Biography and Criticism - Aemilia Lanyer
In the realm of the English literary canon, one of the most intriguing figures is Aemilia Lanyer. As mysterious as she is important, not a great deal is known about her life - in fact, there is no physical representation of her in artwork or pictoral form, so we do not even know what she really looked like. Nonetheless, she left an indelible impact on English literature, not the least of which through her interaction with William Shakespeare. Her own poetry is thought to be some of the best of Renaissance literature, and what is known about her history is equally fascinating.
Aemilia's own biographical history is quite a unique story, though it is also filled with tragedy and torment. Baptised in January 27, 1569 in Bishop's Gate, presumably born shortly before then, Aemilia was the daughter of Margret Johnson, and also had two brothers who died as children. When her father, Baptiste Bassano, died in 1576, Aemilia was seven, but was offered a dowry of 100 pounds whenever she got married or reached her 21st birthday (Woods, 1999).
After her father died, she lived with the Countess of Kent, Susan Bertie, for several years; this is where Aemilia received the bulk of her education. She learned Latin and was educated in writing and the other humanities; as Bertie was already an advocate of providing equal education for women that men received, Aemilia was the recipient of a great deal of knowledge (Woods, 1999). This same decision could have been a big influence on Aemilia's decision to start writing and publishing her work. Once Aemilia turned eighteen, her mother died, and she moved on to be the mistress of Henry Carey, the cousin of Queen Elizabeth I. He was also the Lord Chamberlain, and he provided her with money and status, despite getting her pregnant at the age of 23. (Woods, p. xviii).
After this, she married Alfonso Lanyer, her first cousin, in 1592, though the marriage was far from pleasant. Aemilia missed being the mistress of Carey, as opposed to rightfully married to Alfonso - "and a nobleman that is ded hath Loved her well & kept her and did maintain her longe but her husband hath delte hardly with her and spent and consumed her goods and she is nowein debt" (Woods, p. xviii). Despite this, they had a daughter, Odillya, who died at ten months of age in 1598.
Already, Aemilia's story is one of scandal, courtly love, and sexual frustration. Being brought up by a pioneer of women's rights to education, and becoming quite the renaissance woman herself, she found herself enjoying the company of a married man nearly fifty years her senior much more than her legally married husband who came after. This kind of frustration, and knowing these very specific and dramatic types of love likely informed her writing in a very substantial way.
Aemilia Lanyer was the first woman in England to hold the title of professional poet, which was mostly accomplished through Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, the only volume of poems she ever released. Published in 1611, it made Aemilia the fourth woman in Great Britain to publish a collection of poems, but still the first one to actually call herself a poet. Upon its release, it was extremely scandalous, with many revolutionary ideas that could be called "proto-feminist" now (McBride, 2008). The title poem is 200 stanzas long, and is the story of the passion of Christ, but told through a satirical lens, focusing on the women in Jesus' life. Other stories include ten poems dedicated to the queen and other female aristocrats. The entire work, including many of her other poems, include very women-centric themes, and are meant to defend "virtuous women" against those who would detract from their accomplishments and validity. The "Description of Cookham" is dedicated to the Countess of Cumberland, Margaret and her child Anne. The book itself finishes with a country house poem, the first ever written in the English language.
The most dramatic and incredible thing about the publishing of this book was its rarity, as no woman was actually making a living as a writer, much less publishing books of any kind. While the overall themes of religion and goodness were thought at the time to be acceptable to be covered by a woman, many objected to the radical notions that were displayed in the book - this included Aemilia's description of how women were mistreated. For example, Aemilia writes that Eve was unfairly blamed for man's expulsion from paradise; in fact, Adam should take some of the blame, according to Lanyer. Adam was thought to be stronger than Eve, meaning that it would have been possible for him to resist the same temptation and he should have.
The role of women throughout religion is defended ardently by Aemilia, as she further argues that the women who surrounded Christ and followed Him during his life and the Passion had a great deal to offer in the story. Even after he was resurrected, it was women who looked for him first of all. Other notable women around the Christ story noted by Aemilia include the wife of Pontius Pilate, who tried to step in and stop his crucifixion. Aemilia takes further steps to admonish the behavior of man during Christ's trials, including the men who crucified him and the male apostles who abandoned him in the Passion. All of these perspectives are conveyed through Aemilia's poems, demonstrating a decidedly feminist viewpoint in a very male-centric world.
Aemilia Lanyer's biggest claim to fame in academic circles is her connection to Shakespeare; most notably, it is thought that she is the "Dark Lady" the Bard refers to in many of his sonnets. This is couched in theory, and can arguably take away from her accomplishments in her own poetry, but the coincidences are interesting nonetheless which link her to William Shakespeare. The man she had an affair with later became the patron of Lord Chamberlain's Men, which performed many of Shakespeare's later works from 1594 on. There are records that state that some members of the Bassano family were very dark, and there are characters named "Emilia" and "Bassano" in many of Shakespeare's plays.
Regardless of her relationship with Shakespeare, she was an incredible poet, and the focus of her work was to stand up for women and present them as strong individuals, worthy of mention in poetry and religious texts. One of her biggest goals seemed to be subverting the way that women of the Bible were perceived; many were seen as weak, conniving, and the source of men's troubles, and were always thought to submit to men. Even in her titular poem, "Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum," she states that women are closer to God than men are. "Her weakness did the serpent's words obey, / But you in malice God's dear Son betray" (Lanyer, 1611). In this passage in particular, man is blamed for the death of Jesus. Since Eve disobeyed the rules of God, Jesus was required to absolve us of our sins. These passages and more vilify men to the benefit of women, something that was unprecedented in Biblical literature at that time (Lewalski, p. 803).
In conclusion, Aemilia Lanyer is an incredible feminist and one of the first to write about the female perspective in the Bible. Having already had an incredible life full of scandal up to the point where she published her first and only collection of poems, Lanyer proved herself to be a forward-thinking woman who wanted to bring the status of women to its rightful place. In her works, she shows a reverence for women and subverts the expected knowledge of the Bible to blame man, and not woman, for the sins of humanity. Through her powerful poetry, as well as her potential connections to Shakespeare, Lanyer remains a vital part of early English literature, and one of the first feminist authors ever known.
Works Cited
Bevington, David. Aemilia Lanyer: Gender, Genre, and the Canon. Lexington: University Press
of Kentucky, 1998. Print.
Green, Martin. ‘Emilia Lanier IS the Dark Lady’. English Studies vol. 87, No.5, October 2006.
Print.
Lanier, Aemilia. Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum. 1611. Print.
Lewalski, Barbara Keifer. "Writing Women and Reading the Renaissance."Renaissance
Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Winter, 1991), pp. 792–821.
McBride, Kari Boyd. Biography of Aemilia Lanyer. Aemilia Lanyer (1569–1645). 16 November
2008. Women's Studies, University of Arizona. 20 November 2008.
Woods, Susan. Lanyer, A Renaissance Woman Poet. Oxford University Press. New York, NY.
1999. Print.
