The daughter of a Venetian-born court musician, Baptiste Bassano, Aemilia Lanyer (1569-1645) was one of very few British women in the early-modern era to call herself a professional poet. Though long neglected, her work has in recent decades gained attention for its generic innovation, striking lyricism, and proto-feminist themes.
Her connection to English nobility was further established when she became mistress to Henry Carey, first cousin to Queen Elizabeth I, by whom she became pregnant before marrying Alfonso Lanyer, a court musician like her father.
Lanyer’s verse collection Salve Deus
Rex Judaeorum (“God save the King of the Jews”) includes a
poem on Christ’s Passion, a lament for the Virgin Mary, and several stanzas
praising the female followers of Christ as described in Luke 23:27–31.
Salve Deus also includes an
“Apology for Eve,” wherein Lanyer defends women against the
widespread charge that they, through Eve, are collectively responsible for the
Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. This challenge to a patriarchal commonplace
contributes to Lanyer’s modern reputation as a kind of proto-feminist, for it
goes to the very heart of the mythology upon which much of Western patriarchy
had been erected. To claim in that poem that Adam was more responsible than Eve
for the Fall—and to add that the torture and crucifixion of Christ by men
only proves that they and not women are most susceptible to evil acts—
would have been bold and controversial.
But perhaps Lanyer’s most enduring legacy is less her bold confrontation of oppressive views of women than her significant, if modest, contribution to English letters.
“Description of Cooke-ham,” 210 lines of iambic pentameter in rhyming couplets, is now widely acknowledged to be the first country-house poem in English, published several years before Ben Jonson’s more famous “To Penshurst.” As a species of patronage writing, the poem praises Margaret Clifford, the Countess of Cumberland, and her daughter, Anne Clifford, the Countess Dowager of Dorset. The poem is named for the Clifford estate at Cookham Dean, a settlement near the village of Cookham in Berkshire, England, where Lanyer had been hired as tutor and companion to the younger Clifford, Lady Anne (referred to in the poem as “Dorset”).
In what ways is this poem similar to Jonson’s Penshurst? Do you recognize any common elements? If
so, what are they? Point to specific passages to support your answers.
Much attention is paid to a particular tree. Why is this tree significant?
How would you describe the relationship between the speaker (Lanyer) and Lady Anne, her young charge?
English society in Lanyer’s day was highly stratified. Where in the poem is the issue of social class most evident? Identify a specific passage or two and comment on the speaker’s attitude toward this unavoidable aspect of her experience at the Clifford estate.
The mythological figure of Philomel is mentioned twice in the poem. Research this name and comment on its relevance for our understanding of the poem.
Which passages do you find most beautiful or otherwise emotionally charged, and why?
Comment on any other aspect of the poem you find compelling but neglected by these prompts.