Metaphors of motherhood: claiming back the female body in the poems of Mary Sidney and Mary Wroth

Abstract

In this article, the complex issue of the use of the childbirth metaphor in early modern poetry is examined. The main body of the text looks at the poetry of Sir Philip Sidney, Samuel Daniel, Mary Sidney and Mary Wroth, and attempts to reclaim the female body back from the male-authored images of childbirth and feminine physiology. By looking at Astrophil and Stella, Delia, The Psalms and Pamphilia to Amphilanthus, and comparing them to both seventeenthcentury medical advice books and the work of modern social historians, the author explains the reasons behind the strong differences between the male and female images of childbirth and miscarriage. It is argued that whilst Philip Sidney and Samuel Daniel use the physically impossible image of male pregnancy to juxtapose the images of literary creation, and human procreation, Mary Sidney and Mary Wroth's verses are more poignant and natural, as their images are not displays of wit, but real experiences of birth and miscarriage.