Point of View

The poem is written from the first-person point of view. Normally, it is important to keep a clear distinction between the speaker and the poet. This may be especially true when dealing with the work of women, or other minority, poets, as there is a tendency not to take their work as seriously on its own artistic merits, and instead to treat it as a historical curiosity, evidence of how usually-silenced types of people lived in the era and not a serious artistic work. However, in this particular case, it is more reasonable to look at the “I” in this poem as being closely associated with Lanyer herself. Lanyer really did grow up at Cooke-ham, and she did have a close relationship with both of the Cliffords, mother and daughter. She did leave Cooke-ham forever around the time this poem was written, too.

This does...