Redeeming Eve: Women Writers of the English Renaissance

372 Pages·1987·10.012 MB·English

by  Elaine V. Beilin

REDEEMING EVE

ELAINE V. BEILIN
Medeeming Eve
WOMEN WRITERS
OF THE ENGLISH
RENAISSANCE
PRINCETON
UNIVERSITY
PRESS
Copyright © 1987 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Oxford
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data will be found on the last
printed page of this book
ISBN 0-691-06715-5
ISBN 0-691-01500-7, pbk.
First Princeton Paperback printing, 1990
This book has been composed in Linotron Granjon
Clothbound editions of Princeton University Press books
are printed on acid-free paper, and binding materials are
chosen for strength and durability. Paperbacks, although satisfactory
for personal collections, are not usually suitable for library rebinding
Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press,
Princeton, New Jersey
Designed by Laury A. Egan
1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
FOR BOB
FOR HANNAH AND RACHEL

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS IX
INTRODUCTION xiii
PART I
ONE. Learning and Virtue: Margaret More Roper 3
TWO. A Challenge to Authority: Anne Askew 29
THREE. Building the City: Women Writers of
the Reformation
48
FOUR. Piety and Poetry: Isabella Whitney, Anne
Dowriche, Elizabeth Colville, Rachel Speght
87
PART II
FIVE. The Divine Poet: Mary Sidney, Countess
of Pembroke 121
six. The Making of a Female Hero: Joanna Lumley
and Elizabeth Cary !51
SEVEN. The Feminization of Praise: Aemilia Lanyer 177
EIGHT. Heroic Virtue: Mary Wroth's Urania and
Pamphilia to Amphilanthus 208
PART III
NINE. Redeeming Eve: Defenses of Women and
Mother's Advice Books
247
AFTERWORD 286
- VLL -
CONTENTS
ABBREVIATIONS 287
NOTES 288
LIST OF WORKS BY WOMEN, 1521-1624 335
index 339
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Jl HIS BOOK germinated during a long bus ride with Patricia
Spacks, for whose insight and encouragement I will always
be grateful. Mount Holyoke College gave me a Faculty Grant
to support the initial research in England. From the begin­
ning, I have been fortunate to have had the support of Carolyn
Collette as a scholar, colleague, and friend. At crucial stages,
Lynn and Linck Johnson offered criticism, editing, and moral
support; Lynn has shared her wisdom and friendship in gen­
erous measure. John Lemly nobly read the entire manuscript,
suggested many improvements, and cheered me on. Betsy
Seifter read early chapters and contributed her scholarly and
editorial expertise. My debt to Bill Carroll is manifold: for
reading the manuscript, for offering sound advice and prac­
tical help, for being an ideal colleague.
To those who taught me about the Renaissance and pro­
vided models of scholarship and teaching to which I have
always aspired, I am grateful: Anne Lancashire, G. E. Bentley,
and in particular, Thomas P. Roche. I owe a considerable
debt to scholars whose work has shown the way: D. W.
Robertson, Jr., Barbara Lewalski, John King.
I have been educated and inspired by the scholarship on
women that has flowered in the last fifteen years. The work
of predecessors and companions in women's studies is ac­
knowledged in every chapter.
I am grateful for a National Endowment for the Human­
ities Fellowship for College Teachers in Residence at Boston
University in 1977-1978, which gave me the time to begin
writing. To the members of the N.E.H. Seminar, I owe an
enlightening year of poetry and writing. Helen Vendler
taught me much about both; her advice helped shape the
material that became Chapter Six, as did that of Paul Gaston,
Molly Oates, Cheryl Walker, and Martha Collins.