Griffin, Aurélie. “Melancholic Excess and Poetic Measure in Mary Wroth’s Pamphilia to Amphilanthus.” XVII-XVIII, no. 71, 2014, pp. 121–134., doi:10.4000/1718.397.
Aurélie Griffin argues that Lady Mary Wroth repeatedly disrupts her poetic measure in her sonnet sequence Pamphilia to Amphilanthus in order to portray the idea that the persona’s melancholy is so excessive, poetic measure is unable to contain it. Griffin claims that the concept of excess melancholy is also portrayed through Worth’s syntax and use of caesuras within her sonnet sequence (124). She states that Wroth uses syntax to portray her hesitations about moving forward when faced with obstacles in love in Sonnet 77, and explains how Wroth may use caesuras to both affirm despair and give an impression of aggression (125). The central image of the flaming heart in Wroth’s sonnet sequence is thought to be associated with Saint Teresa, and Griffin explores how Wroth’s erotic discourse in her poetry overlapping with this allusion to spiritual discourse may be a form of excess as well, as the meaning embedded within each discourse is unable to be contained within the lines of Wroth’s poetry (130).
-- Grace Kranz
