Isabella Whitney

Isabella Whitney (born late 1540s; fl. 1567–1573) is the earliest identified woman to have published secular poetry in the English language. She has been called "the first professional woman poet in England".[1]

Biography

Isabella Whitney, fl. 1566, is the presumed daughter of Geoffrey Whitney of Coole Pilate, near Nantwich, Cheshire, England, and, thus may have been the sister of Geoffrey Whitney, who wrote A Choice of Emblems in 1586.[2] Evidently, unlike many of the other women writers of the sixteenth century, Isabella Whitney did not come from a noble family. Rather, she was of the middle class and lived on meager finances, hoping to profit from her writing.[3] This can be seen in A Sweet Nosegay, where she states that she is "whole in body, and in mind, / but very weak in purse".[4] It appears that Isabella left Cheshire at an early age to work in London as a servant. While there, she wrote multiple works demonstrating an acute awareness of public taste.[3] This awareness, combined with a sharp satirical tone allowed her to become one of the first professional women writers in Europe. She was also the first woman to write a collection of original poetry, and is thought to be the first professional female poet in England.[5]

According to most critics, Isabella Whitney’s works contained a certain degree of autobiographical material. This can be seen in two of her connected poems: A Communication Which the Author had to London before she Made Her Will and The Manner of Her Will, and What She Left to London and to All Those in it, of her Departing where the writer is not only lacking in finances, but also spends the majority her time amongst "the poor, the imprisoned, and the insane", otherwise known as the commonwealth of London.[6] Her most innovative poems were her verse epistles, many of which were addressed to female relatives.[7] She addressed her poem "Will and Testament" to the city of London, mocking it as a heartless friend, greedy and lacking charity.[8] These works were written in ballad metre and contained both witty and animated descriptions of everyday life. Judging from these popular inclusions, it is likely that the reason for the publishing of her works was simply to supplement her scanty income.[6] As she states in an epistle to "her Sister Misteris A.B." in A Sweet Nosegay, "til some houshold cares mee tye, / My bookes and Pen I will apply," possibly suggesting that she sought a professional writing career to support her in an unmarried state. Whitney's publisher, Richard Jones, was a prominent figure in the contemporary market for ballads, and his purchase of her manuscripts makes sense in this regard, even if little evidence of their relationship survives beyond the front matter to The copy of a letter (1567).[9]

Isabella Whitney pioneered her field of women poets. She published her poetry in a time when it was not customary for a woman, especially one not of the aristocracy, to do so. In addition, her material contained controversial issues such as class-consciousness and political commentary as well as witty satire, and was made available to the upper and the middle class.[6] Whitney’s two best known works are The copy of a letter, lately written in meeter, by a yonge gentilwoman: to her vnconstant louer written in (1567?), and A sweet nosgay, or pleasant posye contayning a hundred and ten phylosophicall flowers written in 1573.

Works

References

  1. ↑ Spender, Dale and Janet Todd. British Women Writers: An Anthology from the Fourteenth Century to the Present. New York: Bedrick Books, 1989, p. 9
  2. ↑ Travitsky BS. 'Whitney, Isabella (fl. 1566–1573)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 (accessed 15 March 2013)
  3. 1 2 Ellinghausen, Laurie (2005). "Literary Property and the Single Woman in Isabella Whitney's A Sweet Nosgay". Studies in English Literature 1500–1900 45 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1353/sel.2005.0005.
  4. ↑ A Sweet Nosegay or Pleasant Posy: Containing a Hundred and Ten Philosophical Flowers (accessed 2 May 2010)
  5. ↑ To her Cousin, F.W., Isabella Whitney (accessed 2 May 2010)
  6. 1 2 3 Whitney, Isabella. "Notes on the Authors." Women Poets of the Renaissance. Ed. Marion Wynne-Davies. New York: Routledge, 1999.
  7. ↑ Spender and Todd, p. 9.
  8. ↑ Clarke, Danielle. Isabella Whitney, Mary Sidney and Amelia Lanyer: Renaissance Women Poets. New York: Penguin, 2001, p. xiv.
  9. ↑ R. B. McKerrow, ed., A Dictionary of Printers and Booksellers in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of Foreign Printers of English Books 1557–1640 (London: Bibliographical Society, 1910), 159

External links

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