THE EPITHALAMION IN THE RENAISSANCE (ITALY, FRANCE, ENGLAND)

The dissertation traces the history of the epithalamion in Italy, France and England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the Introduction the genre is described in general terms; certain characteristics are listed which are basic to it, and its particular techniques of dramatizing the wedding event are analyzed. The second chapter discusses the Greek and Latin epithalamia which influence Renaissance poets most heavily; special emphasis is laid upon Catullus. In the third chapter a brief discussion of early neo-Latin epithalamia by Pontano, Johannes Secundus, Erasmus and others, is followed by a history of the genre in Italy through Marino. The fourth chapter traces the genre in France from Marot through the Pleiade and finally Malherbe and Scarron. In English poetry, Spenser's Epithalamion is analyzed in detail, first in regard to its sources and then to its structure; this analysis, which occupies most of the first part of the fifth chapter, is followed by a discussion of epithalamia by Donne, Jonson, Herrick, Crashaw, d'Avenant and others. The conclusion, after surveying briefly the epithalamion in other European countries, attempts to generalize on the history of the genre. A list of epithalamia containing all the poems discussed and some others is appended.