Thanks, John, for the recollection of Milton. I had thought about Marlowe,
although I'm not sure of the species, let alone the gender, of the
shepherd's beloved. I too was very skeptical at first about the ambiguous
gender of the person addressed in that poem, but I no longer quite
scoff. See Gred Bredbeck's book. But it was Patrick Cheney who shook my
disbelief (at least part way) by reminding me that Marlowe's poem alludes
one way or another to Virgil's second eclogue--the one that E.K. says
Imerito is imitating and that Barnfield also follows. And that eclogue is
certainly homoerotic, albeit I assume in a more Roman than early modern
English way. Virgil, after all, didn't feel the need to deny what he was
doing. If Marlowe's beloved is female and a *real* nymph she not only
sports a cap but a lot of very strange clothing as well. An interesting
question is why Ralegh (if it was Ralegh, and I can't remember if this is
one of the poems that Michael Ruddik has taken from the canon) calls her a
nymph. A nice way of saying "girl"? Rescuing the poem from its homoerotic
associations with the Virgil? To indicate, ironically, the unreality of
the poem's implied world? In any case, that whole group of poems,
including Spenser's "Januarie," says something interesting about how the
classics could be used as cover. What has been puzzling me, though, is
that if "paederastice" love is better than "gynastice" (or however it's
spelled), then Hobbinol's passion (although--Heaven forfend! Just us
Virgilians her!--not actually filthy lust) is nobler than and preferable
to Colin's love for Rosalind. A very odd performance. Anne Prescott.
On Wed, 25 Oct 2000, j.k. leonard wrote:
>
>
> Marlowe's passionate shepherd promises to give his nymph (assuming that
> she is one) a "cap of flowers." Ralegh's reply also mentions "Thy cap."
> Bill's joke about taking one's hat off reminds me of the garland that
> naked Adam weaves for naked Eve in *Paradise Lost* just before his fall.
> I have always thought that garland very erotic in the way it supplements
> and maybe even compromises Eve's nakedness.
>
> Someone (I think it was on a Barnfield website) has suggested that
> the addressee of Marlowe's passionate shepherd is really a boy (since
> Marlowe liked boys, and kirtles could be worn by males). I don't think
> i believe this, but it is an interesting argument.
>
>
> John Leonard
>
>
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