Breaking a tradition: Hester Pulter and the English emblem book

Abstract

The emblem book genre has long been dismissed as unworthy of serious critical study. But the recently discovered mid-seventeenth century manuscript of Hester Pulter, and the generic existential crisis figured therein, imply otherwise. A vehement royalist, Pulter suggests that the events of the English civil wars have broken established emblem form by defying analogy in their horror; according to her, emblems cannot continue as they were after the deposition and regicide of Charles I. Yet, rather than succumbing along with the monarchy, Pulter’s emblems formally reimagine emblem structure, adopting a new devotionalism at odds with conventional emblem form. Thus, even while Pulter’s poems register political crisis, they prepare for a political order beyond that of the Commonwealth and demonstrate emblems’ ability to comment upon their own contemporary world.