The Poetics of Consolation and Community in Mary Wroth’s Pamphilia to Amphilanthus

Abstract

Mary Wroth’s Pamphilia to Amphilanthus reenvisions the social function of the erotic sonnet sequence in early modern literary culture. Although scholars most often discuss Wroth’s sonnets in relation to her status as a female poet, Pamphilia to Amphilanthus offers far more than a female articulation of the intricately wrought authorial subjectivity we have come to regard as one of the primary characteristics of the early modern sonnet sequence. Rather than simply use the genre to fashion a highly stylized self, as many of her male contemporaries do, Wroth presents the sonnet sequence as a genre capable of helping a diverse range of readers work through emotional distress. While some have termed Wroth’s poetic style vague or abstract, I argue that Pamphilia’s tendency to shy away from social particulars is, in fact, a deliberate innovation that emphasizes the erotic sonnet sequence’s potential for community formation as well as self-fashioning. In the first section of this essay, I argue that Pamphilia to Amphilanthus constructs an ideal community of readers founded on shared affect rather than status markers such as gender or social rank. In the later sections, I show how Wroth employs and revises the conventions of the sonnet sequence to implement her vision of the genre as a source of consolation for those who suffer from erotic disappointment or frustration.