Unifying Principles in the English Renaissance Sonnet Sequence

In this thesis, the structural and thematic development of the English sonnet sequence during the years of its greatest vogue is examined in detail. The sonnet itself, as the basic unit of the structure of a sequence, is analyzed, and the various characteristics of the sequences themselves are investigated. The sequences of Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Samuel Daniel, and Michael Drayton are discussed in separate chapters. The basic contention of this thesis is that, while many sonnet "cycles" are mere collections of discrete sonnets, the major sonnet writers of this period constructed sequences that are highly organized along stylistic, thematic, and even, to some extent, temporal lines. Each of the major sonneteers employed unifying principles in distinctly different manners, and with very different results. Their various approaches to the construction of a cohesive sequence are thoroughly explored, and a comparison and placement of the four major sequences in perspective with the sonneteering tradition close the thesis.