Jane Seager's Sibylline Poems: Maidenly Negotiations Through Elizabethan Gift Exchange [with text].

Seager used the sibylline prophecies to promote a wider political agenda, while at the same time negotiating a definition of self through a gift book addressed to Queen Elizabeth in 1589. Seager not only translated the Latin text into English verse, she also transcribed it a second time into the shorthand developed by Timothy Bright in 1588. Through her preface Seager positions herself as a voice worthy of Elizabeth's attention because of her gifts or "graces" displayed in the material production of the book and her erudition revealed in the text. Seager's book intersects with important political and textual events in the aftermath of the Armada defeat. She uses contemporary mythos surrounding the sibylline prophecies to insert herself into the political deliberations concerning military intervention to promote the Protestant cause in Europe and the discussion concerning England's sacral and imperialistic mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]