voyeuristic pleasure afforded by these glimpses into the Tudor court is balanced by the attempts to demonstrate the fundamental hollowness of wealth and power. The author’s clearly were written with a focused sense of the purpose, the Metrical Visions author’s tenor of which fills the poems, from to the final Le Historye / Cardinalis Eboracensis work in the collection, an envoy from the author to his book. The differs—perhaps surprisingly so—from the in tone. Metrical Visions Life While the is an explicit defense of Wolsey, the presents a far less Life Metrical Visions flattering view of the Cardinal. However, it is difficult to ascertain exactly why Cavendish was inconsistent in his representation of Wolsey. Of course, there is no indication that Cavendish was not devoted to Wolsey, but he was not so defensive of his former employer that he could not see a number of the negative qualities. Cardinal’s However, though Wolsey was long dead when the were written, the Metrical Visions other poems in the collection were about subjects who were more recently in power (Queen Mary in particular). P.L. Wiley hypothesizes that politicial considerations may explain reluctance to commit himself fully to criticising former monarchs, Cavendish’s stating that was a Catholic with strong opinions on Henry VIII's divorce and “Cavendish Anne part in it; and possession of a work dealing with such delicate subjects Boleyn’s might cost an Elizabethan his While it is certainly true that Cavendish blamed head.” Anne for providing the spark that set off Henry divorce and break from VIII’s England’s Rome, it is overly speculative to draw a connection between anti-Boleyn Cavendish’s attitude and Elizabethans (or earlier readers) losing their heads. There is no indication (thus far, at least) that Elizabethans were persecuted for possessing either the or Life Indeed, Wiley himself acknowledges that the circulated Metrical Visions. Life “widely” in manuscript and in excerpted form, and was utilized extensively by both John Stow and Raphael Holinshed throughout the early Elizabethan period. It therefore seems unlikely that the moderate texts were subjected to sustained or focused Cavendish’s censorship, nonetheless, the author chose to employ standard authorial distancing techniques. The final poem, confirms concerns Thauctor to / hys boke, Cavendish’s
voyeuristic pleasure afforded by these glimpses into the Tudor court is balanced by the author’s attempts to demonstrate the fundamental hollowness of wealth and power. The Metrical Visions clearly were written with a focused sense of the author’s purpose, the tenor of which fills the poems, from Le Historye / Cardinalis Eboracensis to the final work in the collection, an envoy from the author to his book. The Metrical Visions differs—perhaps surprisingly so—from the Life in tone. While the Life is an explicit defense of Wolsey, the Metrical Visions presents a far less flattering view of the Cardinal. However, it is difficult to ascertain exactly why Cavendish was inconsistent in his representation of Wolsey. Of course, there is no indication that Cavendish was not devoted to Wolsey, but he was not so defensive of his former employer that he could not see a number of the Cardinal’s negative qualities. However, though Wolsey was long dead when the Metrical Visions were written, the other poems in the collection were about subjects who were more recently in power (Queen Mary in particular). P.L. Wiley hypothesizes that politicial considerations may explain Cavendish’s reluctance to commit himself fully to criticising former monarchs, stating that “Cavendish was a Catholic with strong opinions on Henry VIII's divorce and Anne Boleyn’s part in it; and possession of a work dealing with such delicate subjects might cost an Elizabethan his head.” While it is certainly true that Cavendish blamed Anne for providing the spark that set off Henry VIII’s divorce and England’s break from Rome, it is overly speculative to draw a connection between Cavendish’s anti-Boleyn attitude and Elizabethans (or earlier readers) losing their heads. There is no indication (thus far, at least) that Elizabethans were persecuted for possessing either the Life or Metrical Visions. Indeed, Wiley himself acknowledges that the Life circulated “widely” in manuscript and in excerpted form, and was utilized extensively by both John Stow and Raphael Holinshed throughout the early Elizabethan period. It therefore seems unlikely that the moderate Cavendish’s texts were subjected to sustained or focused censorship, nonetheless, the author chose to employ standard authorial distancing techniques. The final poem, Thauctor to / hys boke, confirms Cavendish’s concerns
GSL_PhD_Thesis_Library_Copy.docx