BIOGRAPHY 

Aemilia Lanyer was the first Englishwoman to produce significant poetic works and attempt to assert herself as a professional poet through publication. After her father’s death when Aemilia was seven years old, she left home to live with Susan Bertie, who believed in equal education for women and gave Aemilia a humanist education, which emphasizes human potential for good, common human need, and rational problem solving. 

Lanyer secured her financial luxuries and artistic patronage by becoming the mistress of Lord Hunsdon, a well-known supporter of the arts (notably, Shakespeare’s play company). After becoming pregnant with Lord Hudson’s child, Aemilia was married off to Alfonso Lanyer. 

In 1611 Lanyer became the first woman in England to publish a book of poetry, titled Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum. Her poems were often considered radical and are full of Proto-feminist themes. Her poem “Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women” is a part of the enormous literary collection known as the “dispute of women” or querelle des femmes: an early-modern debate that arose to reject misogynistic literature. 

 

SUMMARY 

“Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women” begins as a plea to Pontius Pilate as he judges whether he’ll allow Christ to be sent to the cross. The poem’s speaker begs for Pilate to show compassion and turn away from his cruelty, pleading “Do not in innocent blood inbrue thy hands;”. The poem is structured as a letter that Pontius Pilate’s wife has sent to him, “to beg her Savior’s life”. 

The third stanza of this poem transitions the work from an appeal to Pilate’s better judgment to a defense of Eve’s mistake which resulted in her and Adam’s banishment from the Garden of Eden in Genesis. The speaker insists that Eve’s crime was not committed out of any malice or ill intent, but rather out of her own ignorance and innocence: “she, poor soul, by cunning was deceived;/No hurt therein her harmless heart intended”. 

The speaker also emphasizes Satan and Adam’s roles in Eve’s sin. In the lines, “Although the serpent’s craft had her abused, /God’s holy word ought all his actions frame” Satan actively took advantage of Eve’s naiveté to orchestrate humanity’s downfall, while Adam allowed himself to be swayed by Eve despite his greater experience and knowledge. 

The final line of the ninth stanza transitions the piece back into an address to Pilate. The last three stanzas accuse Pilate of a sin far greater than that of Eve’s. The speaker concludes the poem by facing Pilate with an ultimatum, either have mercy and pardon Christ or fall into cruelty a become guilty of perhaps the greatest of humanity’s sins. 

ANALYSIS 

Allusion and Apostrophe 

The entirety of Lanyer’s “Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women” operates as a reference, or allusion, to Christian scripture. The two biblical scriptures that this poem draws from most are the stories of Christ’s crucifixion and humanity’s fall from the Garden of Eden. The poem initially begins as an apostrophe to Pontius Pilate just before he allows Jesus to be crucified. The speaker structures the beginning of this poem as a plea to Pilate’s better humanity. The use of anaphora gives the poem a feeling of almost hopelessness or futility; anyone who’s familiar with the story of Pontius Pilate knows that his final decision is not one of mercy, therefore, it’s as if the poem’s speaker is making this plea in vain. 

Lanyer makes another allusion to the biblical story of when Adam and Eve ate fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and were therefore banished from the Garden of Eden. She uses this allusion as a persuasive strategy for both her address to Pilate and to the reader.  

When addressing Pilate, Lanyer contrasts Eve’s infamous sin with that of Adam and the one that Pilate is about to face. She writes, “Her sin was small to what you do commit; /All mortal sins that do for vengeance cry /Are not to be compared unto it.” She insists that, while Eve’s sin was committed out of her lack of wisdom, Pilate’s potential sin would be a malicious act of cruelty against his better judgment.  

Lanyer creates a connection between Pilate’s sin and Adam’s; both men in positions of authority with superior wisdom at their disposal who nevertheless chose to sin. She makes the point that if Eve’s crime of ignorance is enough grounds to condemn all women, then Adam’s sin despite his access to greater knowledge is an even greater atrocity. 

Antithesis 

“Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women” also utilizes antithesis to enhance this message. For instance, the poem’s speaker may explore Pilate’s two opposing solutions to his dilemma; one being the path of cruelty and the other of righteousness; lines thirteen and fourteen state, “Condemn not him that must thy Savior be; /But view his holy life, his good desert.” The speaker also contrasts Adam and Eve’s strengths and weaknesses in this way to emphasize the opportunity that Adam had to reject Eve’s offer and stay on the path of righteousness, stating that “What weakness offered, strength might have refused.” 

Alliteration 

Alliteration also makes various appearances in Lanyer’s work. This alliteration creates several effects in “Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women”, but most notably, it invokes imagery in the reader’s mind. In lines twenty-three and fifty-five, the poem’s speaker emphasizes the letter ‘s’ when recounting the trickery of the snake in the Garden of Eden. “The subtle serpent that our sex betrayed… No subtle serpent’s falsehood did betray him.” The speaker’s repetition of the letter ‘s’ creates a sinister hissing effect, which invokes images of a hissing snake in the reader’s mind. 

Enjambments and End Stops 

“Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women” makes regular use of enjambments and end stops to control the flow of the piece. In some cases, a single sentence will continue for more than a stanza, and in others, a sentence will only span a single line. Lanyer places end stops to separate the distinct themes and ideas within the poem, similar to how paragraphs organize the ideas in a work of prose. 

Querelle des Femmes 

Overall, the purpose of “Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women” is an argumentative piece, the argument being in support of women’s liberation from the misogynistic culture that Lanyer inhabited. Such a culture partially justified its institutional sexism by claiming that women’s manipulative nature and moral weakness demanded their subjugation, often using Eve’s original sin as biblical evidence.  

Lanyer begins her argument by disguising it, hiding it in an address to Pontius Pilate. However, as the address continues, it becomes clear that Lanyer is not only speaking to Pilate but also to the reader through him. Her choice to first conceal the true messages of this work displays her literary expertise in navigating the politics of her culture while maintaining the integrity of her beliefs. When Lanyer insists that Adam’s crime should be seen as more severe than, if not equal to Eve’s she is arguing that men have no moral high ground to stand on. And when men lose their alleged moral superiority, they lose the right to subjugate women. 

Lanyer’s proto-feminist arguments in this piece firmly situate “Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women” in the early-modern literary conversation surrounding the nature of women and their place in society. This poem expertly contradicts the negative stereotypes surrounding women at their biblical source, therefore crippling the entire patriarchal argument. Lanyer writes, “Your fault being greater, why should you disdain /Our being your equals, free from tyranny? /If one weak woman simply did offend, /This sin of yours hath no excuse nor end.” 

 

Works Cited 

 

Greenblatt, Stephen. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Core Selections. Available from: University of Alabama, (10th Edition). W. W. Norton, 2021.