Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Aemilia Bassano Lanyer (1569–1645) published her only extant book of poems, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (‘Hail, God, King of the Jews’), in 1611, the year the King James Bible appeared and John Donne published his First Anniversary. Her book is the first clear attempt by a woman writing in English to seek professional standing as a poet. It transforms gestures from the Jacobean patronage system into the language of an ambitious woman who seeks the attention and favours of higher-born patronesses. In praising these women in terms of their piety and learning, Lanyer also transforms contemporary Christianity from its misogynist assumptions to a critique of sinful men and a sensuous female gaze on Christ the Bridegroom. In the process, Lanyer shifts the focus of Petrarchan language, presents a version of Christ's passion that challenges patriarchal religion, and portrays a woman-centred Edenic society in which social class dissolves in bonds of affectionate friendship that centre the natural world and mirror a spiritual one (Lewalski 1993: 213–41).Her life is a remarkable tale of sadness, success, ambition and obscurity (Woods 1999: 7–33). Lanyer was the daughter of Baptista Bassano, a court musician born in Venice who migrated with five brothers to England during the reign of Henry VIII, and Margaret Johnson, who may have been related to another family of court musicians. We know little ... log in or subscribe to read full text