The depiction of desire in Wroth's "Pamphilia to Amphilanthus" and Donne's poems "The Flea" and "The Ecstasy" (PDF)

Essay from the year 2015 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, , language: English, abstract: The Renaissance was a cultural movement that began in the 14th century in Italy and gradually affected other western European countries up to the 17th century. The beginning of the Renaissance in England was approximately around 1500 and ended in 1642 when the English Civil War started. Several genres made the most of all written literature of that time to all of the head sonnets and sonnet cycles. "Pamphilia to Amphilanthus", a sonnet cycle of 103 poems and a few songs, was written by Lady Mary Wroth and one of the first poems written by an English woman in history.

Wroth's sonnets deal partly with desire but she hides it behind metaphors or innuendos. In contrast to her prudish style of writing John Donne's poems are much more provocative. He is not afraid of talking about desire and physical proximity. He wrote several poems but not linked to each other like in a sonnet sequence. This essay will focus on the poems 15, 31, 33, 46 and 47 of "Pamphilia to Amphilanthus" by Wroth and on "The Flea" and "The Ecstasy" by Donne. Donne's poems were only published after his death in 1631 hence the exact composing date is unknown.