rival, subjectivities, Socially, dialogic, reasoning, psychological, well-being, competitive
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social units, sometimes as a defence mechanism against the rival subjectivities of hostile outsiders, or to demonstrate the suitability of partnerships between individuals through the fostering of coalitions founded upon likemindedness. Examples of collaborative reasoning are most commonly found in verses exchanged between friends (examined in Chapter Four), but such intersubjectivity is also present in a fictional exchange between a husband and wife (Chapter 3, pp.174-8) and several of the courtship verses discussed in Chapter 5 (pp.226-30).
Socially dialogic verses are equally likely to contest the rhetorical positions of their correspondents and some even dramatise struggles for occupation of the subject position; such as in courtly exchanges between Queen Elizabeth and Paul Schede or between Frances Seymour and Sir George Rodney (Chapter 5, pp.248-50 and pp.255-61). Alternately, in the first group of verse exchanges I examine in this section the intersubjectivity of social dialogue in verse is exploited in fictional marriage debates whereby the dominant discourse of Reformation marriage propaganda is given precedence over alternate theological positions in order to dramatise the correction of heterodox opinion through a process of dialogic reasoning. Whichever model of reasoning is present these socially dialogic verses negotiate social roles and relationships based upon the premise of a knowable and attainable mean of conduct and speech. Notably, the competitive animus of the verse answering is retained in these poems even where the subject position is not fought for so openly and, rather than striving to deliver the most efficacious invective, correspondents compete for a rhetorical position that most closely inheres in a mean of behaviour and speech that suggests socially appropriate conduct and psychological well-being.
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