Poets, Isabella Whitney, Anne Dowriche, Elizabeth Melville [Colville], Aemilia Lanyer, Rachel Speght, Diane Primrose and Anne, Mary and Penelope Grey

Isabella Whitney is the earliest Englishwoman known to have written original secular poetry in English for publication. The Copy of a Letter contains four poems written in the personae of persons jilted in love. The only known copy of this volume is held at the Bodleian Library and is reproduced here. Whitney’s second collection A Sweet Nosgay contains poetry in traditional stanzas and in prose ...