Since early modern women were at once inside and outside English literary tradition, their writings raise fascinating questions about self-fashioning, generic and social expectations, literary innovation, political subversion, and social revolution. Students in this tutorial will explore questions such as the following: What self-conceptions or forms of self-representation shape these writings? How are these texts shaped by generic and formal expectations of sonnet, romance, drama, or religious autobiography, and how do they re-envision or break free from poetic, narrative, and social conventions? How does the expectation of private manuscript circulation or public printed book affect choices of voice, style, and form? What assumptions or preconceptions do modern readers bring to these texts, and how do these texts shape their readers' expectations and reactions? Readings include: poems and speeches by Elizabeth I; lyrics, psalms, and narrative poems by Isabella Whitney, Mary Sidney, Martha Moulsworth, and Mary Wroth; dramas by Mary Sidney and Elizabeth Cary; diaries, letters and memoirs by Lucy Hutchinson and Anne Halkett; autobiographical/fictional fantasy prose by Margaret Cavendish. Format: tutorial with occasional group meetings. Requirements: Students will meet with the instructor in pairs for an hour each week; they will write a 5- to 7-page paper every other week (five in all), and comment on their partners' papers in alternate weeks. Emphasis will be placed on developing skills not only in reading and interpretation, but also in constructing critical arguments and responding to them in written and oral critiques. Prerequisites: a 100-level English course, except 150. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected: 10). Preference given to English majors. (Pre-1700)