Femininity in Spenser’s Amoretti
| Thesis title in Czech: | Femininity in Spenser’s Amoretti |
|---|---|
| Thesis title in English: | Femininity in Spenser’s Amoretti |
| Key words: | Renesanční literatura|Edmund Spenser|ženskost|Francesco Petrarca|Samuel Daniel|sonet|gender|Amoretti|Delia|Zpěvník|Canzoniere|Rime sparse |
| English key words: | Renaissance literature|sonnet|Edmund Spenser|gender|Francesco Petrarch|femininity|Amoretti|Canzoniere|Samuel Daniel|Delia|Rime sparse |
| Academic year of topic announcement: | 2015/2016 |
| Thesis type: | Bachelor's thesis |
| Thesis language: | angličtina |
| Department: | Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK) |
| Supervisor: | Mgr. Helena Znojemská, Ph.D. |
| Author: | hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept. |
| Date of registration: | 30.11.2016 |
| Date of assignment: | 30.11.2016 |
| Administrator's approval: | not processed yet |
| Confirmed by Study dept. on: | 07.12.2016 |
| Date and time of defence: | 04.09.2018 00:00 |
| Date of electronic submission: | 09.08.2018 |
| Date of proceeded defence: | 04.09.2018 |
| Submitted/finalized: | committed by student and finalized |
| Opponents: | PhDr. Soňa Nováková, CSc. |
| Guidelines |
| The aim of my thesis would be to analyse Edmund Spenser’s handling of femininity in his series of sonnets Amoretti, which is by literary critics generally considered quite unusual for its time. I wish to examine to what point this is true and clarify the manner in which this manifests. My reading will be informed by recent feminist theory. The thesis will focus mainly on the behaviour and depiction of Spenser’s Lady of the Sonnet, comparing it to that in similarly themed sonnets written by his contemporaries (and the “Father of the Sonnet” Petrarch). It will also analyse the evolution of sonnets’ male narrator’s view on love and his Lady, and take into account the various cultural influences on Spenser’s representation of love and beauty.
I wish to research this topic because, after reading Joan Curbet’s “Edmund Spenser’s Bestiary in the ‘Amoretti’” and R. W. Dasenbrock’s “The Petrachan Context of Spenser’s Amoretti,” I have come to feel it deserves a wider recognition, as too few literary critics seem to have approached the feminine aspect of Amoretti – most appear to focus their full attention on The Faerie Queene. Yet I would argue that Spenser’s sonnets also seem to provide ample material for such an analysis. While there are fewer sources available on Spenser’s short works than on that of other sonneteers, there is sufficient amount of literature on English Renaissance sonnets’ treatment of women and on Spenser’s writing in general. I have therefore set out to remedy this lack of sources by creating an analysis of my own. I would estimate the time of submission of the thesis as July 2016. |
| References |
| Davies, Stevie. Feminine Reclaimed: The Idea of Woman in Renaissance Literature. Brighton: Harvester Press, 1986.
Campana, John. The Pain of Reformation: Spenser, Vulnerability and Ethics of Masculinity. New York: Fordham University Press, 2012. Curbet, Joan. “Edmund Spenser’s Bestiary in the ‘Amoretti’ (1595).” Atlantis 24.2 (2002): 41-58, JSTOR Dasenbrock, Reed Way. “The Petrachan Context of Spenser's Amoretti.” PMLA 100.1 (1985): 38-50, JSTOR Ogle, M. B. “The Classical Origin and Tradition of Literary Conceits.” The American Journal of Philology 34.2 (1913): 125-152,. Sanchez, Melissa E. “‘Modesty or comeliness’: the predicament of reform theology in Spenser's Amorettiand Epithalamion.” Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 65.1 (2012): 5-24. |