The rape of mother nature: Women in the language of environmental discourse

Through ecocritical and ecofeminist theory, this paper describes how and why the earth and women are closely associated in many, if not all, cultures. The specific example of seventeenth century English poetry is used to demonstrate how women are associated with the land in a period of colonisation and imperial expansion. The poetry of John Donne and John Milton attempts to justify both the domination of women and of the land by men, whether it be done by lovers, colonists, or theologians. The poetry of Aphra Behn and Margaret Cavendish, on the other hand, reveals how women were aware of the way both they and the land were downgraded, and as a consequence they identify closely with the earth's sufferings.