Virgin America for Barren England
English Colonial History and Literature, 1575–1635
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12880263 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nathan J Probasco (University of Nebraska–Lincoln, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 406-419 |
| Publication date | 2012-05-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Literature Compass (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1741-4113 • E-ISSN: 1741-4113 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2012.00892.x |
| OpenAlex | W1508341803 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 37 |
The ‘virgin land’ metaphor that anthropomorphized the Americas as a fecund female was a prominent motif for colonization promoters in Renaissance England. Scholars have pointed to the misogynistic and racist tendencies of male English colonizers like Walter Ralegh when explaining the meaning of these comparisons, but England’s societal problems shed additional light upon the prominence of the allegory in colonial history. England’s growing poor population and reduced harvests created the necessity of acquiring fertile lands outside of the English metropole, so colonization advocates began likening desired territories to virgin women. Focusing on the domestic landscape amidst an examination of this established trope clarifies the meaning of these metaphors and presents avenues of further inquiry
Aesthetics · Allegory · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Colonialism · Colonization · Famine · Genealogy · Linguistics · Literature · Meaning (existential · Metaphor · Motif (music · New england · Poetry · Political science · Population · Sociology · The Renaissance · Trope (literature · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Demography · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law · Philippine History and Culture · Philosophy · Psychology
The Deadly Politics of Giving
The lay of the land
American Slavery, American Freedom
The Columbian exchange
Humanism and America
The Romance of the New World
A Companion to the Global Renaissance
Envisioning an English Empire
Renaissance National Husbandry
Nature in Defect”
Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe
Taming the Wilderness in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Ireland and Virginia
Voyages in Print
The Deadly Politics of Giving
Weather, Hunger and Fear
Roanoke
The New Found Land of Stephen Parmenius. The Life and Writings of a Hungarian Poet, Drowned on a Voyage from Newfoundland, 1583
Metaphors of Dispossession
Ralegh's Fugitive Gold
Searching for the Roanoke Colonies
The Historical Anthropology of Text
Some Could Suckle over Their Shoulder
Set Fair for Roanoke
Powhatan's World and Colonial Virginia
Monastic Poor Relief in Sixteenth-Century England
The Rural Economy of England
God Speed the Plough
Powhatan Indian Women
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |