
Page 4
... tion of gender position to literary genre , Lyotard's definition of the im- bricated visual space provides a useful starting point for discussing the contradictory images produced by poem and painting : " The play of two imbricated ...
... tion of gender position to literary genre , Lyotard's definition of the im- bricated visual space provides a useful starting point for discussing the contradictory images produced by poem and painting : " The play of two imbricated ...
Page 12
... tion is the interrogation prompted by Laura - Mercury , who turns Petrarch- Battus to stone . Tensions on both sides of the Petrarchan equation are inherent to the convention . Romantic success would , after all , cancel the complaint ...
... tion is the interrogation prompted by Laura - Mercury , who turns Petrarch- Battus to stone . Tensions on both sides of the Petrarchan equation are inherent to the convention . Romantic success would , after all , cancel the complaint ...
Page 19
... tion of the lyric because they posit a self constantly compelled to redefini- tion even as they recognize the simultaneous insuff1ciency and imperma- nence of all categories . Once surfaced in the Rime sparse , Laura - Eve and Laura ...
... tion of the lyric because they posit a self constantly compelled to redefini- tion even as they recognize the simultaneous insuff1ciency and imperma- nence of all categories . Once surfaced in the Rime sparse , Laura - Eve and Laura ...
Page 21
... tion ; the form itself undergoes a process of restatement as meanings and expectations are sustained , qualified , undermined , revised . And in this way , genre - concepts change not just between but within literary works themselves ...
... tion ; the form itself undergoes a process of restatement as meanings and expectations are sustained , qualified , undermined , revised . And in this way , genre - concepts change not just between but within literary works themselves ...
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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