EDMUND SPENSERThe Golden Age,

The Spenserian Sonnet, and

The Faerie Queene

Known as “the poet’s poet” for his delight in the pure artistry of his craft (pictorial imagery, sensuous description, and linguistic richness)

John Milton, John Dryden, John Keats, and Wordsworth all refer to him in their own works, praising his style

Born to a tailor in London, England

Received a progressive education

As a “gentleman by education only”, he needed to work to support himself

Worked as secretary to a Bishop and an Earl, which brought him into proximity of the court of Queen Elizabeth I

The court was the centre of social life and status in England

While Spenser was friends with many established courtiers, he was never part of the court himself (partly because he was transferred to Ireland)

1590 – his friend Sir Walter Raleigh (famous English poet) helped him publish The Faerie Queene

1594 – married Elizabeth Boyle; their love is immortalized in his famous sonnet sequence, the Amoretti

The Golden Age (1558-1603) Monarch:

Elizabeth I The first female

English monarch (1558-1603)

So, why was the Elizabethan Age so “golden”?

viewed so highly because of the periods before and after

a brief period of largely internal peace between the English Reformation and the battles between Protestants and Catholics and the battles between parliament and the monarchy that engulfed the seventeenth century

Protestant/Catholic divide was settled, for a time, by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement

The Golden Age (cont.)

the height of the English Renaissance

the flowering of poetry, music and literature.

the era is most famous for theatre, as William Shakespeare and many others composed plays that broke free of England's past style of theatre

an age of exploration and learning about the world around England

an age of colonizing and economic growth

a centralized, well-organized, and effective government was in place (largely thanks to Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII)

The Golden Age (cont.)

All in all, England is looking pretty darn good!

Prime time for a young talented poet like Edmund Spenser to make his mark, supported by a queen who delighted in the arts and fostered a flourish of artistic growth

The Spenserian Sonnet

Spenser's sonnets offer a variant of the Shakespearen sonnet differs in rhyme scheme similarly features three quatrains and a couplet

Rhyme scheme: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE which contrasts with Shakespearean rhyme scheme:

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG Spenserian sonnet requires two fewer rhymes, but is more

complicated One of Edmund Spenser’s most noted sonnets is “One Day I

Wrote Her Name Upon the Strand” Addressed indirectly to his fiancée, Elizabeth Boyle, this sonnet is

part of the sonnet sequence titled Amoretti (which is Italian for “little loves”)

Let’s take a look at one of Spenser’s beautiful love poems…

One Day I Wrote Her Name Upon the Strand

One day I wrote her name upon the strand,But came the waves and washed it away:Agayne I wrote it with a second hand,But came the tyde, and made my paynes his pray.

"Vayne man," sayd she, "that doest in vaine assay. 5A mortall thing so to immortalize,For I my selve shall lyke to this decay,and eek my name bee wyped out lykewize.“

"Not so," quod I, "let baser things devize,To dy in dust, but you shall live by fame: 10My verse your vertues rare shall eternize,And in the heavens wryte your glorious name.

Where whenas death shall all the world subdew,Our love shall live, and later life renew."

Analysis

This sonnet seems to be about the author’s attempts to immortalize his wife or the love of his life.

Spenser starts the poem with a quatrain recalling an incident that could have happened any summer day at the seaside. He writes his love’s name in the sand at the beach, but the ocean’s

waves wipe it away, just as time will destroy all manmade things. The second quatrain describes the woman’s reaction to the

man’s charming attempt to immortalize her. She claims that the man’s attempts were in vain and that no mortal

being can be immortalized due to the cruelness of time. The third quatrain represents a turning point in the poem

and the author reveals that his wife will be eternally remembered in his poems and his verse.

The final couplet at the end, “Where whenas Death shall all the world subdue, Out love shall live, and later life renew,” summarizes the theme of the poem by comparing the eternalness of love and death to the brevity of life and humanity.

Analysis (cont.)

Spenser uses the rhyme scheme of this poem to create a contrast between earthly ideas and objects that are ephemeral and heavenly ones that will last forever.

The first two quatrains focus on the author’s vain attempts to write his wife’s name. Time and nature are shown to destroy the author’s manmade

works and his attempts are thwarted. The author then switches gears and shows how he immortalized

his wife in the very poem he is writing. Spenser uses a very melodic rhythm and iambic

pentameter to create a calm and pleasant sounding poem. His frequent use of alliteration such as, “die in dust” and,

“verse in virtue” helps to paint the complete picture of the poem and tie the themes of the poem together.

The Faerie Queene

an incomplete English epic poem by Edmund Spenser first half published in 1590, a second installment

published in 1596 notable for its form:

the first work written in Spenserian stanza one of the longest poems in the English language

an allegory, written in praise of Queen Elizabeth I the poem follows several knights in an examination of

several virtues in Spenser's "A Letter of the Authors," he states that the

entire epic poem is "cloudily enwrapped in allegorical devises," and that the aim of publishing The Faerie Queene was to “fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline.”

An Allegory both Spiritual and Political

The Faerie Queene found political favour with Elizabeth I

was consequently a huge success, to the extent that it became Spenser's defining work

the poem found such favour with the queen that Spenser was granted a pension for life amounting to 50 pounds a year though there is no evidence that Elizabeth I read

any of the poem herself! The poem is also very religious, featuring

characters that represent Christian (Protestant) virtues and vices

A Celebration of the Virtues

The Letter/Preface A letter written by Spenser to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1589

contains a preface for The Faerie Queene, in which Spenser describes the allegorical presentation of virtues through Arthurian knights in the mythical "Faerieland”

Presented as a preface to the epic in most published editions, this letter outlines plans for 24 books: 12 based each on a different knight who exemplified one of 12

"private virtues" and a possible 12 more centred on King Arthur displaying twelve

"public virtues” Spenser names Aristotle as his source for these virtues,

although the influence of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274, a Catholic priest) can be observed as well

Unfortunately, Spenser died before he finished his work (not again!)

Magnificence and Glory!

In addition to the six virtues, the Letter to Raleigh (Sir Walter Raleigh) suggests that Arthur represents the virtue of Magnificence which ("according to Aristotle and the rest") is "the

perfection of all the rest, and conteineth in it them all”

the Faerie Queene herself represents Glory (hence her name, Gloriana)

Who do you think the Faerie Queene is supposed to represent? (Hint: who loved this poem and granted him 50

pounds a year?)

Politics

The poem celebrates, memorializes, and critiques the Tudor dynasty (of which Elizabeth was a part), much like Virgil’s Aeneid celebrates Augustus Caesar's Rome

Like the Aeneid, which states that Augustus descended from the noble sons of Troy, The Faerie Queene suggests that the Tudor lineage can be connected to King Arthur (the legendary leader of 5th-6th century Britain)

The poem is deeply allegorical and allusive: many prominent Elizabethans could have found themselves—or one another—partially represented by one or more of Spenser's figures

Elizabeth herself is the most prominent example: she appears most prominently in her guise as Gloriana, the Faerie Queene herself; but also in Books III and IV as… the virgin Belphoebe (twin to Amoret who is the embodiment of

womanly married love) and perhaps also, more critically, in Book I as Lucifera, the

"maiden queen" whose brightly-lit Court of Pride masks a dungeon full of prisoners

Let’s read it!

In groups of 3, you will each be responsible for reading a third of Book I (in translation)

As you read, you will complete a compare/contrast chart on the poem as a Spiritual vs. Political Allegory

Take lots of notes, because we will be having a Socratic Seminar on this topic very soon

You will also be writing an essay (choice of three prompts)

Get reading!