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Puritanism in Edmund Spenser's Amoretti and Epithalamion: Refashioning the Petrarchan Sonnet

Muna Mohamad Abd-Rabbo and Layla Farouq Abdeen

Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities, Volume 27, Issue 2, June 2019

Keywords: Amoretti, Edmund Spenser, Epithalamion, holy marriage, platonism, puritanism

Published on: 28 June 2019

This paper analyses Edmund Spenser's sonnet sequence Amoretti and its concluding sequel Epithalamion within the context of Puritanism. By highlighting the Puritanical concepts in Spenser's two poetic works, the two researchers demonstrate the aspects in which Spenser parts ways with the Petrarchan sonnet tradition. Spenser offers a pure, Christian love that ends in holy matrimony as an alternative to the unsanctified, unrequited love in Petrarchan sonnets. Moreover, this research identifies the segments of Spenser's poems wherein Platonism is exceedingly manifested. Through the textual examination of the two aforementioned works, it becomes evident that nuances of the Puritan faith come to light in Spenser's depiction of a holy, Christian courtship and marriage, in his portrayal of the lady as an embodiment of heavenly light in contrast to the inferiority of earthly existence and in his parallel presentation of the lover's suffering for his angelic lady as an allegorical reflection of the agony endured by the Puritan to gain Heavenly Grace.

ISSN 0128-7702

e-ISSN 2231-8534

Article ID

JSSH-2097-2017

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