Images of women in poetry

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2011 im Fachbereich Didaktik für das Fach Englisch - Literatur, Werke, Note: 1,3, Universität Paderborn, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Is it truly love that lets a woman look like a divine beauty? Or does the poet just lists the features of beauty within nearly each and every one of his sonnets? There are many different images of women in poetry and writers know how to present their beloved best. But actually, how important was beauty in order to love someone? Such questions have inspired me to pick this topic for the further analysis of the typical perception of women in some selected love sonnets. The man, who brought attention to the Italian sonnet, was Francesco Petrarca who was usually referred to as Petrarch. Especially his sonnets for his idealized girl, Laura, characterized the pan-European love poetry of the Renaissance up to the seventeenth century (c.f. 9.9.201 http://lo-net2.de/home/ mario.leis/Download_Anglistik_Frauenbild.pdf) That is why many writers adopted Petrarch's conception of love, beauty and perfection. But of course there are just as many poets who have turned away from the pure admiration of the idealized female figure. In my following analysis I will take a closer look at the image of women in Sir Philip Sidney's sonnet 91 and Shakespeare's sonnet 130 in comparison to the traditional concept of Petrarch. It is important to establish the drastic changes which exist in these two works. How much do the ladies of Shakespeare and Sidney differ from Petrarch's Laura? Do their shared characteristics outweigh the differences? And more importantly: Is there a turning point in the historical development of literature with reference to the visual representation of feminine beauty? In my work, I have tried to find answers to these central questions. First of all, I would like to give a short overview on the Petrarchan tradition and then analyze sonnet 90 which was written for his beloved Laura. After that I will concentrate on Sir Philip Sidney's presentation of women. In doing so, I will analyze sonnet 91 from his sonnet sequence Astrophil and Stella. Then I will continue like this for sonnet 130 by Shakespeare. Finally, I would like to sum up my results and give a brief conclusion.