Lay by Your Needles Ladies, Take the Pen, Writing Women in England, 1500-1700

This anthology contains long extracts from fifty early modern texts, including witchcraft pamphlets, letters and other manuscript material, prophetic texts, practical books and petitions, as well as the more widely recognized genres of prose fiction and autobiography. The women writers themselves represent a range of different social, religious and political positions. Texts by male writers are also included to promote "a gendered poetics that rereads men's texts in the weave of women's." The result is a comprehensive introduction to women's writing in the Renaissance that encourages the exploration of the differences between women.