The representation of the female figure in the poetry of John Donne and Francisco de Quevedo

This study intends to explore the different representations of the feminine in the poetic works of Donne and Quevedo. Using the tools of comparative analysis, it places Donne's and Quevedo's writings in the broader context of 17 th-century European poetry, within the frame of common Renaissance literary traditions. It can be arranged in three sections:;In the first section, both poets are assessed in the European literary arena, with particular emphasis on the metaphysical and conceptista poetry, and the formation of national canons. A thorough assessment of bibliography is imposed as both authors have been subject to exhaustive literary analysis from most diverse perspectives.;In the second section we explore the treatment of the female figure in the poetical works of Donne and Quevedo. This analysis is disposed around three literary traditions: Petrarchism, Neoplatonism and the Roman elegy and satire.;The treatment of the feminine in the light of Petrarchan aesthetics is focused on the representation of the effictio and the fragmentation of the female body. Petrarchan poetics also contributes to the representation of the feminine as logos, aspect that pervades diverse poetical genres.;Besides, Neoplatonism affects the construction of the portrait of the donna angelicata, embodiment of ideal female beauty radically detached from Petrarchan belle dame sans merci. The presence of both traditions and the resonance of Classical elegy and satire in the construction of anti-Petrarchan portraits prove the conventional character of most representations of the female figure in a highly codified poetical discourse.;A third and final section is basically concerned with the elaboration of a thesis on the representation of the female figure which results from the analyses carried out in previous sections. It also attempts interpretation in the broader context of Donne's and Quevedo's literary production considered as an expression of post-Petrarchan poetics. The pervading presence of a physical universe and the overwhelming evidence of a lyric subject who invades the poetical space lead to formulate a solipsistic shift in Donne's and Quevedo's poetic imagination. This fact conditions the representation of the feminine and explains the complex relationship these poets establish with literary traditions.