A contemporary of William Shakespeare, Emilia (or Aemilia) Lanier (or Lanyer) was by no means the first English woman poet, but she is credited as the first woman to publish a whole volume of original English poetry under her own name.
What follows is from the dedication to this volume, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, which appeared in 1611.
Her life was difficult and complicated. Born into what we would consider the professional stratum of society, she associated with members of the aristocracy but could never hope to cross the barrier of class.
Born Aemilia Bassano, she was educated as befitted her position: daughter of an Italian musician attached to the English royal court. As a young woman she spent time in the households of Susan Bertie, Countess of Kent; Margaret Clifford, Countess of Cumberland; and Margaret’s daughter, Lady Anne Clifford.
She also became the mistress of Henry Carey, Baron Hunsdon, a relative of the Queen. Pregnant by Carey, she was married in 1592 (about age 23) to her cousin, Alfonso Lanier, another court musician, and bore a son. The marriage was not happy. No other children survived beyond infancy.
Among those who like to speculate, Emilia Lanier is among the potential candidates for Shakespeare’s “Dark Lady of the Sonnets.”
After the death of her husband, she supported herself for a time by operating a school. Although buffeted by financial difficulties in later life, she survived to age 76.
Her book opens with a whole series of dedications, all of them to women: Queen Elizabeth I (already deceased by the time of publication, she receives two separate dedications); Lady Lucie, Countess of Bedford; Lady Anne, Countess of Dorset; Lady Margaret, Countess Dowager of Cumberland; and “all virtuous ladies in general.”
A portion of the “in general” dedication is featured below.
The moralizing tone of these verses may seem odd for a woman with such a history, but it was a safe tack for a potentially controversial author, and not unusual in its time.
Also typical of the time is the flaunting of humanistic references, from both Greek and Roman mythology.
Lanier’s promiscuous melding of classical and Biblical imagery can be startling. Also arresting is the sense of high dignity with which her dedication invests a woman’s life, and afterlife .
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Each blessed Lady that in Virtue spends
Your precious time to beautify your soul;
Come wait on her whom winged Fame attends
And in her hand the Book where she enrolls
Those high deserts that Majesty commends:
Let this fair Queen not unattended be,
When in my Glass she deigns her self to see.
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Put on your wedding garments every one,
The Bridegroom stays to entertain you all;
Let Virtue be your guide, for she alone
Can lead you right that you can never fall;
And make no stay for fear he should be gone:
But fill your Lamps with oil of burning zeal,
That to your Faith he may his Truth reveal.
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Let all your robes be purple, scarlet, white,
Those perfect colors purest Virtue wore,
Come decked with Lilies that did so delight
To be preferred in Beauty, far before
Wise Solomon in all his glory dight:
Whose royal robes did no such pleasure yield,
As did the beauteous Lily of the field.
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Adorn your temples with faire Daphne’s crown,
The never changing Laurel, always green;
Let constant hope all worldly pleasures drown,
In wise Minerva's paths be always seen;
Or with bright Cynthia, though fair Venus frown:
With Hyssop cross the posts of every door,
Where Sin would riot, making Virtue poor.
And let the Muses your companions be,
Those sacred sisters that on Pallas wait;
Whose Virtues with the purest minds agree,
Whose godly labors do avoid the bait
Of worldly pleasures, living always free
From sword, from violence, and from ill report,
To those nine Worthies all fair minds resort.
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Anoint your hair with Aaron’s precious oil,
And bring your palms of victory in your hands,
To overcome all thoughts that would defile
The earthly circuit of your souls’ fair lands;
Let no dim shadows your clear eyes beguile:
Sweet odors, myrrh, gum, aloes, frankincense,
Present that King who died for your offense.
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Behold, bright Titan’s shining chariot stays,
All decked with flowers of the freshest hue,
Attended on by Ages, Hours, Nights, and Days,
Which alters not your beauty, but gives you
Much more, and crowns you with eternal praise:
This golden chariot wherein you must ride,
Let simple Doves, and subtle serpents guide.
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Come swifter than the motion of the Sun,
To be transfigured with our loving Lord,
Let Glory end what Grace in you begun,
Of heavenly riches make your greatest hoard,
In Christ all honor, wealth, and beauty's won:
By whose perfections you appear more fair
Than Phoebus, if he seven times brighter were.
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God’s holy Angels will direct your Doves,
And bring your Serpents to the fields of rest,
Where he doth stay that purchased all your loves
In bloody torments, when he died oppressed,
There shall you find him in those pleasant groves
Of sweet Elysium, by the Well of Life,
Whose crystal springs do purge from worldly strife.
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Thus may you fly from dull and sensual earth,
Whereof at first your bodies formed were,
That new regenerate in a second birth,
Your blessed souls may live without all fear,
Being immortal, subject to no death:
But in the eye of heaven so highly placed
That others by your virtues may be graced.
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Biography of Emilia Lanier
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Classic Poetry Group
Readers and Book Lovers (with full schedule of literary diaries)
“These fragments I have shored against my ruins.” -- T.S. Eliot