Elizabeth Melville's Ane Godlie Dreame: A critical edition

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2006-05

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Abstract

Early modern Scotland had a culture distinct from that of England, and upper class women in the medieval society of Scotland enjoyed privileges Englishwomen did. The poet Elizabeth Melville (fl. 1603) was a well-educated woman whose "Ane Godlie Dreame" protestantizes the imagery and teachings of medieval dream vision poetry. The poem, which survives in six extant copies comprising four editions, contains echoes of the Bible and some patristic writings, including The Shepherd of Hermas. Further, the poem continues the tradition of "The Gude and Godlie Ballats," an attempt to instill Calvinist doctrine through poetry.

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Seventeenth-century poetry, Scottish literature

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