Women poets of the English Civil War

Sarah C. E. Ross is Associate Professor in English at Victoria University of WellingtonElizabeth Scott-Baumann is Senior Lecturer in Early Modern Literature at King's College London

Featuring modernised spelling and detailed explanatory notes, this anthology of Civil War-era women poets is perfect for students of English literature and early modern studies.

TimelineIntroductionFurther readingAnne BradstreetFrom The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America (1650)The PrologueFrom The Four MonarchiesA Dialogue between Old England and New, Concerning their Present Troubles, Anno 1642An Elegy upon that Honourable and Renowned Knight, Sir Philip Sidney, who was Untimely Slain at the Siege of Zutphen, Anno 1586 [1650]In Honour of Du Bartas, 1641In Honour of that High and Mighty Princess, Queen Elizabeth, of Most Happy MemoryDavid's Lamentation for Saul and Jonathan, 2 Samuel 1:19From Several Poems (1678)An Elegy upon that Honourable and Renowned Knight, Sir Philip Sidney, who was Untimely Slain at the Siege of Zutphen, Anno 1586 [1678]The Flesh and the SpiritThe Author to her BookA Letter to her Husband, Absent upon Public EmploymentAnother ['As loving hind']In Memory of my Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet, who Deceased August 1605, Being a Year and Half OldHester PulterThe Invitation into the Country, to my Dear Daughters, M.P., P.P, 1647, when his Sacred Majesty was at Unhappy HourThe Complaint of Thames, 1647, when the Best of Kings was Imprisoned by the Worst of Rebels at HolmbyOn Those Two Unparalleled Friends, Sir George Lisle and Sir Charles LucasUpon the Death of my Dear and Lovely Daughter, J.P.On the Same ['Tell me no more']Upon the Imprisonment of his Sacred Majesty, that Unparalleled Prince King Charles the FirstOn the Horrid Murder of that Incomparable Prince, King Charles the FirstOn the Same ['Let none sigh more']The Circle ['In sighs and tears there is no end]'Dear God turn not away thy face'The Circle ['Those that the hidden chemic art profess']On the King's Most Excellent MajestyTo my Dear J.P., M.P., P.P, they Being at London, I at BroadfieldA Solitary Complaint'Must I thus ever interdicted be?''Why must I thus forever be confined'To Sir William Davenant, upon the Unspeakable Loss of the Most Conspicuous and Chief Ornament of his FrontispieceThe Weeping WishEmblem 4Emblem 20Emblem 22Katherine PhilipsFrom the 'Tutin' ManuscriptTo my Dearest Antenor on his PartingA Retired Friendship, to Ardelia, 23rd August 1651Friendship's Mysteries, to my Dearest LucasiaContent, to my Dearest LucasiaFriendship in Emblem, or the Seal, to my Dearest LucasiaFrom the 'Tutin' Manuscript, reverseThe WorldThe SoulInvitation to the CountryOn the 3rd September 16512 Corinthians 5:19, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, 8th April 1653From Poems (1664)Upon the Double Murder of King Charles I, in Answer to a Libellous Copy of Rhymes Made by Vavasor PowellOn the Numerous Access of the English to Wait upon the King in FlandersArion on a Dolphin, to his Majesty in his Passage into EnglandOn the Fair Weather Just at CoronationOn the Death of the Queen of BohemiaTo the Right Honourable Alice, Countess of Carbery, on her Enriching Wales with her PresenceTo Antenor, on a Paper of mine which J. Jones Threatens to Publish to Prejudice himA Country LifeUpon Mr Abraham Cowley's Retirement. Ode.From Poems (1667)Epitaph on her Son H.P. at St Sith's Church, where her Body also Lies InterredTo my Antenor, March 16 1661/2Orinda upon Little Hector PhilipsMargaret CavendishFrom Philosophical Fancies (1653)Of Sense and Reason Exercised in their Different ShapesA Dialogue between the Body and the MindAn ElegyFrom Poems and Fancies (1664)The Poetress's Hasty ResolutionA World Made by AtomsOf the Subtlety of MotionOf VacuumOf StarsA World in an EarringThe Purchase of Poets, or A Dialogue Betwixt the Poets, and Fame and Homer's MarriageA Dialogue betwixt Man and NatureA Dialogue between an Oak and a Man Cutting him DownA Dialogue between a Bountiful Knight and a Castle Ruined in WarThe ClaspThe Hunting of the HareA Description of an IslandThe Ruin of this IslandWherein Poetry Chiefly ConsistsA Description of a Shepherd's and Shepherdess's LifeThe Clasp: Of Fairies in the BrainUpon the Funeral of my Dear Brother, Killed in these Unhappy WarsLucy HutchinsonFrom De Rerum NaturaBook 1, lines 1-152Book 2, lines 1048-1180Book 4, lines 1019-1321From British Library, Additional MS 17018To Mr Waller upon his Panegyric to the Lord ProtectorFrom Elegies1. 'Leave off, ye pitying friends, leave off'2. To the Sun Shining into her Chamber2(a). 'Ah! Why doth death its latest stroke delay'3. Another on the Sunshine7. To the Garden at Owthorpe10. The Recovery12. Musings in my Evening Walks at Owthorpe14. On the Spring, 166820. 'You sons of England whose unquenched flame'From Order and DisorderPrefaceCanto 1, lines 1-150Canto 3, lines 91-188Canto 9, lines 1-122From Memoirs of the Life of the Colonel Hutchinson'All sorts of men through various labours press'Textual introductionTextual notesIndex of first lines