The poetry of marriage, 1575-1625

Fowler, Adrian Joseph (1977) The poetry of marriage, 1575-1625. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis is a study of lyric poetry and masques written for weddings. Both form and content are analysed. An attempt is made to define the epithalamium in its various manifestations in relation to classical models. The development of the masque is outlined and the similarities in function between the epithalamium and the wedding masque pointed out. But it is also realized that literature written for weddings puts forward certain conceptions about matrimony and utilizes certain motifs. Some of these represent something universal in human experience; others represent a particular age and culture. I have tried to show how Renaissance writers came to terms with the legacy of formal and thematic conventions which they inherited from the Greeks and Romans, as well as how they reflected their own time in the songs and poems which they wrote for weddings. -- The "Introduction" describes the changes that occurred in the idea of matrimony in 16th. century England and defines three varieties of epithalamium from classical times. The first chapter, "The Nuptial Songs," surveys the most lyrical of these types in vernacular literature between 1575 and 1625. The second chapter, "The Literary Lyrics," analyses examples of a more literary kind of epithalamium, represented most notably by Spenser's Epithalamion and Donne's "Epithalamion made at Lincolnes Inn." The third chapter deals briefly with three examples of the heroic epithalamium. And the final chapter is a detailed look at the wedding masques performed between 1575 and 1625, in relation to epithalamic tradition as well as contemporary views and attitudes concerning marriage.

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