‘Yo tomaré la pluma y de tus glorias coronista seré’: An Edited Translation of the Secular Sonnets of Sor Violante do Céu

Abstract

Sor Violante do Céu was a Portuguese nun of the early modern period whose secular and religious poetry and theatre granted her considerable renown in the upper echelons of Iberian society. Her status as a woman, nun, member of high society, and as a writer who explored themes of non-normative and queer love set her as an exception to the status quo of Siglo de Oro, or Golden Age, literary canon. Her sonnets engage with gender norms in ways that at times conform and at times subvert the roles women were expected to play, engaging with conceptions of love that are romantic, platonic, reverential, and political—tones which cross each other at varying points to create an alternative perspective on the gender and romantic norms of the time period.

The first section of this thesis examines the political and religious situation of early modern Portugal and Spain, reviewing contemporary literature and culture of the convent, and offers a brief biography of the poet’s life. This study also presents translations of the sonnets included in Rimas varias, making use of criteria which intentionally work to grant Sor Violante’s words and ideas greater visibility rather than imposing a modernized conception of gender discourse onto the sonnets. By making the previously ignored women’s writing more visible and situating it within the historical and social context in which it was written, this framework reinterprets the male-dominated literary canon of the Siglo de Oro while acknowledging the restraints the patriarchal and Catholic-dominated society placed on writers such as Sor Violante.