Michael Drayton’s Early Career: Reconsidering the Petrarchism of Ideas Mirrour (1594)

The title of Michael Drayton’s Ideas Mirrour (1594) has often been seen as encapsulating a Petrarchan and Neoplatonic poetics adopted by most Elizabethan sonneteers countered or subverted the canonical poets. This essay suggests that such an interpretation misrepresents complexity sonnet sequences in general particular, reassessing Petrarchism alleged Neo-platonism well revising Thomas P. Roche Jr.’s notion widely shared Augustinianism among English sonneteers. I turn away from vision Drayton belated Spenserian nostalgic to focus on his early career 1590s. More specifically, insist connections between three “Ideas”: Idea: Shepheards Garland (1593), (1594), Endimion Phoebe: Latmus (1595) identify pattern progression one next. In drawing these connections, argue for revaluation role Sidney family social poetic ideal