Sonnets and the English Woman Writer, 1560-1621: The Politics of Absence (Early Modern Literature in History)

216 Pages·2005·0.64 MB·english

by  Rosalind Smith

Sonnets and the English
Woman Writer, 1560–1621
The Politics of Absence
Rosalind Smith
EarlyModernLiteratureinHistory
GeneralEditors:CedricC.Brown,ProfessorofEnglishandDeanoftheFacultyof
Arts and Humanities, University of Reading; Andrew Hadfield, Professor of
English,UniversityofSussex,Brighton
Advisory Board: Donna Hamilton, University of Maryland; Jean Howard,
University of Columbia; John Kerrigan, University of Cambridge; Richard
McCoy,CUNY;SharonAchinstein,UniversityofOxford
Withinthe period1520–1740 this series discussesmanykinds of writing,both
within and outside the established canon. The volumes may employ different
theoreticalperspectives,buttheyshareanhistoricalawarenessandaninterestin
seeingtheirtextsinlivelynegotiationwiththeirownandsuccessivecultures.
Titlesinclude:
CedricC.BrownandArthurF.Marotti(editors)
TEXTSANDCULTURALCHANGEINEARLYMODERNENGLAND
MartinButler(editor)
RE-PRESENTINGBENJONSON
Text,History,Performance
JocelynCatty
WRITINGRAPE,WRITINGWOMENINEARLYMODERNENGLAND
UnbridledSpeech
DermotCavanagh
LANGUAGEANDPOLITICSINTHESIXTEENTH-CENTURYHISTORYPLAY
DanielleClarkeandElizabethClarke(editors)
‘THISDOUBLEVOICE’
GenderedWritinginEarlyModernEngland
JamesDaybell(editor)
EARLYMODERNWOMEN’SLETTER-WRITING,1450–1700
JeromeDeGroot
ROYALISTIDENTITIES
JohnDolan
POETICOCCASIONFROMMILTONTOWORDSWORTH
HenkDragstra,SheilaOttwayandHelenWilcox(editors)
BETRAYINGOURSELVES
FormsofSelf-RepresentationinEarlyModernEnglishTexts
SarahM.Dunnigan
EROSANDPOETRYATTHECOURTSOFMARYQUEENOFSCOTSANDJAMESVI
AndrewHadfield
SHAKESPEARE,SPENSERANDTHEMATTEROFBRITAIN
WilliamM.Hamlin
TRAGEDYANDSCEPTICISMINSHAKESPEARE’SENGLAND
ElizabethHeale
AUTOBIOGRAPHYANDAUTHORSHIPINRENAISSANCEVERSE
ChroniclesoftheSelf
PaulineKiernan
STAGINGSHAKESPEAREATTHENEWGLOBE
RonaldKnowles(editor)
SHAKESPEAREANDCARNIVAL
AfterBakhtin
ArthurF.Marotti(editor)
CATHOLICISMANDANTI-CATHOLICISMINEARLYMODERNENGLISHTEXTS
JenniferRichards(editor)
EARLYMODERNCIVILDISCOURSES
SashaRoberts
READINGSHAKESPEARE’SPOEMSINEARLYMODERNENGLAND
RosalindSmith
SONNETSANDTHEENGLISHWOMANWRITER,1560–1621
ThePoliticsofAbsence
MarkThorntonBurnett
CONSTRUCTING‘MONSTERS’INSHAKESPEAREANDRAMAANDEARLY
MODERNCULTURE
MASTERSANDSERVANTSINENGLISHRENAISSANCEDRAMAANDCULTURE
AuthorityandObedience
TheseriesEarlyModernLiteratureinHistoryispublishedinassociationwith
theRenaissanceTextsResearchCentreattheUniversityofReading.
EarlyModernLiteratureinHistory
SeriesStandingOrderISBN0–333–71472–5
(outsideNorthAmericaonly)
You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a
standing order. Please contactyour bookseller or, in case of difficulty,write to
usattheaddressbelowwithyournameandaddress,thetitleoftheseriesandthe
ISBNquotedabove.
Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills,
Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS,England
Sonnets and the English
Woman Writer, 1560–1621
The Politics of Absence
Rosalind Smith
ªRosalindSmith2005
Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis
publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission.
Noparagraphofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted
savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe
Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence
permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency,
90TottenhamCourtRoad,LondonW1T4LP.
Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorisedactinrelationtothispublication
maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages.
Theauthorhasassertedherrighttobeidentified
astheauthorofthisworkinaccordancewiththeCopyright,
DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Firstpublished2005by
PALGRAVEMACMILLAN
Houndmills,Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XSand
175FifthAvenue,NewYork,N.Y.10010
Companiesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld
PALGRAVEMACMILLANistheglobalacademicimprintofthePalgrave
MacmillandivisionofSt.Martin’sPress,LLCandofPalgraveMacmillanLtd.
MacmillanfiisaregisteredtrademarkintheUnitedStates,UnitedKingdom
andothercountries.PalgraveisaregisteredtrademarkintheEuropean
Unionandothercountries.
ISBN-13:978(cid:2)1(cid:2)4039(cid:2)9122(cid:2)5
ISBN-10:1(cid:2)4039(cid:2)9122(cid:2)7
Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully
managedandsustainedforestsources.
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Smith,Rosalind,1968(cid:2)
SonnetsandtheEnglishwomanwriter,1560(cid:2)1621:thepoliticsof
absence/RosalindSmith.
p. cm.(cid:3)(Earlymodernliteratureinhistory)
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p.)andindex.
ISBN1(cid:2)4039(cid:2)9122(cid:2)7(cloth)
1. Sonnets,English(cid:3)Historyandcriticism. 2. Englishpoetry(cid:3)Women
authors(cid:3)Historyandcriticism. 3. Englishpoetry(cid:3)Earlymodern,
1500(cid:2)1700(cid:3)Historyandcriticism. 4. Womenandliterature(cid:3)
GreatBritain(cid:3)History(cid:3)16thcentury. 5. Womenandliterature(cid:3)
GreatBritain(cid:3)History(cid:3)17thcentury. 6. Poetry(cid:3)Authorship(cid:3)Sex
differences(cid:3)History(cid:3)16thcentury. 7. Poetry(cid:3)Authorship(cid:3)Sex
differences(cid:3)History(cid:3)17thcentury. I. Title. II. Earlymodern
literatureinhistory(PalgraveMacmillan(Firm))
PR509.S7S652005
8210.042099287(cid:3)dc22
2004065756
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05
PrintedandboundinGreatBritainby
AntonyRoweLtd,ChippenhamandEastbourne
For Mark, Felix and Isobel
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Preface viii
ListofAbbreviations xii
Introduction:Gender,GenreandAttributioninEarly
ModernWomen’sSonnetSequencesandCollections 1
1 ‘Inamirrourclere’:AnneLock’sMisereremeiDeusas
AdmonitoryProtestantism 13
Attributionandagencyinearlymodernwomen’s
writing:ThecaseoftheMeditation 15
Thepoliticsofdedicationandcirculation 26
Out-tropingWyatt 31
2 GeneratingAbsence:TheSonnetsofMaryStuart 39
Thecasketsonnets:Attribution,circulationandsovereign
textuality 40
Thepoliticsofabsence:Thecasketsonnetsandthe
feminineeroticlyric 46
Thedevotionalsonnets 55
3 ThePoliticsofProsopopoeia:ThePandoraSonnets 61
ThePandorasonnets:TranslationsfromDesportes 65
VentriloquizingElizabethI 72
Thepoliticsofprosopopoeia 79
4 ThePoliticsofWithdrawal:LadyMaryWroth’sPamphilia
toAmphilanthusandLindamira’sComplaint 88
‘Bard...ofLight’:Spenseriannegotiationsin Pamphilia
toAmphilanthus 92
‘Ithusgoearm’dtofield’:Lindamira’sComplaint 109
Conclusion 119
Notes 123
Bibliography 145
Index 165
vii
Preface
ThisbookexamineswhyEnglishwomenwriterscontributedtoacentral
Renaissancelyricform,thesonnetsequence,insuchsmallnumbersand
at such odd times in the development of the genre. It might seem
perversetoconcentrateuponabsenceratherthanpresenceatthisstage
of research inthe fieldof early modern women’sliterary history, espe-
cially given the wealth of new writing uncovered in recent feminist
scholarship.However,thisbookusestheexampleofthissingle,idiosyn-
cratic genre for twopurposes. First, it aims to denaturalize any general
assumptionofwomen’sabsenceorexclusionfromparticularmodesof
writing in the period. Such instances of absence do not constitute
naturalexamplesoffemininelimitationthatcanpassunremarked,but
phenomena themselves that might be examined, questioned and ana-
lyzed. Second, the study highlights the surprisingly significant conse-
quencesarisingfromtheoperationofsuchunexaminedassumptionsof
absenceinthefieldofearlymodernwomen’swriting.Takencollectively
forthefirsttime,thetextsunderexaminationhereareshowntoradic-
ally change the shape of early modern women’s writing in England.
Their history shows moments of startling innovation, agency and pos-
sibility,aswellasasingleinstanceoftextualcirculationthatmayhave
effectively closed down women’s secular lyric activity in print for fifty
years.Thisbookarguesthatthisinstance–thecasketsonnetsattributed
to Mary Queen of Scots and widely circulated in print as Protestant
propaganda from 1571 – involved a scandalous narrative of rape and
adulterouslovethatmadethegenresofthesonnetsequenceandfemale
complaint unavailable to English women writers in print until Mary
Wroth’sunfashionablylate1621 sequencesintheUrania.Thisspecific
and local instance of textual circulation worked with a set of cultural
prescriptionssurroundingwomen’sconducttoprecludewomen’spartici-
pationinthegenreatitsheightinthelateElizabethanperiod.
This book therefore challenges the critical commonplace that the
gender encodings of the genre of the Petrarchan sonnet themselves
limitedorpreventedwomen’suseofthegenre.Itdoessobyhighlight-
ingthewaysinwhichwomeninEnglandpractisedthegenrebeforethe
publicationofthecasketsonnetsandintheirwake,andbycomparing
the English tradition to a surprisingly prolific Continental tradition of
women’ssonnetwritingintheItalianandFrenchRenaissances.Inline
viii
Preface ix
withmuchrecentworkonwomen’swritinginthefieldofearlymodern
studies, this book also challenges the idea that when women writers
usedthegenre,theydidsoinwaysessentiallyorpredictablydifferentto
the practice of their male counterparts. Gender does make differences
heretowomen’spracticewithinthegenre,butthesearenotdifferences
that always manifest themselves in the same ways – especially not
through a consistent interest in the ‘private’ emotional or domestic
concernsthat have beenargued inthepast.The study’sconcentration
ontheparticularconditionsofproduction,circulationandreceptionof
these sequences seeks to illuminate a more complex understanding of
thewayinwhichgenderandgenreintersectintheperiod.Indifferent
ways,thesetextsalloperatedaspoliticalinterventionsunderwrittenby
Protestantism;butwhatProtestantismmeantineachofthesecontexts,
and the agency that it afforded or denied women authors and con-
structions of women’s writing, differs radically in each literary history
tracedhere.
An early reader of this material commented that she could not see
howanyonecouldmakeanargumentfromsuchastrangecollectionof
poetry.Inthisrespect,thisbookistheproductofitscriticalgeneration,
whichfavourstheobscureoverthecanonical:neglectedpoeticcoteries;
once overlooked genres such as the newsbook, pamphlet, or sermon;
andmarginalpractitionerssuchasthepornographersoftheElizabethan
lyric. But there is a sense that the material examined here is at the far
reaches of this literary marginality. This is in part because the texts
appear in anomalous circumstances, where an early history of secular
lyric agency and innovation in the genres of sonnet and complaint is
almost immediately foreclosed. Theseearlyconventions of sonnet and
complaint,neverrepeatedinthehistoryoftheElizabethanlyric,remain
odd and unfamiliar. But the marginality of many of the texts under
consideration here also derives from their status as works of uncertain
attribution.Consideredneitherasasecurepartofthecanonofwomen’s
writing nor as male-authored texts, their unresolved problems of
authorship means that they have remained at the edges of literary
history. This book uses the uncertainty surrounding these texts to
expose a set of methodological problems and omissions in the field of
earlymodernwomen’swriting.
Ononehand,thisstudyarguesthatquestionsofattributionmatter.It
is not enough to make strained and poorly supported ascriptions of
authorshiptowomenwritersinthehopeoffalselybolsteringthenum-
beranddiversityofwomen’stextsintheperiod.Contestedattributions
need detailed and scrupulous attention, and the possibility of male