Refiguring the Sacred Feminine: The Poems of John Donne, Aemilia Lanyer, and John Milton by Theresa M. DiPasquale (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 129 Refiguring the Sacred Feminine: The Poems ofJohn Donne, Aemilia Lanyer, and John Milton. By Theresa M. DiPasquale. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 2008. ISBN978-0-8207-0405-0. Pp. xiv + 392. $60.00. Refiguring the Sacred Feminine, in Theresa M. DiPasquale's study, refers to the recovery and adaptation of "the Iudeo-Christian tradition of the sacred feminine" (1) by the three poets named in her subtitle. Keyfigures in this tradition include the feminine personification of Wisdom in Proverbs, the bride of the Song of Solomon, the Virgin Mary,and the representationofEcclesia asawoman in the NewTestament. According to DiPasquale, all three poets engage with the biblical representation of God as masculine, and of the human individual, however physically gendered, as God's feminine counterpart; all three poets recognize in their creativity "a function analogous to that of Mary, who gave birth to and nurtured God's Word incarnate" (2); and all three resist, in various ways, contemporary political and ecclesiastical orthodoxies. DiPasquale's method is eclectic. She develops her argument primarily by means of close readings of carefully selected passages from the works of the three poets, drawing on relevant historical information as it seems necessary to her, and interacting with a substantial assortment of recent criticism, including especially (but not only) feminist readings of the poets. DiPasquale arranges the book in three long chapters devoted to her three selected poets. The first chapter, on Donne, maintains that he regularly employs "encounters with and meditations on female figures" in his efforts to come to terms with "the theological, political, cultural, and ecclesiastical issues of his time and ... his own spiritual, emotional, and physical desires" (14). For Donne, according to DiPasquale, these female figures "serve as sacramental intermediaries between God and man" (15). DiPasquale discerns in Donne's works written during the reign of Elizabeth a "prickly antifeminism" (19) in reaction against Elizabeth'sappropriation of Mariological and Petrarchan expressions of devotion. The accession of James, she suggests, allowed Donne greater freedom to make use of feminine images of wisdom. "The Annuntiation and Passion" presents a feminine trinity comprising the feminized human soul (daughter), the Blessed Virgin Mary (mother) on whose virtues the soul reflects, and the church which guides the soul (associated with the Holy Spirit). The third section of the chapter examines Donne's sense that his wife, Anne, became a "sacramental Sign" (37) to him in her death. In the sonnet on her death, Donne struggles to acknowledge her as a sign without idolizing her. The sonnet "unmans" him by making him more aware of himself as "a bride of Christ" (41) who must avoid provoking a jealous husband-God. DiPasquale relates the issues of God's jealousy and the soul's longing to Donne's "Show Me Deare Christ" in section four. The last three sections of the chapter focus on the idealization of a woman in the Anniversaries. In these poems, Elizabeth Drury takes on sacramental dimensions, while Donne becomes, through his words, the priest who administers this sacrament of feminized ideal virtue. 130 CHRISTIANITY AND LITERATURE DiPasquale's second chapter deals with Aemilia Lanyer's Salve Deus Rex [udaeorum and proceeds more thematically than the chapter on Donne. Lanyer moves beyond merely claiming women's equality with men to develop an understanding of women as exercising "a sacerdotal vocation and a uniquely unfallen and untainted sexuality" (105-106). Salve Deus Rex ludaeorum "translates" scripture for women, making available a version of God's story disassociated from the misogyny of King James (sponsor of a new Bible translation) and centered on women's part in redemption. The prefatory poems praise noblewomen, beginning with Queen Anne and Princess Elizabeth, as models of virtue whose spirituality exceeds that of men. If Donne's poems reveal the struggle of a male speaker to accept his feminine role in relationship with God as husband, Lanyer's poems highlight the fittedness of women for fellowship with God. Her poems picture feminine society characterized by feminine devotion and virtue, resistant to patriarchal hierarchy, and reconciled with the natural order. Following the example of Mary Sidney,the Countess of Pembroke, Lanyer regards herselfas both priest and prophet. Her poems, by embodying her...