The Worth of Women
Lanyer’s single collection of poetry, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, belongs to the loose confederation of works by many authors over the centuries known as the querelle des femmes. The unifying aspect of these wildly diverse literary creations is the way they address theme of the worthiness of the female sex and the blame for the state of life which her gender should bear. The latter is directly tied to the pervasive influence of Judeo-Christian scripture assigning blame on Eve rather than Adam for humans getting the boot from paradise. Every poem in the collection touches upon this theme though some more directly than other.
Feminist Re-Interpretation of the Bible
The Holy Bible is a work of men. The few actual witness accounts are predominantly from men, the recording after the fact was by men, the translations were by men and the recording into written form by men. The natural result was a distinctly patriarchal set of values and traditions that were taken from granted for centuries. Lanyer was one of those who noticed that on some very important issue, the conventions did not align with the only important facts supporting them: the words of the Bible itself. For instance, God had granted Adam dominion over all of Adam, thus making anything that happened there ultimately his responsibility, not Eve’s, the Fall from Paradise was due to Adam’s failure as a caretaker rather than Eve as a dupe of the devil. The theme is also explored by calling into question why Eve’s taking a bite from a forbidden fruit has been invested with consequence that seems to make it an exponentially more sinful act than when a group of men would later assassinate the actual son of God.
Empowerment and Marketing
The collection is unusual in that is addressed directly to women readers only. Dedications to famous contemporary figures like Queen Anne, Princess Elizabeth, Arbella Stuart, and Anne Clifford all serve the author’s purpose creating a connection between those well-known women, herself, figures appearing the poems of the collection and her readers. The emphasis of reinterpreting patriarchal history and defending the worthiness of her sex are all part of what today would be considered a branding strategy: marketing to women by revealing through poetry that have been victims of gender oppression and then suggesting that reading this b0ok (meaning buying the book) thereby becomes itself an act of empowerment and revolt.
