Women's Literary Capital in Early Modern England: Formal Composition and Rhetorical Display in Manuscript and Print

Abstract

Early modern women's engagement with verse was predicated upon their command of literary form, yet formalist approaches to women's writing remain sporadic and undertheorized. This article argues that we need to think more imaginatively about formal composition if we are to better understand the work of early modern women as writers and readers, both in print and manuscript. Indeed, rhetorical ornament and display—foundational to Renaissance writing on formal composition—were key to the construction of women's literary capital in the period. This article considers that construction of literary capital across Renaissance literary criticism directed at women; women's writing in manuscript; Katherine Philips's commentary upon the writing process and the response of “Philo-Philippa” to her work; contemporary praise for women's writing, and the emergence of a female literary tradition. Further, an expansive understanding of rhetorical display allows us to experiment with more far-reaching analyses of women's engagement with manuscript culture, particularly its dialogic nature. By attending to early modern literary modes with more sensitivity, we may begin to rethink the dimensions of women's literary history.