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Order and Disorder
Order and Disorder, the first epic poem by an Englishwoman, has never before been available in its entirety. The first five cantos were printed anonymously in 1679, but fifteen further cantos remained in manuscript, probably because they were so politically sensitive. David Norbrook, widely recognized as a leading authority on Renaissance literature and politics, has now attributed the work to the republican, Lucy Hutchison. In this prestigious scholarly volume, he provides a wealth of editorial matter, along with the first full version of Order and Disorder ever to be published.
332 pages, Paperback
First published February 16, 2001
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About the author
Lucy Hutchinson
45Ìýbooks1ÌýfollowerLucy Hutchinson (1620â€�1681), republican and puritan, was an English biographer as well as the first translator into English of the complete text of Lucretius's De Rerum Natura during the years of the interregnum (1649-1660).
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 10, 2020
3.5 stars. I have a complicated relationship with religious epics (Milton and I are not friends), but Hutchinson's take is really beautiful. The imagery especially is VERY gorgeous. A more feminine take that should probably get a little more recognition.
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November 7, 2014After God calls forth light on the first day:
"And of that frail imperfect state wherein
The wasting lights of mortal men begin;
Whose comforts, honors, lives, soon as they shine
Must all to sorrows, changes, death resign;
Even their wisdom's and their virtue's light
Are hid by envy's interposing night."
Welcome to Calvinism everybody.
/
Billed as the first epic in the English language by a woman (Bradstreet's Quaternion's don't count?), Order and Disorder is going to frustrate most modern readers with its close adherence to Genesis with the occasional swerve into exegesis along Calvinist lines. This said, things get metal as shit when she's describing the terrors of the soul and the many catastrophes the genocidal Judeo-Christian god inflicts on ppl in the old testament. See also her Elegy to Sunlight/Ode to Darkness Norbrook appends to the volume:
"Since, then, thou wilt thrust into this dark room,
By thine own light read thy most certain doom:
Darkness shall shortly quench thy impure light
And thou shalt set in everlasting night."
The extended treatment of the story of Jacob, the relatively judgement free description of the contest of reproduction between Rachael and Leah,and the use of an epic simile at the center of which is a merchant ship standing in for Jacob's flight from Laban to conclude the poem point to some rich interpretive possibilities RE: female agency and reproduction and Hutchinson's view of the rising class of Puritan free-trading merchants (which were doing some massively horrible things).
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"And of that frail imperfect state wherein
The wasting lights of mortal men begin;
Whose comforts, honors, lives, soon as they shine
Must all to sorrows, changes, death resign;
Even their wisdom's and their virtue's light
Are hid by envy's interposing night."
Welcome to Calvinism everybody.
/
Billed as the first epic in the English language by a woman (Bradstreet's Quaternion's don't count?), Order and Disorder is going to frustrate most modern readers with its close adherence to Genesis with the occasional swerve into exegesis along Calvinist lines. This said, things get metal as shit when she's describing the terrors of the soul and the many catastrophes the genocidal Judeo-Christian god inflicts on ppl in the old testament. See also her Elegy to Sunlight/Ode to Darkness Norbrook appends to the volume:
"Since, then, thou wilt thrust into this dark room,
By thine own light read thy most certain doom:
Darkness shall shortly quench thy impure light
And thou shalt set in everlasting night."
The extended treatment of the story of Jacob, the relatively judgement free description of the contest of reproduction between Rachael and Leah,and the use of an epic simile at the center of which is a merchant ship standing in for Jacob's flight from Laban to conclude the poem point to some rich interpretive possibilities RE: female agency and reproduction and Hutchinson's view of the rising class of Puritan free-trading merchants (which were doing some massively horrible things).
/
June 26, 2016
Lucy Hutchinson's husband was one of the 'regicides' who signed the death warrant of Charles I, and she herself was a dedicated republican. This long poem, the first female authored epic in English, is rambling in lots of ways, and not necessarily the most accomplished in poetical terms, yet offers an insight into some of the tensions surrounding women's writing in the seventeenth century.
Drawing on the bible, Hutchinson both conforms to the idea that religious writing was acceptable for women and, at the same time, uses religion as a cover to discuss politics and gender politics, particularly in her long section on the trials of birth and motherhood, ostensibly linked to Eve. This is interesting to read alongside Milton's Paradise Lost, the thrilling (yet conflicted) epic of another republican, as well as Aemilia Lanyer's very different response to Eve in her Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum.
Norbrook's edition is superb with all the textual paraphernalia we would expect. Overall a good volume for anyone interested in women's writing, seventeenth century poetry, and the literature of the civil war.
Drawing on the bible, Hutchinson both conforms to the idea that religious writing was acceptable for women and, at the same time, uses religion as a cover to discuss politics and gender politics, particularly in her long section on the trials of birth and motherhood, ostensibly linked to Eve. This is interesting to read alongside Milton's Paradise Lost, the thrilling (yet conflicted) epic of another republican, as well as Aemilia Lanyer's very different response to Eve in her Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum.
Norbrook's edition is superb with all the textual paraphernalia we would expect. Overall a good volume for anyone interested in women's writing, seventeenth century poetry, and the literature of the civil war.
June 26, 2007
Written about the time of Paradise Lost, Order and Disorder tries to do what Milton did by going further into the book of Genesis and giving commentary on relationships, political agendas, justice, and so on through iambic pentameter. Hutchinson spends much more time with life as it exists after the fall in relation to mercy, justice, and our relationship with God, whereas Milton spends a good deal on the pre-fall relationship and experience of God in the garden. Hutchinson's writing could very well parallel Milton's work and is an important piece when studying the 17th century.
March 23, 2017
Very Calvinistic, which is fine with me. Hutchinson's 17-century biblical epic narrates the book of Genesis. It may have been written before Milton's Paradise Lost, but the first five books weren't published (anonymously) until 1679, after the second (12-book) edition of Milton's epic had been published in 1674. Hutchinson's husband had signed the death warrant of Charles I.
I read pp. xii-lii.
I read pp. xii-lii.
November 16, 2013
An outstanding point of comparison for Orthodoxy and Politics in Milton's Paradise Lost.
On its own, it offers some singularly beautiful imagery and an interesting explication on post-fall developments untouched by Milton's epic.
On its own, it offers some singularly beautiful imagery and an interesting explication on post-fall developments untouched by Milton's epic.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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