La simbologia lunare nei canzonieri elisabettiani

This book is an enquiry on the presence of the Moon symbolism in the Elizabethan sonnet sequences. Besides the analysis of the different names and aspects linked to the Moon in the Renaissance culture, this work focuses on all the Moon’s mythological and symbolical peculiarities. In particular, it is possible to notice some important references to the female principle of the universe and to the virtues traditionally linked to femininity. In the Elizabethan sonnet sequences, it is possible to recognize both of them: the Moon is Diana, Apollo’s twin sister and the female principle of the universe. She is an example of chastity and purity, the model of that beauty Petrarch described in his sonnets. In England, the Moon symbolism is strongly indebted to Petrarchism and, as the sonnet sequences and the portraits examined in this work reveal, Elizabeth I is the woman who fits Diana’s virtues and peculiarities best.