Alison Findlay
Alison Findlay is Professor of Renaissance Drama at Lancaster University and Chair of the British Shakespeare Association.
Location North of England, UK
Activity
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Alison Findlay replied to carolyne storey
@SusanMiddleton @RobHolmes @carolynestorey Dear Susan and Carolyne, I am sorry you did not enjoy the creative exercises, which I designed to provide ways into the material for those whose primary interests and expertise (though equally valuable) are not in literature. I would imagine that other FutureLearn course designers have also been guided by some of the...
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Alison Findlay replied to Jane Saunte
Thank you Jane; it's really encouraging to read your enthusiasm for Mary Sidney and Mary Wroth. Best wishes, Alison
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Alison Findlay replied to Helen Mary Jones
@MaryZajac I'm glad you enjoyed this, Mary and do hope you will have chance to visit Penshurst at some point. It is well worth the journey. Thanks for your comments. Alison
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Alison Findlay replied to Helen Mary Jones
@HelenMaryJones Hello Helen. I apologise for the unavoidable delay due to my own teaching commitments and hope you will have chance to read the summary above. Best wishes, Alison
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Alison Findlay replied to Rob Holmes
Many thanks for this, Rob. I am glad you persevered through the challenges and enjoyed the rewards. If you could get in touch with me via email a.g.findlay@lancaster.ac.uk, I'd be grateful as I am keen to find out more about what could help learners in future.
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Alison Findlay replied to Lynne Hilber
Thank you Lynne. Do let me know what more about Penshurst you would like.
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Alison Findlay replied to Marcia D'Iorio
Hello Marcia, apologies for the delay and please see above. Best wishes, I've now had chance to put more comments on the rest of the week too so hope this will be of interest during your nailbiting wait for election results. Alison
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Alison Findlay replied to Ann C
Hello Ann, apologies for the delay and please see above. Best wishes, Alison
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Alison Findlay replied to Rob Holmes
@JaneSaunte Thank you Jane!
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It is most likely that the play was written before 1624 and the children - probably between 1617 where we have a watermarked letter from Robert Sidney that matches the paper of the manuscript, and 1621 when she published the "Urania". One theory is 1619 to celebrate her sister Barbara's wedding.
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@SarahWilliams @jo t Thanks both. Daughters were still sent to convents on the continent after the closure of the majority of the sisterhoods in England - we have quite a lot of evidence of these and the activities (including performing and writing plays) that took place in convents. So this quietly contradicts the conflation of sexual misconduct in Hamlet's...
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I'm afraid the psalter is not in the public domain Helen. As learners on the course, you have had a glimpse of a privately owned manuscript. We are lucky that Lord De L'Isle gave me permission to show you the images I have used. There is another transcription of them, probably by Sir John Harrington (Elizabeth's godson) in the British Library Manuscript...
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Thank you, John. Given that the Sidneys were accomplished musicians, I think this is more than likely and that Mary Sidney Herbert draws on this technique for the choruses in her translation of "The Tragedy of Antony"
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Alison Findlay replied to Joyce Wells
Thank you Joyce. If your son's school is still teaching "Romeo and Juliet" or other Shakespeares this year, I'd be happy to do an online session for them - pitched at the right level.
Just email me on a.g.findlay@lancaster.ac.uk -
Alison Findlay replied to Richard Holt
Witty! It has been a pleasure to have you on the course, Richard.
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Alison Findlay made a comment
Thank you for all your comments here. I was personally quite shocked by the partisan nature of the sermon when I found it in researching to create the course. Since all the Sidney writers grew up under the shadow of that polemic - in public at least - I think it is important to acknowledge it and then see how their own writing responds to it.
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Yes, I agree; a very sharp observation Lyn.
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It is still there!
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@MarciaD'Iorio Dear Marcia, no, the church predates the Sidneys arrival at Penshurst. The chapel was, however, added much later than the time of our writers.
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Thanks for adding this, Susan. It was and is a village church used by all the members of the parish and at the time of our Sidney writers all parishioners were obliged to attend or risk fines.
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Alison Findlay replied to Janis Craig
Yes - and perhaps always linked with politics.
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Well done, Samantha for this excellent achievement. It's testament I think to the fact that we are all acting in some way or other in our dealings with others (how we project ourselves or respond, in different environments), and we are all skilled in this respect; it's so natural that it's just not formally recognised as a skill.
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Rather than Robert Wroth being really terrible, I think it is more accurate to say that Mary Wroth was really obsessed with her cousin. Margaret P. Hannay's biography "Mary Sidney, Lady Wroth" demonstrates how inaccurate assumptions about Robert Wroth have led to a misreading of Rustic as his dramatic avatar. Our new edition of the play argues that a more...
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Yes, my admiration for Mary Sidney Herbert increases each time I read her work and you will find out more about her amazing poetic skills, resilience and love for her brother in next week's materials.
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Unless it is being spoken with an element of irony?
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Our production, in the centenary of WWI, drew on precisely those parallels, Rob.
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Yes, Marion Wynne-Davies pointed out that the use of Diana may well have been linked to the Diana fountain in the wilderness garden at the palace of Nonesuch, Lumley's home.
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'Naughty' was a much more powerful word in the early modern period, meaning 'wicked'. It is used in this way by Gloucester in King Lear who calls the heartless Regan 'Naughty lady' (3.7)
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I agree Diana. I love this book and think it continues Pat Barker's deeply moving insights into the traumatic experiences of war that she was celebrated for in the "Regeneration" trilogy about the First World War.
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@JanTappan A little later in the scene, Jan, he is brought on centre stage by Iphigenia and this was the point most of our audiences in 2013-14 felt tears coming to their eyes.
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@AlanT Well observed Alan! It was actually a much more powerful word in the early modern period, meaning 'wicked'. It is used in this way by Gloucester in King Lear who calls the heartless Regan 'Naughty lady' (3.7)
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It is complex! Lady Jane Grey (first cousin to Lumley) was married to the youngest brother of Lady Mary Dudley, mother to Philip Sidney and Mary Sidney Herbert and grandmother to Lady Mary Wroth.
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Thanks for these observations, Philly. We tested out the performability of these plays by doing productions from 1994-2018 and will continue when opportunity permits!
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@JanisCraig @RobHolmes Thanks, both of you for these comments. Lady Mary Wroth danced in the Masque of Blackness andThe Moorish ambassador visited London with a train of attendants
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@WendyWright @DianaCastle Thanks both. In addition, it's interesting that the text Henry Crawford reads aloud to Fanny and Lady Bertram is "Henry VIII" - where Queen Katherine (who has a lady in waiting called 'Patience' and Anne Boylen provide obvious parallels to Fanny and Mary Crawford respectively.
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Alison Findlay made a comment
Dear All
Thank you for your enthusiastic responses. A full summary will be posted later today.
Alison -
Alison Findlay replied to Jan Tappan
@JanTappan Unfortunately, we do not know any more from the available evidence but the fullest source is Margaret P. Hannay's scrupulously researched biography "Mary Sidney, Lady Wroth" (Ashgate, 2010). Best, Alison
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Dear Jackie,
Yes indeed. The performance of Walter Montague's pastoral "The Shepherd's Paradise" at Somerset Court was an all-female cast playing the King and Prince etc. -
Thanks Judy. I would say that the country house and family did provide a supportive context, perhaps because such events could provide a 'rehearsal' for participation at entertainments at court. By the time Queen Henrietta Maria was producing theatre (the same time as "Comus") women were speaking as well as dancing in court entertainments.
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Alison Findlay replied to Alison Findlay
@KateDingle Dear Kate, Not at all - I would love to have the time to engage with all the comments. I do feel for our undergraduates though. Preparing additional materials for them and answering queries and having additional one-to-one virtual meetings seems the least I can do to help them.
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Alison Findlay replied to Alison Findlay
@JaneSaunte Thank you Jane.
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Alison Findlay replied to Janis Craig
@HelenMaryJones Dear Helen, I hope you have now seen my post and explanation about the slight delay in getting this up. You might also be interested to look back at all the comments I have put up at various steps.
Best wishes
Alison -
Alison Findlay replied to Janis Craig
@KateDingle Dear Kate,
Please see my comments on the week and additional comments throughout the week plus my explanation for the one-day delay in getting these to you due to demands for additional material for online undergraduate teaching materials at Lancaster.
Alison -
Alison Findlay replied to Janis Craig
@JanisCraig Dear Janis
Please see my comments on the week and additional comments to members of the group through the week if you look back at previous steps.
Alison -
Thanks for these comments Wendy. On the "Love's Victory" point, following Margaret Hannay's 2010 biography of Mary Wroth, scholarship has rejected the identification of Rustic with Robert Wroth.
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@JanisCraig I'm sorry this wasn't clear. The idea was to explore which painting(s) seemed the most appropriate visual image of Wroth's conceptions of Venus and Cupid.
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Alison Findlay replied to Kate Dingle
@KateDingle Dear Kate and Jan, I'm sorry to hear about this. Very frustrating indeed. I will ask my contact at FutureLearn if she can offer any advice. Alison
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Alison Findlay replied to Jan Tappan
Thanks for this, Jan. You are right that critics have been very intrigued by this. Some have read the wedding scene in the second part of "Urania" as rehearsing Mary's feelings on the day of her wedding. William Herbert was there - and in "Urania" Amphilanthus (fictional avatar for Herbert) is shown as pained by witnessing his beloved marry another.
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@DavidBrown It does seem to be the stuff of novels! Naomi Miller's novel "The Alchemist" about Mary Sidney Herbert will be published this November and she is completing one on Lady Mary Wroth as well.
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I am glad you liked it, Victoria. The costume certainly does make one move differently.
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Thank you for this perceptive comparison to our current situation Rob. I think the sense of feeling trapped - and lost - is one that is particularly current just now.
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@johnramm I love this idea, John!
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Clare, you might like to look at the step and Els Van Den Steen's recommendations for pens.
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Diane, I am sure you are every bit as clever. They had much more time to write than most of us do nowadays!
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I am glad you enjoyed the exercise, Diana, and if you would like to photograph it, you could put it up or send it to me by email and I can put it up for you.
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Yes, he is a cousin of William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, and in addition to his poetry, we have a manuscript of a section of a play 'The Amazon' which he may have written for William Herbert and Lady Mary Wroth.
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@DavidBrown Thanks for this comparison David. I also think her sonnet 'In an Artist's Studio' is a brilliant reponse to the objectification of women in Petrarchan tradition.
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@AndrewTaylor Dear Andrew, You have hit the nail on the head here, I think, in identifying these emotions felt so keenly in the heart that they can't be expressed in words. I think that is what Philip Sidney is getting at in the first sonnet of his sequence. And although it is very clever, I also think the frustration and anxiety comes across as deeply felt
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@SusanMiddleton Thanks, Susan. If you look at Sonnet 59 that self abasement becomes so extreme (the speaker compares himself to the beloved's dog and protests he is inferior) that the poet seems to be revelling in his abject position.
Here is the sonnet
Deere, why make you more of a dog than me?
If he doe love, I burne, I burne in love
If he waite well, I... -
An interesting comparison, Sue. Thank you
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Thanks Rob and Gill. If you are interested in sonnet structure and the Italian 'home' of the sonnet, perhaps you might enjoy Anthony Burgess's book "ABBA ABBA" about John Keats and Guiseppe Giachimo Belli, which is part story and part translation of Belli's poetry.
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Alison Findlay made a comment
Dear All
I have been working very hard to provide online and face to face teaching to my own undergraduate students this week. Hence the late update (by one day) of the summary for which I apologise.
Alison. -
I am really glad you enjoyed the sonnet, Marcia. More delights to come!
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I'm glad you enjoyed making the comparisons Rob.
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@GillMcKenzie Having just enjoyed a fine bottle of Vasse Felix's Chardonnay last night I fully appreciate how you are surrounded by the good things of life near Margaret River, Gill. There will be more on William Herbert and Mary Wroth's extra marital love affair next week....!
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@JaneSaunte Styling oneself after the queen would, I think, have been strategic too!
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Because he spoke out to dissuade her from marrying the Duc D' Alencon.
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Dear Lyn,
Thanks for this comment. Wyatt and Surrey actually preceded Philip Sidney in adapting versions of Petrarch (the inventor of the sonnet form), but he was the one who popularised it - and went further in his adaptation of the Petrarchan tradition. We'll find out more about this next week!
Alison -
Alison Findlay made a comment
Welcome to everyone. What a wonderful range of experiences and breadth of knowledges you are bringing to the course. I very much look forward to working with you.
Best wishes
Alison -
Hello Judy, that's an interesting comment. They were not forced to marry but, in financial terms, represented very attractive prospects to young men who did not have their own inheritances (e.g. younger sons). Culturally, the widow's independence - and autonomy as controller of an estate - was also something of a threat to conventional patriarchal society so...
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Hello Judy, that's an interesting comment. They were not forced to marry but, in financial terms, represented very attractive prospects to young men who did not have their own inheritances (e.g. younger sons). Culturally, the widow's independence - and autonomy as controller of an estate - was also something of a threat to conventional patriarchal society so...
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It's so lovely to have you all coming to the Sidney writing for the first time - or for after a long time and from a distance too.
There's such a range of writing to choose from that I have enough for a hundred courses(!) but I hope you'll like the samples I've chosen. -
Alison Findlay replied to Deborah Hill
Great to have you on the course, Deborah. I hope you'll enjoy it and it will transform your experience of visiting Penshurst
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Alison Findlay replied to Anne Crabb
@IanGuy Dear Ian
I am very glad you enjoyed your visit. Philip Sidney told me you had talked to him about the course! If you can get back once the house is open too there are more treats in store! -
Alison Findlay replied to Fineas Tig
Although the course will officially close on 6 August, if you wanted to do a synchronous discussion about one aspect of it with students next academic year, I'd be very happy to do a lecture / discussion remotely.
Just get in touch by email a.g.findlay@lancaster.ac.uk
Very best
Alison -
Alison Findlay replied to Sharon Wells
Dear Sharon, Thank you for letting me know about Joan. She sounds amazing. If you are in touch with her, do pass on my very best wishes to her. I really hope she'll be able to do the course in a future run.
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Alison Findlay replied to Denise Keay
@SharonWells Dear Sharon, I will do that right away . If you are in touch with Joan, please pass on my best wishes to her.
Alison -
Alison Findlay replied to Denise Keay
I think you need another course to answer all these questions Denise!
It is, I think, deliberately ambiguous as to what happens between Silvesta and the Forester at the end. In the 2018 Penshurst production (see additional material 4.18 to make a request for access to this) she exited without the Forester. But it is also possible to read their relationship as... -
Alison Findlay made a comment
Welcome and I hope you enjoy this week of the course. Do get in touch with any questions if you have them and I will be happy to help.
Alison -
Dear Ann,
my favourite comment is by the comedian Stephen Fry who calls it the 'goldilocks form' because it is both perfect (demandingly so) and adaptable. -
Alison Findlay made a comment
Dear All,
Just a practical note for anyone who would like to use the on-screen captions for the videos so that you can watch rather than having to look down to the transcript.
They can be activated by the small red square button at the bottom right of the screen and you then just click 'English' and they should appear.
Best wishes
Alison -
@BarryC. Hello, Barry. Yes, the valuation of chastity within marriage is a big motif in writing of the time (which doesn't fit with our modern ideas of chastity as abstinence from sex. It seems to have been a strong trope of the Sidney writing (chaste love is praised by Lady Mary Wroth's characters in her play "Love's Victory" which we'll come on to in later...
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Hello Diane; yes, some very careful diplomacy here - primarily involving a swift turn around by the Earl of Pembroke over Lady Jane Grey. We'll look at a literary response to this in Week 3. There is also a timeline on the Penshurst Place site which you might find interesting.
Alison -
Alison Findlay made a comment
Dear All,
Thanks for having a go at the family tree. In response to your queries about family trees, yes, there is another one in Week 3 elaborating the Mary Dudley (Sidney) connection as an outline to the Sidneys dramatic activity and it might help you to download and have a copy of the chronology as you go through future activities. It includes more than I... -
I'm glad you're enjoying it Elizabeth. Lots more to come - and even in this 4 week course it's just the tip of the iceberg!
Best wishes,
Alison -
Alison Findlay replied to Judith Finney
Welcome Judith. I hope you will enjoy this - and if you want to make links to Shakespeare, I will, of course, be delighted to respond.
Best wishes,
Alison -
Alison Findlay made a comment
Welcome to everyone who has recently joined. It is great to have you on the course. I will keep monitoring the site - moving across the weeks for new comments - so if you need help with anything, please get in touch. I hope you will all enjoy yourselves. If you want to do the calligraphy exercise next week 2 with a proper calligraphy pen and ink, I'd advise...
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Alison Findlay replied to Alice Crampin
@AliceCrampin Dear Alice and Barbara,
I'm sorry you've had problems with this. I am by no means a technical expert myself so may I suggest that you email me with your responses and any suggestions as to what you would like in future? I'd really welcome your comments. My email is a.g.findlay@lancaster.ac.uk. Thank you for joining the course. Alison -
Alison Findlay replied to wayne lewis
Dear Wayne, I agree - please follow the suggested email to the University (in the attachment 'Recorded Perfromances' to ask for this option. Best wishes and thanks for your participation.
Alison -
Alison Findlay replied to Maria Roberts
Dear Maria,
Just to let you know I have put up a link to the whole of Mary Wroth's and Philip Sidney's sonnets which I hope you will find of interest.
Best wishes,
Alison -
Alison Findlay replied to Alice Crampin
@BarbaraLister Dear Alice and Barbara,
I'm sorry you've had problems with this. I am by no means a technical expert myself so may I suggest that you email me with your responses and any suggestions as to what you would like in future? I'd really welcome your comments. My email is a.g.findlay@lancaster.ac.uk. Thank you for joining the course. Alison -
That is fascinating, Valerie. I wish you and your brother the very best of luck with piecing together your family history. Have you explored the Kent History and Library Centre archives in case there is anything further there? It is a lovely place to work.
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Alison Findlay replied to Hugh Robertson
@HughRobertson We know that it was designed for this publication, Hugh. Mary Ellen Lamb's article ‘Selling Mary Wroth’s Urania: The Frontispiece and the Connoisseurship of Romance,’ SJ, 34:1 (2016), 33-48.which makes a convincing case that the image cultivates an extended coterie of readers with social aspirations.
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Alison Findlay replied to Valerie Ralphs
Thanks for this imaginative setting Valerie. I particularly like the idea of Cupid aiming at the entrance.
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@VivienneC Yes, Wroth is not Angela Carter.
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Thanks for noting this important point Virginia. The ideal of chastity within marriage was really important for the early moderns - see back to Jonson's praise of Mary's mother Barbara Gamage in To Penshurst for example. There are more examples in Wroth's "Urania" too.
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@BarbaraLister Dear Barbara, I sympathise with your negative feelings about William Herbert - as I think Wroth would too. However, she was probably 'already contracted' in the same way that he was so she went down the garden path - or up the garden path to Penshurst Mount - knowingly!
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@PhilipM Thank you for this connection to Emilia's prayer to Diana, Philip. I think it is interesting that the other two gods worshipped in this scene are Venus and Mars. When the rose falls from Diana's altar, this could also be seen as part of the tragedy of the tragicomedy for Emilia.
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@BarbaraLister Great connection back to last week, Barbara! Thank you.
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Alison Findlay replied to Janet P
Janet, I personally think that this speech can be read partly, as Sandra Usselman says, as an angry retort to William Herbert. I think it can also be a reflection by Wroth on her own situation as being chaste to him (if she believed she was already married to him when she was married to Robert Wroth). If she did believe this, then this would explain why she...
