24 “The Description of Cooke-ham” (1611)
With an Introduction by Kaine Seif
Aemilia Lanyer
Introduction
Aemilia Lanyer’s series of religious verse, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum, published in 1611, was the first original poetry by a woman to be published in the seventeenth century (Hutson). Contained in this volume is “The Description of Cooke-ham,” a piece Lanyer wrote for her friend and potential patron, Margaret Clifford, the Countess of Cumberland. “The Description of Cooke-ham” is the last work in this volume and is one of many addressed to a potential patron. Her work was originally poorly received and essentially forgotten about but was recently rediscovered (“Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum”). Hailed as “an impressive and worthy member of the group of poets who founded the great century of English religious verse,” Lanyer’s works can now be added to the canon of early feminist and early queer writings that can help shape an intersectional retrospective on Renaissance literature and beyond (Woods 161).
Susanne Woods writes that “there is no reason to believe [Lanyer’s] faith was anything other than the Reform Protestantism in which she was apparently raised, particularly given the centrality of Christ to all her extant poems” despite her work containing “visual and sensual elements more similar to her Catholic than to her Protestant predecessors” (129-130). This itself can be read as a potential signifier of something queer in Lanyer’s text and messaging, though there are elements of the text suggest a queering of the religious as well. A resonating throughline of Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum is Lanyer’s making the situation of women (whether in her text or in the story of Christ’s passion) “inseparable from the passion itself” such that “even Christ becomes a figure for the female experience, both as object of the female gaze and… as a feminized character whose words and silences are misconstrued by the men in the poem” (Woods 149). This feminine-centric, gender-bending approach to religion runs parallel to Lanyer’s desire to find authority through patrons – and through the creation of community in her work, a “distinctively and assertively female community” at that (103).
Many scholars have made the case for queer subtext in “The Description of Cooke-ham,” part of Lanyer’s Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum collection, despite its, at first, overtly religious imagery and messaging. The replication and connection of Christ with Lanyer’s patrons can be read as a form of reverence towards said patrons, but it can also be taken as a form of queer interpersonal worship, or an equation of the women whom Lanyer holds in high regards with religious figures themselves. Erin Murphy points out that in this poem, the Countess “acts ‘with’ Christ to Moses, David, and Daniel, joining these male types of Christ” and that “this defies both a binary sense of gender, and a sense of distinct historical moments” (727). Additionally, Murphy argues for the reading of the speaker herself as queer, writing that “the speaker famously steals the kiss the Countess has given her favourite tree” (728). Amy Greenstadt asserts that “the fact that Lanyer sneaks back to steal the kiss from this ‘sencelesse creature’ implies that she, too, expected to receive this gesture of love from Clifford and feels that it rightly belongs to her” (69). This reading of the speaker’s actions alludes to same-sex attraction that is at least present from the speaker to the Countess, and even hints, through the idea that the kiss belongs to the speaker, that the speaker and the Countess may have shared some level of mutual same-sex attraction. While it is impossible to confirm the existence of a queer relationship between Lanyer and the Countess, it is still worth examining the queerness of Lanyer’s poetry and ponder what this means for the canon of English religious verse. What can we, as a contemporary audience, make of an Early Modern religious text’s queer subtext? What does Lanyer’s potential queerness in “The Description of Cooke-ham” mean for the intersections of Christianity and queerness today?
“The Description of Cooke-ham”
Farewell (sweet Cooke-ham) where I first obtained
Grace from that grace where perfect grace remained;
And where the muses gave their full consent,
I should have power the virtuous to content;
Where princely palace willed me to indite,
The sacred story of the soul’s delight.
Farewell (sweet place) where virtue then did rest,
And all delights did harbor in her breast;
Never shall my sad eyes again behold
Those pleasures which my thoughts did then unfold.
Yet you (great Lady) Mistress of that place,
From whose desires did spring this work of grace;
Vouchsafe to think upon those pleasures past,
As fleeting worldly joys that could not last,
Or, as dim shadows of celestial pleasures,
Which are desired above all earthly treasures.
Oh how (methought) against you thither came,
Each part did seem some new delight to frame!
The house received all ornaments to grace it,
And would endure no foulness to deface it.
And walks put on their summer liveries[1],
And all things else did hold like similes.
The trees with leaves, with fruits, with flowers clad,
Embraced each other, seeming to be glad,
Turning themselves to beauteous Canopies,
To shade the bright sun from your brighter eyes;
The crystal streams with silver spangles graced,
While by the glorious sun they were embraced;
The little birds in chirping notes did sing,
To entertain both you and that sweet spring.
And Philomela[2] with her sundry lays,
Both you and that delightful place did praise.
Oh how me thought each plant, each flower, each tree
Set forth their beauties then to welcome thee!
The very hills right humbly did descend,
When you to tread on them did intend.
And as you set your feet, they still did rise,
Glad that they could receive so rich a prize.
The gentle winds did take delight to be
Among those woods that were so graced by thee,
And in sad murmur uttered pleasing sound,
That pleasure in that place might more abound.
The swelling banks delivered all their pride
When such a Phoenix once they had espied.
Each arbor, bank, each seat, each stately tree,
Thought themselves honored in supporting thee;
The pretty birds would oft come to attend thee,
Yet fly away for fear they should offend thee;
The little creatures in the burrough by
Would come abroad to sport them in your eye,
Yet fearful of the bow in your fair hand.
Would run away when you did make a stand.
Now let me come unto that stately tree,
Wherein such goodly prospects you did see;
That oak that did in height his fellows pass,
As much as lofty trees, low growing grass,
Much like a comely cedar straight and tall,
Whose beauteous stature far exceeded all.
How often did you visit this fair tree,
Which seeming joyful in receiving thee,
Would like a palm tree spread his arms abroad,
Desirous that you there should make abode;
Whose fair green leaves much like a comely veil,
Defended Phoebus when he would assail;
Whose pleasing boughs did yield a cool fresh air,
Joying his happiness when you were there.
Where being seated, you might plainly see
Hills, vales, and woods, as if on bended knee
They had appeared, your honor to salute,
Or to prefer some strange unlooked-for suit;
All interlaced with brooks and crystal springs,
A prospect fit to please the eyes of kings.
And thirteen shires appeared all in your sight,
Europe could not afford much more delight.
What was there then but gave you all content,
While you the time in meditation spent
Of their Creator’s power, which there you saw,
In all his creatures held a perfect law;
And in their beauties did you plain descry
His beauty, wisdom, grace, love, majesty.
In these sweet woods how often did you walk,
With Christ and his Apostles there to talk;
Placing his holy Writ in some fair tree
To meditate what you therein did see.
With Moses you did mount his holy hill
To know his pleasure, and perform his will.
With lowly David you did often sing
His holy hymns to Heaven’s eternal King.
And in sweet music did your soul delight
To sound his praises, morning, noon, and night.
With blessed Joseph you did often feed
Your pined brethren, when they stood in need.
And that sweet Lady sprung from Clifford’s race,
Of noble Bedford’s blood, fair stem of grace,
To honorable Dorset now espoused[3],
In whose fair breast true virtue then was housed,
Oh what delight did my weak spirits find
In those pure parts of her well framèd mind.
And yet it grieves me that I cannot be
Near unto her, whose virtues did agree
With those fair ornaments of outward beauty,
Which did enforce from all both love and duty.
Unconstant Fortune, thou art most to blame,
Who casts us down into so low a frame
Where our great friends we cannot daily see,
So great a difference is there in degree.
Many are placed in those orbs of state,
Partners in honor, so ordained by Fate,
Nearer in show, yet farther off in love,
In which, the lowest always are above.
But whither am I carried in conceit,
My wit too weak to conster of the great.
Why not? although we are but born of earth,
We may behold the heavens, despising death;
And loving heaven that is so far above,
May in the end vouchsafe us entire love.
Therefore sweet memory do thou retain
Those pleasures past, which will not turn again:
Remember beauteous Dorset’s former sports,
So far from being touched by ill reports,
Wherein myself did always bear a part,
While reverend love presented my true heart.
Those recreations let me bear in mind,
Which her sweet youth and noble thoughts did find,
Whereof deprived, I evermore must grieve,
Hating blind Fortune, careless to relieve,
And you sweet Cooke-ham, whom these ladies leave,
I now must tell the grief you did conceive
At their departure, when they went away,
How everything retained a sad dismay.
Nay long before, when once an inkling came,
Methought each thing did unto sorrow frame:
The trees that were so glorious in our view,
Forsook both flowers and fruit, when once they knew
Of your depart, their very leaves did wither,
Changing their colors as they grew together.
But when they saw this had no power to stay you,
They often wept, though, speechless, could not pray you,
Letting their tears in your fair bosoms fall,
As if they said, Why will ye leave us all?
This being vain, they cast their leaves away
Hoping that pity would have made you stay:
Their frozen tops, like age’s hoary hairs,
Shows their disasters, languishing in fears.
A swarthy riveled rind all over spread,
Their dying bodies half alive, half dead.
But your occasions called you so away
That nothing there had power to make you stay.
Yet did I see a noble grateful mind
Requiting each according to their kind,
Forgetting not to turn and take your leave
Of these sad creatures, powerless to receive
Your favor, when with grief you did depart,
Placing their former pleasures in your heart,
Giving great charge to noble memory
There to preserve their love continually.
But specially the love of that fair tree,
That first and last you did vouchsafe to see,
In which it pleased you oft to take the air
With noble Dorset, then a virgin fair,
Where many a learned book was read and scanned,
To this fair tree, taking me by the hand,
You did repeat the pleasures which had passed,
Seeming to grieve they could no longer last.
And with a chaste, yet loving kiss took leave,
Of which sweet kiss I did it soon bereave,
Scorning a senseless creature should possess
So rare a favor, so great happiness.
No other kiss it could receive from me,
For fear to give back what it took of thee,
So I ungrateful creature did deceive it
Of that which you in love vouchsafed to leave it.
And though it oft had given me much content,
Yet this great wrong I never could repent;
But of the happiest made it most forlorn,
To show that nothing’s free from Fortune’s scorne,
While all the rest with this most beauteous tree
Made their sad consort sorrow’s harmony.
The flowers that on the banks and walks did grow,
Crept in the ground, the grass did weep for woe.
The winds and waters seemed to chide together
Because you went away they knew not whither;
And those sweet brooks that ran so fair and clear,
With grief and trouble wrinkled did appear.
Those pretty birds that wonted were to sing,
Now neither sing, nor chirp, nor use their wing,
But with their tender feet on some bare spray,
Warble forth sorrow, and their own dismay.
Fair Philomela leaves her mournful ditty,
Drowned in deep sleep, yet can procure no pity.
Each arbor, bank, each seat, each stately tree
Looks bare and desolate now for want of thee,
Turning green tresses into frosty gray,
While in cold grief they wither all away.
The sun grew weak, his beams no comfort gave,
While all green things did make the earth their grave.
Each brier, each bramble, when you went away
Caught fast your clothes, thinking to make you stay;
Delightful Echo[4] wonted to reply
To our last words, did now for sorrow die;
The house cast off each garment that might grace it,
Putting on dust and cobwebs to deface it.
All desolation then there did appear,
When you were going whom they held so dear.
This last farewell to Cooke-ham here I give,
When I am dead thy name in this may live,
Wherein I have performed her noble hest
Whose virtues lodge in my unworthy breast,
And ever shall, so long as life remains,
Tying my life to her by those rich chains.
Sources:
“The Description of Cooke-ham” by Aemilia Lanyer is taken from Early English Books Online.
- In the lines preceding “And walks put on their summer liveries,” Lanyer discusses the Cooke-ham estate, writing, “The house received all ornaments to grace it / And would endure no foulness to deface it” (lines 19-20). Lanyer establishes the beauty of the estate before leading into a description of the changing seasons at Cooke-ham. According to an Oxford English Dictionary definition of “walk” as a noun, the word may refer to “a course or route chosen for walking.” I believe that Lanyer is referring to pathways on the Cooke-ham property used for walking and outdoor activity. If the “walks” are the pathways, then the “summer liveries” she mentions help personify the pathways, perhaps referencing the summer foliage that would surround her on a walk. An Oxford English Dictionary definition of liveries is "the characteristic uniform or insignia worn by a household's retainers or servants (in later use largely restricted to footmen and other manservants), typically distinguished by colour and design; the dress, uniform, or insignia" (“Livery N., Sense III.11.b”). This implies that the “summer liveries” of the walks might be an expected color or look, which would make sense with the cyclical and predictable changing of seasons. This definition would also render the walks as servants, so to speak, of the estate’s occupants, further personifying them. ↵
- This line is the first of many that reference Philomela, a figure in Greek mythology often used as a literary symbol. The myth surrounding Philomela tells of her assault by her sister’s husband and how, after getting revenge on him with her sister, was turned into a nightingale, a bird known for its song. In Elizabethan England, many writers incorporated the myth of Philomela into their work to represent “mourning and beauty after being subjected to violence” (“Philomela”). Lanyer might have channeled Philomela in this piece to represent her mourning of the end of her time at Cooke-ham. ↵
- Here Lanyer is referring to the Countess of Cumberland’s daughter, Lady Anne Clifford (Figure 1), the Countess of Dorset. Anne was born into two powerful families, the Cliffords of Cumberland on her father’s side and the Bedfords on her mother’s side (“Lady Anne Clifford”). She later married into the Sackville family of Dorset. Lanyer succinctly provides a chronology of Anne’s family ties in these lines, taking care to elevate and compliment the families of which Anne is a part, perhaps in hopes of gaining favor and patronage from her. ↵
- In Greek mythology as related by Ovid in Metamorphoses, Echo is a nymph who is cursed by the goddess Juno after repeatedly intervening and distracting her with lengthy conversations while Juno is trying to catch her husband Jupiter being unfaithful to her. Echo’s punishment is that she can only repeat the last words spoken by another, becoming their “echo” as we would now call it. Echo falls in love with Narcissus but can never have a meaningful relationship or even a conversation with him, and when they do encounter one another, he rejects her (Figure 2). As he dies, saying, “Oh marvelous boy, I loved you in vain, farewell,” to himself, Echo repeats his “Farewell” (“Echo”). This line of Lanyer’s poem uses an enjambment, or the continuation of a phrase or sentence after a line break, to communicate that “Echo [wanted] to reply to our last words, did now for sorrow die.” The heartbreaking end to Echo’s pining for Narcissus is reflected here, as Lanyer creates a parallel between the ending of their relationship and her own time at Cooke-ham with Margaret Clifford, the Countess of Cumberland. This parallel can be read to suggest a sense of unrequited affection that Lanyer as its writer and the poem’s “I” feels for its addressee in Clifford, which correlates well with Greenstadt’s and Murphy’s explorations of queerness in “The Description of Cooke-ham.” ↵
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