Mary Wroth's Poetry: The Countesse Of Mountgomeries Urania
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Zachary Rose
Alison Faden
English 1301-3
10 March 2015
Love and Desire; Then and Now
In Mary Wroth’s poetry, The Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania, the theme is of loss, betrayal and desire.
“The Sunne which to the Earth Gives heate, light, and pleasure,
Joyes in Spring hateth Dearth.” (Wroth sonnet 7 Stanza 3)
The characters, Pamphilia and Amphilanthus both contribute to the intense scenes created in the poem.
“…Would that I no rule had,
Or the service not so bad,
Then might I with blis enjoy
That which now my hopes destroy.”
(Sonnet 59 Stanza 3)
The poem begins with the protagonist, Pamphilia, letting the reader know of her great joy and continues into her great disappointment.
“With Branches of this tree
Ile dresse my haplesse head, Which shall my witness bee, My hopes in love are dead:”
(Sonnet 7 Stanza 4)
The stanza below speaks of desire and the need to have it satiated. The human condition has always been of…show more content… Even though Pamphilia speaks of love, her provocative action for her forbidden desires enhances her passion and in turn adds drama to the sonnet as a whole. She never sought love; it was a yearning for the forbidden cousin, and like all unwanted gifts, it is her joy and burden to bear. Amphilanthus is the heroin, the lover, the saint. Pamphilia is cursed with loving him to the point of self-sacrifice. Her deprived heart transforms the sonnet sequence from lover’s complaint into lustful wishes.
…That which I did most desire,
To allay my loving fire (Sonnet 59, Stanza 2)
She purports to seek love. However for Pamphilia, lust and desire are the unfulfilled craving so the words
…I that must not taste the best,
Fed, must starve, and restlesse rest.
(Sonnet 59, Stanza 4) speaks more of carnal desires rather than the more pure form of