Abstract

this essay looks at the relationship between elizabeth barrett browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese and the sonnet-sequence tradition. it analyses both the similarities and the differences the Sonnets present with respect to such tradition, with a special emphasis on the elizabethan sonnet-sequences by Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare, who emerge as the main models for the poetess. in particular, the way in which the Sonnets from the Portuguese diverge from their antecedents is explored in order to show how the tradition is challenged to give shape to a new kind of canzoniere, where conventional sexual roles associated with the genre are subverted. the elements contributing to the subversion and reworking of the sonnet rules are identified and commented. afew examples include the construction of a female lyric voice addressing her lover and connecting the whole work, the manipulation of structure, figures of speech and imagery, the introduction of unexpected scenes from Victorian everyday reality. other literary influences, such as Vittoria colonna’s poetry and elizabeth barrett’s courtship correspondence with robert browning, are also examined