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This graduate seminar examines how women in early modern Italy used devotional language to negotiate questions of literary voice and authority, community and critique. We will approach devotion not only as a spiritual practice informed by the developments of the sixteenth- and seventeenth century (the intensified religious fervor of the Counter Reformation, the reassessment of female Biblical figures, the imposition of strict enclosure on convents), but as a framework through which to shape intellectual agency, claim authority, experiment with hybrid genres, and resist gendered cultural constraints. Close readings include a range of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century women writers, with particular attention to Arcangela Tarabotti, whose work allows for powerful reflection on the tensions between piety, authority, and dissent. As we consider how the literary strategies of these early modern women maneuver between the sacred and subversive, we will draw on theoretical readings on voice, enclosure, and literary authority. Some familiarity with Italian is recommended.