Abstract
This study explores representations of love, power, gender, and sexuality in the sonnet sequences of Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Richard Barnfield, and Lady Mary Wroth. Although Sidney and Spenser are esteemed authors whose work has shaped our perceptions of Renaissance thought, I look at the sequences of Sidney and Spenser as problematic works that endorse misogynist and hierarchical models of love. Conversely, I look at Barnfield’s and Wroth’s respective portrayals of a male speaker writing to a male beloved and a female speaker writing to a male beloved as more diverse and progressive conceptions of love than the ones that Sidney and Spenser provide. I ultimately argue that we should give more canonical power and critical attention to Wroth and Barnfield, since their poetry can give us a more comprehensive understanding of love in early modern England. In contrast to current critical attitudes that view Sidney and Spenser as canonical poets while viewing Wroth and Barnfield as less canonical or non-canonical poets, a large part of my project deconstructs the canonical authority of Sidney and Spenser and challenges the notion that Barnfield should remain at the fringes of Renaissance literary studies or that Wroth should only be studied in a subfield of women writers. I argue that Barnfield and Wroth should be brought to the forefront of Renaissance literary studies not only for students of literature to be exposed to their poetry, but also because the canonization and recognition of their work can help to refashion modern conceptions of love.