ABSTRACT
S.D. Goitein convincingly argues that biblical song is a “feminine genre” (“Women as Creators” 9), nonetheless, the most celebrated psalmist of the Bible is male. The Old Testament identifies King David as the author of an impressive number of songs in the Book of Psalms, thus marking a notable hero’s engagement in a hitherto feminine activity. Early modern Bible readers believed in David’s authorship of these poems and relied on the psalms for both private and liturgical devotions.Translation and adaptation of David’s psalms was a popular activity. From 1530 to 1600, more than 70 English translations of the psalms appeared in print with various paraphrases surfacing as well (Zim 2, 13). A devotional manual titled Psalmes or prayers taken out of holye scripture saw no fewer than thirteen editions between 1544 and 1608 (28). The popularity of David’s psalms during the English Renaissance makes David a fitting subject with which to conclude this investigation, for while the songs of biblical women influence early modern attitudes toward feminine speech and devotion, David’s biblical songs are most frequently translated and published at this time (2). In Psalm Culture and Early Modern English Literature (2004), Hannibal Hamlin investigates the ways in which translation of David’s psalms “substantially shaped the culture of sixteenthand seventeenth-century England” (1). David’s similarities with those biblical women examined in this study do not end with his writing and performing of songs, however. Many of the contexts in which early modern references to biblical heroines appear also feature references to David’s story in arguing the merits of the “weaker vessel.” His figure surfaces in arguments promoting Elizabeth I’s abilities and in texts surrounding the querelle des femmes. David, we might say, becomes the symbol for an emerging awareness of early modern feminine potential.
