I feel a bit awkward about narcissistic self-promotion, but
I have something about the three Elizabeths (wife, mother,
queen) in _The Story of All Things_ (Duke, 1998)--from a
formal, rather than a historical perspective, however.
Interested readers might see especially pp. 129-41.
On Wed, 4 Apr 2001 14:38:23 -0700 Joel Davis
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Tom Bishop wrote:
> >OK. I'll play. The situation would be rather like that obtaining with
> >that other Elizabeth (the Glorious One), wouldn't it? Does the myth
> >call forth the woman, or vice versa -- or do both "dilate" one
> >another?
>
> Tom's mention of the analogy between the two Elizabeths makes me think of
> Spenser's anxiety about how his works would be interpreted -- and the
> cautious commentaries he makes on interpretation in Book 6 of the FQ,
> especially. Do the Amoretti exhibit as much anxiety over how they will be
> interpreted? Do they get more anxious as their topic gets closer to the
> royal Elizabeth?
>
> I also wonder about the warning against romanticized biographical
> interpretations: no doubt it's valid, but then again, isn't the similarity
> (and repetition) of names like Elizabeth an important part of how the
> Amoretti mean something? If we want to say the Amoretti ventriloquize
> Spenser into being as a poetic persona, isn't it significant that they do it
> by invoking the name, Elizabeth? And can't we say that the figuratively
> rich language of the Amoretti, full of ambiguities and overdetermined
> signifiers, effectively gives Spenser some cover in case someone interprets
> his poetry as offensive?
>
> It seems to me that some of the most interesting questions we can ask center
> on intentionality, and that we ought to concede (at the very least) that
> poems are the products of (dare I say artistic? political? social?)
> intention.
>
> Cheers,
> Joel Davis
>
> ***************************
> Joel B. Davis
> Visiting Assistant Professor
> Department of English
> 205 Morrill Hall
> Oklahoma State University
> Stillwater, OK 74078
> 405-744-9468
> ***************************
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
----------------------
Marshall Grossman
[log in to unmask]
|