“My mistresses eyes…”

..are nothing like the sun.”

In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130, he goes on to describe the faults of the woman he is currently lusting after, picking out her physical flaws line by line, before basically saying he was smitten. He is thought to have been talking about Emilia Bassano Lanier - ‘the dark lady’. Although historians and academics believe she was likely to be Italian, so more likely to be Mediterranean in colouring.

Emelia is a fascinating character in herself and perhaps I’m doing her a real injustice referring to her as the object of Shakespeare’s eye and not as the first woman to have her poetry published. Her collection Salve Deus Rex Judæorum was published in 1611 and went unnoticed. Though academics have since praised the quality of her writing, singling out that “Lanyer's religious poem claims biblical and historical authority and grants the viewpoint of women as much or greater authenticity as that of men..’

Emilia fascinates me because she dared take a different viewpoint on religious poetry. She also boldly appealed to women for patronage of her writing. It wasn’t unusual for men in the day to adopt patronage and Emelia is daring to follow. Much has been documented about her affairs and her beauty. Not enough has been said about the quality of her writing and bold approach.

Emelia appears on two of my tours: Pioneering Women and Secrets of Spitalfields. If you’d like to find out more come and join me.