The Pulter Project
Poet in the Making
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Sources Facsimile of manuscript: Photographs provided by University of Leeds, Brotherton Collection
Poem IndexNotes: TranscriptionTranscription
May-dew is prized for its cosmetic and medicinal properties. In Irelands Natural History, Gerard Boate explains how to gather it:
“The English women, and Gentlewomen in Ireland, as in England, did use in the beginning of the Summer to gather good store of Dew, to keep it by them all year for several good uses both of physick and otherwise, wherein by experience they have learnt it to be very available. Their manner of collecting and keeping it was this. In the moneth of May especially, and also in part of the moneth of June, they would go forth betimes in the morning, and before Sun-rising, into a green field, and there either with their hands strike off the Dew from the tops of the herbs into a dish, or else throwing clean linen clothes upon the ground, take off the Dew from the herbs into them, and afterwards wring it out into dishes.”Gerarde Boate, Irelands Natural History, London, 1652, pp. 170-71.Dew might be gathered from many different plants, but Boate explains that dew from “green corn, especially Wheat” has “more vertues” (171).
i.e. the speaker is sunburned. Pulter adopts a trope of Petrarchan love poetry to describe the painful experience of unrequited devotion. Compare to Lady Mary Wroth’s Pamphilia to Amphilanthus sonnet 22:
Pulter suggests that one consequence of the Fall is her lack of harmony with the universe, particularly the stars and planets. In a state of innocence, “no sun nor moon” could hurt her, and, further, the heavenly bodies would be “fellows” and a source of “delight.” This claim may refer to legends about how the Fall transformed the physical environment and subjected humans to physical suffering, as well as to debates about how the Fall limits humans’ ability to know both their physical environment and God. Compare Milton’s Paradise Lost, which engages with both traditions. In Book 11, the angels change the orientation of the Earth so that heat of the Sun is intensified and in order to create potentially harmful astrological influences (see 11. 649-78). In book 12, Michael tells Adam that his loss requires him to turn away from knowledge of the heavens:
Notes: Elemental EditionElemental EditionMay-dew is prized for its cosmetic and medicinal properties. In Irelands Natural History, Gerard Boate explains how to gather it:
“The English women, and Gentlewomen in Ireland, as in England, did use in the beginning of the Summer to gather good store of Dew, to keep it by them all year for several good uses both of physick and otherwise, wherein by experience they have learnt it to be very available. Their manner of collecting and keeping it was this. In the moneth of May especially, and also in part of the moneth of June, they would go forth betimes in the morning, and before Sun-rising, into a green field, and there either with their hands strike off the Dew from the tops of the herbs into a dish, or else throwing clean linen clothes upon the ground, take off the Dew from the herbs into them, and afterwards wring it out into dishes.”Gerarde Boate, Irelands Natural History, London, 1652, pp. 170-71.Dew might be gathered from many different plants, but Boate explains that dew from “green corn, especially Wheat” has “more vertues” (171).
i.e. the speaker is sunburned. Pulter adopts a trope of Petrarchan love poetry to describe the painful experience of unrequited devotion. Compare to Lady Mary Wroth’s Pamphilia to Amphilanthus sonnet 22:
Pulter suggests that one consequence of the Fall is her lack of harmony with the universe, particularly the stars and planets. In a state of innocence, “no sun nor moon” could hurt her, and, further, the heavenly bodies would be “fellows” and a source of “delight.” This claim may refer to legends about how the Fall transformed the physical environment and subjected humans to physical suffering, as well as to debates about how the Fall limits humans’ ability to know both their physical environment and God. Compare Milton’s Paradise Lost, which engages with both traditions. In Book 11, the angels change the orientation of the Earth so that heat of the Sun is intensified and in order to create potentially harmful astrological influences (see 11. 649-78). In book 12, Michael tells Adam that his loss requires him to turn away from knowledge of the heavens:
Notes: Amplified EditionMay-dew is prized for its cosmetic and medicinal properties. In Irelands Natural History, Gerard Boate explains how to gather it:
“The English women, and Gentlewomen in Ireland, as in England, did use in the beginning of the Summer to gather good store of Dew, to keep it by them all year for several good uses both of physick and otherwise, wherein by experience they have learnt it to be very available. Their manner of collecting and keeping it was this. In the moneth of May especially, and also in part of the moneth of June, they would go forth betimes in the morning, and before Sun-rising, into a green field, and there either with their hands strike off the Dew from the tops of the herbs into a dish, or else throwing clean linen clothes upon the ground, take off the Dew from the herbs into them, and afterwards wring it out into dishes.”Gerarde Boate, Irelands Natural History, London, 1652, pp. 170-71.Dew might be gathered from many different plants, but Boate explains that dew from “green corn, especially Wheat” has “more vertues” (171).
i.e. the speaker is sunburned. Pulter adopts a trope of Petrarchan love poetry to describe the painful experience of unrequited devotion. Compare to Lady Mary Wroth’s Pamphilia to Amphilanthus sonnet 22:
Pulter suggests that one consequence of the Fall is her lack of harmony with the universe, particularly the stars and planets. In a state of innocence, “no sun nor moon” could hurt her, and, further, the heavenly bodies would be “fellows” and a source of “delight.” This claim may refer to legends about how the Fall transformed the physical environment and subjected humans to physical suffering, as well as to debates about how the Fall limits humans’ ability to know both their physical environment and God. Compare Milton’s Paradise Lost, which engages with both traditions. In Book 11, the angels change the orientation of the Earth so that heat of the Sun is intensified and in order to create potentially harmful astrological influences (see 11. 649-78). In book 12, Michael tells Adam that his loss requires him to turn away from knowledge of the heavens:
Amplified EditionMay-dew is prized for its cosmetic and medicinal properties. In Irelands Natural History, Gerard Boate explains how to gather it:
“The English women, and Gentlewomen in Ireland, as in England, did use in the beginning of the Summer to gather good store of Dew, to keep it by them all year for several good uses both of physick and otherwise, wherein by experience they have learnt it to be very available. Their manner of collecting and keeping it was this. In the moneth of May especially, and also in part of the moneth of June, they would go forth betimes in the morning, and before Sun-rising, into a green field, and there either with their hands strike off the Dew from the tops of the herbs into a dish, or else throwing clean linen clothes upon the ground, take off the Dew from the herbs into them, and afterwards wring it out into dishes.”Gerarde Boate, Irelands Natural History, London, 1652, pp. 170-71.Dew might be gathered from many different plants, but Boate explains that dew from “green corn, especially Wheat” has “more vertues” (171).
i.e. the speaker is sunburned. Pulter adopts a trope of Petrarchan love poetry to describe the painful experience of unrequited devotion. Compare to Lady Mary Wroth’s Pamphilia to Amphilanthus sonnet 22:
Pulter suggests that one consequence of the Fall is her lack of harmony with the universe, particularly the stars and planets. In a state of innocence, “no sun nor moon” could hurt her, and, further, the heavenly bodies would be “fellows” and a source of “delight.” This claim may refer to legends about how the Fall transformed the physical environment and subjected humans to physical suffering, as well as to debates about how the Fall limits humans’ ability to know both their physical environment and God. Compare Milton’s Paradise Lost, which engages with both traditions. In Book 11, the angels change the orientation of the Earth so that heat of the Sun is intensified and in order to create potentially harmful astrological influences (see 11. 649-78). In book 12, Michael tells Adam that his loss requires him to turn away from knowledge of the heavens:
All Notes May-dew is prized for its cosmetic and medicinal properties. In Irelands Natural History, Gerard Boate explains how to gather it:
“The English women, and Gentlewomen in Ireland, as in England, did use in the beginning of the Summer to gather good store of Dew, to keep it by them all year for several good uses both of physick and otherwise, wherein by experience they have learnt it to be very available. Their manner of collecting and keeping it was this. In the moneth of May especially, and also in part of the moneth of June, they would go forth betimes in the morning, and before Sun-rising, into a green field, and there either with their hands strike off the Dew from the tops of the herbs into a dish, or else throwing clean linen clothes upon the ground, take off the Dew from the herbs into them, and afterwards wring it out into dishes.”Gerarde Boate, Irelands Natural History, London, 1652, pp. 170-71.Dew might be gathered from many different plants, but Boate explains that dew from “green corn, especially Wheat” has “more vertues” (171).
i.e. the speaker is sunburned. Pulter adopts a trope of Petrarchan love poetry to describe the painful experience of unrequited devotion. Compare to Lady Mary Wroth’s Pamphilia to Amphilanthus sonnet 22:
Pulter suggests that one consequence of the Fall is her lack of harmony with the universe, particularly the stars and planets. In a state of innocence, “no sun nor moon” could hurt her, and, further, the heavenly bodies would be “fellows” and a source of “delight.” This claim may refer to legends about how the Fall transformed the physical environment and subjected humans to physical suffering, as well as to debates about how the Fall limits humans’ ability to know both their physical environment and God. Compare Milton’s Paradise Lost, which engages with both traditions. In Book 11, the angels change the orientation of the Earth so that heat of the Sun is intensified and in order to create potentially harmful astrological influences (see 11. 649-78). In book 12, Michael tells Adam that his loss requires him to turn away from knowledge of the heavens:
