Women poets of the Renaissance - Marion Wynne-Davies

This unique anthology brings together work by Renaissance women writers who, like their male counterparts, produced some of the most lyrical and powerful poetry in the English language. In addition to introducing the reader to work by poets such as Isabella Whitney, Jane Cavendish and even Elizabeth I, this anthology highlights various ways of reading it. The historical material included in the introduction covers the roles of women (domestic, literary, aristocratic and religious), how and when they were able to write, and in what circumstances their writings were published. The Selected Criticism looks at the current theories about women's writing, from Joan Kelly Gadol's question did women have a Renaissance?', to the influences of feminism and new historicism. The last section focuses on possible approaches to the poems in the collection, ensuring that readers are given ways to evaluate each poet.