Customer Reviews

Aemilia Lanyer: Gender, Genre, and the Canon (Studies in the English Renaissance)

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If you don't know who Aemilia Lanyer was, please read about her or better yet read her works. She lived in London during the 1600s and was of Jewish-Italian descent. She became the mistress to Lord Chamberlain and may well have been Shakespeare's "dark lady". The most amazing and fabulous thing she did was publishe poems. Her poem "Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum" is a bold, well written poem and defends women of negative stereotypes which have been forced upon them since Eve. In "Eve's Apology," this portion of the poem is spoken from the point of view of Pontius Pilate's wife, who is begging for the life of Christ. She explores who is really guilty in original sin.

The essays in this book written about Lanyer and her works tell of her life and poetry and sheds new light on gender and class identity. Her male contemporaries at the time were John Donne, Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare.

The experts who write the essays for this book have done their research and make good, convincing arguments. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to understand Lanyer more thoroughly.