Preface Acknowledgements 1. Studying Early Modern Women Writers 2. Women in Early Modern England Chiselling the Image, Unwinding the Rhetoric Reading Early Modern Women's Writing Educating Women Praising and Blaming Women Wiving and Thriving Childbearing 3. The Genres of Early Modern Women's Writing Translation Margaret Beaufort, Margaret Roper, Elizabeth Tudor, Mary Bassett Jane Lumley, the Cooke Sisters, Anne Vaughan Lock, Margaret Tyler, Mary Sidney Herbert Theological Debate, Romantic Intrigue, and Classical Tragedy: Elizabeth Cary, Judith Man, Katherine Philips Meditations and Testimonials Prayers Letters and Diaries Poetry Elizabethan poets: Isabella Whitney, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, Anne Vaughan lock, Lady Mary Sidney Herbert, Anne Dowriche, Elizabeth Melville Esther Inglis and Elizabeth Jane Weston in the Republic of Letters Jacobean polemical Talents: Aemilia Lanyer, Bathsua Reginald, Rachel Speght, Mary Wroth Caroline, protectorate, and Restoration Poets' Complication of Early Modern Selfhood: Diana Primrose, Mary Fage, An Collins, 'Eliza', Elizabeth Major, Gertrude Thimelby, Anne Bradstreet, Mary Cavendish, Katherine Philips Drama and the Dramatic 'Closet' Drama: translations, Adaptations, Original Creations Mothers' Advice Books: Elizabeth Grymeston, Dorothy Leigh, Elizabeth Clinton, Elizabeth Joscelin, Elizabeth Richardson Prophecies and Polemics, Petitions and Missionary Accounts: Radical Women and Godly Zeal 4. Six Major Authors Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (1561-1621) Aemilia Lanyer (1569-1645) Elizabeth Tanfiled Cary, Viscountess of Falkland (1585-1639) Lady Mary Wroth (1587-1653) Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673) Katherine Philips, the Matchless Orinda (1632-1664)