Poems by a Sixteenth-Century Gentlewoman, Maid, and Servant

Isabella Whitney (c. 1547–after 1624) was born in Chester and lived in London. Shannon Miller is professor of English and comparative literature and the dean of the College of Humanities and the Arts at San José State University. She is the author of Invested with Meaning: The Raleigh Circle in the New World and Engendering the Fall: John Milton and Seventeenth-Century Women Writers.

• Acknowledgments Illustrations Abbreviations Chronology of Events INTRODUCTION THE COPY OF A LETTER, LATELY WRITTEN IN METER, BY A YOUNG GENTLEWOMAN TO HER UNCONSTANT LOVER (1566–1567) The Printer to the Reader I. W. To Her Unconstant Lover The Admonition by the Author, to All Young Gentlewomen A Love Letter, or an Earnest Persuasion of a Lover R. W. against the Willful Inconstancy of His Dear Foe E. T. A SWEET NOSEGAY, OR PLEASANT POSY, CONTAINING A HUNDRED AND TEN PHILOSOPHICAL FLOWERS, ETC. (1573) To the Worshipful and Right Virtuous Young Gentleman, George Mainwaring The Author to the Reader T. B. in Commendation of the Author A Sweet Nosegay, or Pleasant Posy A Sovereign Receipt A Farewell to the Reader To Her Brother, G. W. To Her Brother, B. W. An Order Prescribed, by IS. W. to Two of Her Younger Sisters To Her Sister Mistress A. B. To Her Cousin, F. W. A Careful Complaint by the Unfortunate Author An Answer to Comfort Her, by Showing His Haps to be Harder A Reply to the Same IS. W. to C. B. in Bewailing Her Mishaps In Answer by C. B. to IS. W. To My Friend Master T. L. Whose Good Nature I See Abused Another Letter Sent to IS. W. by One: to Whom She Had Written Her Infortunate State IS. W. Being Weary of Writing, Sendeth This for Answer A Communication Which the Author Had to London, before She Made Her Will The Manner of Her Will, and What She Left to London APPENDIX: POEMS ATTRIBUTED TO ISABELLA WHITNEY The Complaint of a Woman Lover, to the Tune of “Raging Love” The Lamentation of a Gentlewoman upon the Death of Her Late Deceased Friend, William Gruffith, Gent. The Lady Beloved Exclaimeth of the Great Untruth of Her Lover Another by I. W. Dido to Aeneas Aeneas to Dido Bibliography Index of First Lines General Index

"This edition of writings published by Isabella Whitney and poems attributed to her by later editors is so important to women's literary history that it is hard to believe it has not yet appeared. Whitney's poetry is intelligent, perceptive, witty, vibrant, and direct; it will be widely read and enjoyed by students and more advanced scholars interested in early modern women's literature, history, feminist and gender studies, as well as cultural studies more generally."