Fit Words at the "Pitts Brinke": The Achievement of Elizabeth Isham

Abstract

Elizabeth Isham's "Booke of Rememberance" illuminates the inner life of an early modern Englishwoman who chose not to marry, and shows the importance of books to seventeenth-century women confronting illness and melancholy. Isham's habit from youth of copying passages from reading that might suit her own and others' needs for comfort prepared her to fit textual fragments together for her own healing. Anne Cotterill shows how Isham's learning and application of scripture, as part of a lifelong conversation with God and search for spiritual assurance, became compelling nourishment for her intellectual and emotional life.

Department(s)

English and Technical Communication

Keywords and Phrases

Biblical commonplacing; Early modern women diarists and memoirists; John Dod; John Dryden; Northamptonshire

Time Period

1600 - 1700

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0018-7895

Electronic OCLC #

52050526

Print OCLC #

1752421

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2010 University of California Press, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2010

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