What Influenced Mary Wroth

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The Influences on the Works of Mary Wroth
Mary Wroth was an English poet during the Renaissance. She was the first woman to write and publish an original prose writing and sonnet sequence. Her major works included The Countess of Montgomery’s Urania and Pamphilia to Amphilanthus. Urania is composed of prose writing, English sonnets, and songs. Urania also included Pamphilia to Amphilanthus; however, Pamphilia to Amphilanthus was later published separately. The four sectioned sonnet sequence described Pamphilia’s feelings toward her unfaithful lover, Amphilanthus, and her actions to seek his forgiveness (“Mary Wroth”). The two collections illustrated many important events and ideas Wroth had in her life. The works of Mary Wroth were influenced …show more content…

Since Wroth’s family was wealthy and connected, Wroth was exposed to many literary influences. Two of the most influential people in Wroth’s life were her aunt and uncle, Mary Sidney and Sir Philip Sidney. Both relatives were educated and wrote poetry. Wroth’s aunt’s greatest achievement was revising Psalms with meters and verses (Salzman). This new lyrical technique later inspired Wroth to incorporate the mechanism into her own works. In addition, in Wroth’s Urania, Sidney was portrayed as the Queen of Naples and was described as “perfect in poetry and all other vertues” (qtd. in “Mary Wroth”). In addition to her aunt, Wroth’s uncle, Sir Philip Sidney, also greatly influenced Wroth’s works. Both Wroth and Sidney’s works contained similar formats. Wroth’s Urania contained songs, meters, and the use of English and Italian sonnets (Salzman). In addition to having similar format, Wroth used phrases from Sidney’s work.In Sidney’s sonnet sequence, Astrophel and Stella, the phrase “Sir God” was used to describe the main character’s feminine personality (qtd. in “Mary Wroth”). Wroth echoed her uncle’s work in Pamphilia to Amphilanthus by using a similar phrase to address the gender inequality in court from a female perspective (“Mary …show more content…

Traditional Petrarchan sonnets were conservative, standard, and led by a male voice. Wroth incorporated the Petrarchan sonnet in her works; however, she reversed the gender roles of the characters. In the opening sequence of Pamphilia to Amphilanthus, Wroth asked the reader if one will do “what he lists?” She replied with saying, “no I flye” (qtd. in Hagerman). Wroth’s use of “he” and “I” clearly identified herself as a female author. Wroth’s feminism is also present in an imitation of the Petrarchan sonnet “My Ship Passes” in Pamphilia to Amphilanthus. Wroth changed the voice of the speaker from “a ship” to “my paine”. The “ship” referred to an unknown woman while “my paine” clearly established the speaker as a female voice (qtd. in Fienburg). Wroth’s change in the speaker and the point of view in Pamphilia to Amphilanthus altered the traditional male role in the Petrarchan sonnet

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