Mary+Wroth's+A+crowne+of+Sonnets+dedicated+to+Love

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= = Lady Mary Wroth’s “A Crowne dedicated to Love” The crowne takes the shape of a complete circle, hence the name, crowne. The crowne earned its name for the way that the first line of a sonnet in a sequence of sonnets is the last line of the last sonnet in the sequence. Furthermore the last line of the first sonnet is the first line of the second, and so on and so forth. Lady Mary Wroth uses the Crowne in a number of ways: First use: The Petrarchan Labyrinth: The Petrarchan labyrinth is meant to represent the enclosure of the poet. She utilizes the enclosure to create a female subjectivity which has not been seen in English Renaissance literature before her time. The labyrinth matches the crowne because of the way in which the structure of the crowne encloses the sonnet by not being able to deviate from the last line in the next sonnet. Furthermore, the labyrinth is meant to represent complexity; not only in the sense of difficulty but also in the sense that there can be multiple readings of the sonnet and demands that the reader stop and re-read. An example of this is in the first sonnet: Nor fainte though crosses with my fortunes kiss; (Wroth 128). Lyn Bennett explains this line more thoroughly, “In a labyrinth, one “crosses” many paths and, as the speaker has already told us, all of those paths entail suffering. The suffering suggested by “crosses” is diametrically opposed to the joy implied by “Kiss.”” (Bennet 120). The function of deriving meaning out of double meaning is called crosse coupling. Second use: Wroth uses the poem to represent progeny. Within the first and second sonnets of the crowne we see certain tropes such as: labourinth, thread of love, and crowne. Labourinth is misspelled and we can derive meaning from it in the root of the word, labour. Bennet argues that Wroth is suggesting that this work is not just a text that she wrote but rather a production like that of a child. Thread of love can be read as an umbilical cord and crowne can be read as the crowning of a child as it leaves the birthing canal. Further references which reinforce this idea are when Wroth places blame on Venus’ son’s bad behavior. Because he sucked from her breast it was from her that he gained all of his bad influence. Third use: The labyrinth as well as the crowne represents constancy in the face of inconstancy. The crowne and the labyrinth work to create a maze structure with are inconstant with every turn (much like Pamphilia’s lover and the Anacreontic Cupid). Through the face of this inconstancy she is able to remain constant in her love for Amphilanthus. The labyrinth and crowne are unable in the end to offer any resolution to Pamphilia’s predicament because of the fact that the first line of the first poem is the last line of the last poem. “In this strang labourinth how shall I turn” (Wroth 127)? Again this speaks to the complexity of not only her subject matter but also the complexity of the labyrinth and the crowne structure.

Emily Ward Bennet, Lyn. //Women Writing of Divinest Things: Rhetoric and the Poetry of Pembroke, Wroth and Lanyer//