Innovation of the sonnet and its development has opened up the form from a restrictive to an adaptable form that allows the sonnet to address different themes. The adaptability of the sonnet...Show moreInnovation of the sonnet and its development has opened up the form from a restrictive to an adaptable form that allows the sonnet to address different themes. The adaptability of the sonnet becomes evident in various ways. This degree of innovation allowed for the sonnet to develop from its origin as a love poem towards the religious sonnet, extending the topic of secular love, central to the Petrarchan sonnet, to include divine love and human-divine relationality. Following from that, the religious sonnet developed into the political sonnet. The political sonnet provided the foundation for women to set the stage with their contributions to the sonnet: women used the sonnet as a vehicle for private and political expression and thereby constructed the identity of the woman poet. Moreover, the adaptability of the sonnet becomes clear in the way in which individual poets innovate the sonnet in various ways. This thesis showcases examples in which poets reinvent the sonnet by means of innovative use of structural and formal conventions. Innovation of form and structure within the sonnet is analysed and contextualised by comparing sonnets by poets from the period between 1600 and 1800. The central question is how these poets innovate the use of the sonnet to respond to the events of their time, and how the successive innovation of the sonnet has caused the form to open up to address a wider range of topics.Show less
This MA thesis examines how several early modern English poets and playwrights draw on and modify discourses about female-female desire. It looks at the poems “Sapho to Philaenis” (1633) by John...Show moreThis MA thesis examines how several early modern English poets and playwrights draw on and modify discourses about female-female desire. It looks at the poems “Sapho to Philaenis” (1633) by John Donne, “The Description of Cookham” (1611) by Aemilia Lanyer, and “To My Excellent Lucasia” (1654) by Katherine Philips. I will also investigate The Convent of Pleasure (1668) by Margaret Cavendish, and William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595). These poems and plays are read in tandem with early modern discourses of medicine and friendship. Medical texts generally condemn sexual relations between women through the transgressive figure of the tribade, who is characterised by unbridled lust. Discourses of friendship propose a different figure: that of the platonic female friend. Both discourses propose radically different views on female love. Furthermore, writers within each discourse often disagree with one another and do not present a unanimous verdict on the significance, danger, and prevalence of female-female attraction, desire, and love. This leaves room for writers of poetry and plays to experiment with their portrayals of love between women. Poets and playwrights write far more nuanced portrayals of female same-sex desire and love than medical and amicitial discourses may lead us to expect, often making a case for the potency and validity of female-female love.Show less
In a time where illness could often not be explained from a medical perspective, those who fell ill sought to find the meaning of their suffering elsewhere. Today, many illnesses, ailments and...Show moreIn a time where illness could often not be explained from a medical perspective, those who fell ill sought to find the meaning of their suffering elsewhere. Today, many illnesses, ailments and pains can be explained in medical terms, but biomedicine does not seem to allow many, if any, other narratives to coexist with the restitution narrative. Illness as a lived experience goes beyond the purely medical and clinical terms that define it, illness is more than an occasion to practise medicine; it is an occasion to practise humanity and perhaps this is what best defines the field of medical humanities and what becomes clear in John Donne’s and Timothy Roger’s illness narratives.Show less
