'Still finest wits are stilling Venus Rose': Robert Southwell's 'Optima Deo', Venus and Adonis, and Tasso's canto della rosa. Issue 3 (11th June 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: LAWRENCE, JASON
• Is Part Of: Renaissance studies. Volume 27:Issue 3(2013)
• Page Start: 389
• Page End: 406
• Publication Date: 2012-06-11
• Subjects: Renaissance -- Periodicals; 940.21
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1477-4658.2012.00816.x
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0269-1213

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>It has been argued, with reference to <italic>Venus and Adonis</italic>, that Shakespeare is the poet targeted specifically by Robert Southwell in his mournful stanza on love poetry in 'The Author to the Reader'; this essay argues instead that Southwell's remark has a wider application to English poets of the early 1590s. The image of '<italic>Venus</italic> Rose' draws attention to Tasso's celebrated <italic>canto della rosa</italic> (1581), which survives in a manuscript translation attributed to Southwell, although there is a significant shift, where Tasso's <italic>carpe diem</italic> conclusion is replaced with an invocation to turn to God. It has been suggested that the translation dates from Southwell's time in Rome in the 1580s; this essay favours a later date of composition, arguing that the poet was aware of both Spenser's adaptation of the song, and Daniel's rendering of it in <italic>Delia</italic> (1592), and that his translation should be read as further evidence of an engagement with contemporary poetry during the Jesuit mission in England. The essay also considers Shakespeare's treatment of the <italic>carpe florem</italic> motif in <italic>Venus and Adonis</italic>, arguing for the poet's direct awareness of Tasso's song and the Armida episode, and highlighting his bold reworking of it at the end of the poem.</p> </abstract>