Refiguring the Sacred Feminine: The Poems of John Donne, Aemilia Lanyer and John Milton

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

refiguring the sacred feminine The Poems of John Donne, Aemilia Lanyer, and John Milton Theresa M. DiPasquale $515%3.%å5.)6%23)49å02%33 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Copyright © 2008 Duquesne University Press All rights reserved Published in the United States of America by DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY PRESS 600 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15282 No part of this book may be used or reproduced, in any manner or form whatsoever, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of short quotations in critical articles or reviews. Section 2 of chapter 1 appeared previously as “‘She sees,’ ‘She’s seen,’ and she ‘hath shown’: The Feminine Trinity in ‘Upon the Annuntiation and Passion,’” John Donne Journal 23 (2004): 117–38; section 3 as “Ambivalent Mourning: Sacramentality, Idolatry, and Gender in ‘Since she whome I lovd hath paid her last debt,’” John Donne Journal 10, no. 1–2 (1991): 45–56; and an earlier version of section 6 as “‘to good ends’: The Final Cause of Sacramental Womanhood in The First Anniversarie,” John Donne Journal 20 (2001): 141–50. An earlier version of section 3 of chapter 3 appeared as “‘Heav’n’s last best gift’: Eve and Wisdom in Paradise Lost,” Modern Philology 95, no. 1 (1997): 44–67. All of these materials are reprinted by permission of the journals. Earlier versions of some of the material in chapter 2, sections 5–6, appeared in “Woman’s desire for Man in Lanyer’s Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum,” Journal of English and Germanic Philology 99, no. 3 (2000): 356–78, copyright 2000 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Used with the permission of the University of Illinois Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data DiPasquale, Theresa M., 1962– Refiguring the sacred feminine : the poems of John Donne, Aemilia Lanyer, and John Milton / Theresa M. DiPasquale. p. cm. — (Medieval & Renaissance literary studies) Summary: “A study of the sacred feminine as it is understood in the works of John Donne, Aemilia Lanyer, and John Milton, each of whom reformed and envisioned several important Christian archetypes: Ecclesia, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Divine Wisdom, and the soul as bride of Christ”—Provided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8207-0405-0 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. English poetry—Early modern, 1500–1700—History and criticism. 2. Christian poetry, English—Early modern, 1500–1700—History and criticism. 3. Women in literature. 4. Women—Religious aspects. 5. Femininity—Religious aspects. 6. Femininity (Philosophy) in literature. 7. Donne, John, 1572–1631—Criticism and interpretation. 8. Lanyer, Aemilia—Criticism and interpretation. 9. Milton, John, 1608–1674—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. PR535.W58D57 2008 821’.3093823—dc22 2007051592 First eBook edition, 2011 ISBN 978-0-8207-0519-4 For Lee Patrick Keene and Dominic Jude DiPasquale Keene ...