Women's Writing in English: Early Modern England

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University of Toronto Press, Jan 1, 2005 - Literary Criticism - 363 pages

In this introduction to the diversity and scope of the writing by women in England from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Patricia Demers discusses the creative realities of women writers' accomplishments and the cultural conditions under which they wrote.

There were deep suspicions and restrictions surrounding the education of women during this period, and thus the contributions of women to literature, and to the print industry itself, are largely unknown. This wide-ranging examination of the genres of early modern women's writing embraces translation (from Latin, Greek, and French) in the fields of theological discourse, romance and classical tragedy, original meditations and prayers, letters and diaries, poetry, closet drama, advice manuals, and prophecies and polemics. A close study of six major authors - Mary Sidney, Aemilia Lanyer, Elizabeth Tanfield Cary, Lady Mary Wroth, Margaret Cavendish, and Katherine Philips - explores their work as poets, dramatists, and romantic fiction writers. Demers invites readers to savour the subtlety and daring with which these women authors made writing an expressly social craft.

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Contents

Studying Early Modern Women Writers
3
Women in Early Modern England
14
Educating Women
26
Praising and Blaming Women
37
Wiving and Thriving
46
Childbearing
56
The Genres of Early Modern Womens Writing
63
Meditations and Testimonials
99
Six Major Authors
195
Aemilia Lanyer 15691645
202
Elizabeth Tanfield Cary Viscountess Falkland 15851639
208
Lady Mary Wroth 15871653
215
Margaret Cavendish Duchess of Newcastle 16231673
225
Katherine Philips the Matchless Orinda 16321664
234
Postscript
241
Notes
275

Prayers
112
Letters and Diaries
119
Poetry
125
Drama and the Dramatic
174
Bibliography
305
Index
347
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About the author (2005)

Patricia Demers is a professor in the Department of English at the University of Alberta.

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