It’s been a couple of thousand years since I posted poetry by a woman (Sappho), and it’s high time I remedied that deficiency. Aemilia Lanyer (sometimes spelled Emilia Lanier) is notable for being the first woman writing in English to publish a book of poetry (in 1611). “Salve Deus Rex Iudæorum” is a competently-written poem on a conventional subject, namely Jesus’s trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. However it catches fire when Lanyer has Pontius Pilate’s wife challenge the opprobrium heaped on Eve. She points out that Eve committed far less of a sin than those who betrayed Jesus and condemned him to death (in the following, ‘u’ is substituted for ‘v’ and vice versa, and ‘i’ for ‘j’):

Our Mother Eue, who tasted of the Tree,  
Giuing to Adam what she held most deare,  
Was simply good, and had no powre to see,  
The after-comming harme did not appeare:  
    The subtile Serpent that our Sex betraide,  
    Before our fall so sure a plot had laide.
    
That vndiscerning Ignorance perceau’d  
No guile, or craft that was by him intended;  
For, had she knowne of what we were bereauid,  
To his request she had not condiscended.  
But she (poore soule) by cunning was deceau’d,  
No hurt therein her harmlesse Heart intended:  
    For she alleadg’d Gods word, which he denies  
    That they should die, but euen as Gods, be wise.
    
But surely Adam cannot be excus’d,  
Her fault, though great, yet he was most too blame;  
What Weaknesse offred Strength might haue refus’d,  
Being Lord of all the greater was his shame:  
Although the Serpents craft had her abus’d,  
Gods holy word ought all his actions frame:  
    For he was Lord and King of al the earth,  
    Before poore Eue had either life or breath.
    
. . .

If any Euill did in her remaine,  
Beeing made of him, he was the ground of all;  
If one of many Worlds could lay a staine  
Vpon our Sexe, and worke so great a fall  
To wretched Man, by Satans subtill traine;  
What will so fowle a fault amongst you all?  
    Her weakenesse did the Serpents word obay,  
    But you in malice Gods deare Sonne betray.

Although Lanyer herself was of relatively humble origins, as the daughter of a court musician she came to know several members of the English aristocracy. About the first third of “Salve Deus Rex Iudæorum” consists of poem and prose dedications to various noblewomen — the seventeenth century version of “If you like this, please subscribe to my patreon!” (In an early instance of targeted advertising, she even had different editions of the poem printed, each with different sets of dedications according to the recipient.)

If you’d like to read more

• Poetry Foundation: Biography of and selected poems by Lanyer.
• Internet Archive: The Poems of Aemilia Lanyer, edited by Susanne Woods.
• Bookshop.org: The Poems of Aemilia Lanyer, edited by Susanne Woods.
• Other: “Salve Deus Rex Iudæorum.” Online HTML version.