Introduction
In the late sixteenth and the seventeenth century, new ideas and motives in arts, inspired by the past but concerned with new concepts, appeared. Building on a courtly love, some writers and poets attempted to discuss the nature of love by commenting on gender issues and sexuality (MacArthur, 1989). Thus, love conventions, based on a passion or an unrequited love, would change, challenging social norms and discussing male and female sexualities. On the one hand, the authors explore male sexualities and a desire for a woman. Phillip Sidney's narrator is a lustful, musing about his chosen woman, her body and a sexual intercourse. Milton's character Comus resembles a similar character when attempting to seduce the Lady, and failing to do so because of her reason and virtue. On the other hand, the two works introduce new and progressive views on women, and their new role in the society. Both Sidney's and Milton's heroines are no longer passive feminine receivers of affections. They determine what happens to them by using reason rather than emotions. Hence, Sidney and Milton exemplify progressive views of their periods, attempting to see gender and sexuality in a new light.
Sexuality and desire
Philip Sidney: Astrophil and Stella (c. 1591)
Sidney's Astrophil and Stella, a compilation of 108 sonnets and 11 songs, describes a desire of a poet for his muse, inspired by Petrarch. It is a variation of his rhyme, and a motive Petrarch exploited: the poet's love and want for a woman. In these sonnets, Astrophil, the star lover, presents new attitudes on an idea of a sexual desire, and its ambiguity. His relationship to Stella, his star, is lustful, and the poet, the speaker, is physically rather than emotionally aroused when ...
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...uous, and morally and intellectually strong. Thus, Sidney and Milton reconsider gender of early modern English arts, pushing social boundaries of the period. Consequently, Astrophil and Stella and Comus can be viewed as socially progressive, considering tensions between genders in a modern liberal way.
Works Cited
Milton, J. (1634). Comus, A Mask presented at Ludlow Castle. [online] Available through: [Accessed 18 April 2014]. (C)
Sidney, P. (c. 1591). Astrophil and Stella. [online] Available through: [Accessed 18 April 2014]. (AS)
Secondary sources:
Kimbrough, R. (1971). Sir Philip Sidney. New York: Twayne.
MacArthur, J.H. (1989). Critical Contexts of Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella and Spenser’s Amoretti. Victoria: University of Victoria.
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`Plays and Poetry by early modern women are primarily concerned with negotiating a position from which women could speak. A concern for ideas of gender, language and silence is, therefore, central, though its expression is sometimes open, sometimes covert.' Discuss with reference to Aemilia Lanyer and / or Elizabeth Cary.
The poets integrated ?metaphysical conceits? as focal parts of these poems. Along with these, they used effective language as a basis for their convincing arguments, they included subjects of periodical importance (e.g. ?courtship? and ?religion?), and use very clever structures that are manipulated in order to make the poem read in the desired way. The very clear indication of the theme in question was strongly aided by the way in which the personas portrayed the emotions they felt and the way they showed their attitudes towards the subject. Considering all these factors, the poets made critical arguments to the mistresses in order to alter their views, thus changing their minds, on denying the poets the sex that they desired so strongly.
The speaker uses metaphors to describe his mistress’ eyes to being like the sun; her lips being red as coral; cheeks like roses; breast white as snow; and her voices sounding like music. In the first few lines of the sonnet, the speaker view and tells of his mistress as being ugly, as if he was not attracted to her. He give...
Renaissance poets Sidney and Spenser convey their messages with the help of the literary element symbolism. In “Sonnet 75” and “Astrophel and Stella” there is the presence of symbolism. This element is a cornerstone to these poems and helps the reader think deeper beyond the literal meanings of words, and how they represent something greater. The use of symbolism also makes the readers mind think about how the sentences state something literally, but also have a deeper meaning. If this element were not to be used, then the poems would lose some of their charisma because most sonnets have a deeper meaning to be conveyed with the use help of symbolism.
In “Sonnet XVII,” the text begins by expressing the ways in which the narrator does not love, superficially. The narrator is captivated by his object of affection, and her inner beauty is of the upmost significance. The poem shows the narrator’s utter helplessness and vulnerability because it is characterized by raw emotions rather than logic. It then sculpts the image that the love created is so personal that the narrator is alone in his enchantment. Therefore, he is ultimately isolated because no one can fathom the love he is encountering. The narrator unveils his private thoughts, leaving him exposed and susceptible to ridicule and speculation. However, as the sonnet advances toward an end, it displays the true heartfelt description of love and finally shows how two people unite as one in an overwhelming intimacy.
Lackluster love is the subject postulated in both sonnets, Petrarch 90 and Shakespeare 130. This is a love that endures even after beauteous love has worn off, or in Petrarch, a love that never was. The Petrarchan sonnet utilizes fantasy to describe love. It depicts love that is exaggerated and unrealistic. Shakespeare’s sonnet, on the other hand, is very sarcastic but it is more realistic as compared to the Petrarch 90. Petrarchan sonnets, also called Italian sonnets were the first sonnets to be written, and they have remained the most common sonnets (Hollander 28). They were named after the Italian poet Petrarch. Its structure takes the form of two stanzas, the first one an octave, in that, it has eight lines, and the next stanza is a sestet, meaning that it has six lines. The rhyme scheme suits the Italian language, which has the feature of being rhyme rich, and it, can take the forms of abbaabba, cdcdcd, or cdecde. These sonnets present an answerable charge in the first stanza, and a turn in the sestet. The sestet is the counter argument of the octave.
For thousands of centuries literature has been used as a clever device to show the negative outlook in which society has on women at that time. The common theme of men exploiting women for personal gain and using their heavy-handed power to make women feel inferior can be seen in writings from the ancient Greeks all the through authors of the 20th century. Writers and intellectual thinkers such as Plato, Peter Abelard, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Henrik Ibsen, and even women such as Virgina Wolfe, and Fatima Mernissi have all written about the struggles caused by domineering men which women have fought against for so long. It is not until the late twentieth century that we see a positive almost spiritual view of women from the stories told by Gao Xingjan in his book One Man’s Bible. The 1994 publication of Fatima Mernissi’s memoirs of her girlhood in a harem spoke powerfully in favor of women shedding prescribed gender roles in favor of embracing their own identities. It is books such as Fatima’s and Gao’s which will help carry out feminist movements into the 21st century.
Through the form of sonnet, Shakespeare and Petrarch both address the subject of love, yet there are key contrasts in their style, structure, and in the manner, each approaches their subjects. Moreover, in "Sonnet 130," Shakespeare, in fact, parodies Petrarch's style and thoughts as his storyteller describes his mistress, whose "eyes are in no way as the sun" (Shakespeare 1918). Through his English poem, Shakespeare seems to mock the exaggerated descriptions expanded throughout Petrarch’s work by portraying the speaker’s love in terms that are characteristic of a flawed woman not a goddess. On the other hand, upon a review of "Sonnet 292" from the Canzoniere, through “Introduction to Literature and Arts,” one quickly perceives that Petrarch's work is full of symbolism. However, Petrarch’s utilization of resemblance and the romanticizing of Petrarch's female subject are normal for the Petrarchan style.