By Joseph Haygood

EDMUND SPENCER

Edmund Spenser (1552 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for The Fairy Queen an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and

Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and is

considered one of the greatest poets in the English Language. Edmund Spenser published his first important work, The Shepheardes Calender circa 1580. He also worked for courtiers Robert

Dudley and Arthur Lord Grey, deputy of Ireland. It is in Ireland that Spenser wrote most of his masterwork, The Faerie Queene, a multi-part epic poem which glorifies England and its language. The poem pleased

Queen Elizabeth I, who gave Spenser a small pension for life.

ABOUT THE POET

My love is like to ice, and I to fire:how comes it then that this her cold so greatis not dissolved through my so hot desire, but harder grows, the more I her entreat?

Or how comes it that my exceeding heatis not delayed by her heart frozen cold,but that I burn much more in boiling sweat,and feel my flames augmented manifold?

What more miraculous thing may be toldthat fire, which all thing melts, should harden ice:and ice which is congealed with senseless cold,should kindle fire by wonderful device?

Such is the pow'r of love in gentle mindthat it can alter all the course of kind.

• The narrator tells about his undeniable love for the woman.

• The narrator calls her heart frozen cold because of her disregard of his existence.

• As the man allows himself to love the woman more and more,

her heart becomes colder and colder, distancing herself from

the man.

SONNET 30

The narrator in the poem is helplessly in love

with a woman who does not have the same

feelings for him. While he constantly showers

her with love, affection and attention, all she

does is disregard his existence. Instead of

letting this discourage him, the man allows his

love for the woman to grow stronger, while

she seems to distance herself from him more.

The more he falls in love with her and the

more he tries to be with her, the colder her

heart becomes.

SONNET 30

One day I wrote her name upon the strand,

But came the waves and washed it away: Again I wrote it with a second hand, But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.

Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay A mortal thing so to immortalize, For I myself shall like to this decay, And eek my name be wiped out likewise.

Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: My verse your virtues rare shall eternize, And in the heavens write your glorious name. Where whenas Death shall all the world subdue, Out love shall live, and later life renew.

• The man attempts to forever etch his lover’s name into the beach sand, but the waves wipe

it away.

• Trying to immortalize her the woman, she claims that the man’s attempts were in vain.

• All manmade things are destroyed with time.

• He uses a rhyming scheme for this poem.

SONNET 75

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 next 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.

SONNET 75

He shows the relation between time and immortality. Edmund Spenser employs figurative language to evoke not

only imagery but also an emotional response from the reader. The poem shows us a vivid picture: the couple is along the seaside, the man is trying to write the lady’s

name on the sand, but waves come and wash it away. Then he writes again, but all in vain. The lady persuades him to give up and says that as time passes, she will also die just

as the name wiped out by tide. But the man holds a different point of view: He believes his verses will make her

immortal.

ONE DAY I WROTE HER NAME UPON THE STRAND

Fair is my love, when her fair golden hairs With the loose wind ye waving chance to

mark: Fair, when the rose in her red cheeks appears,

Or in her eyes the fire of love does spark: Fair, when her breast, like a rich laden bark

With precious merchandise she forth doth lay: Fair, when that cloud of pride, which oft doth

dark Her goodly light, with smiles she drives away

But fairest she, when so she doth display The gate with pearls and rubies richly dight,

Through which her words so wise do make their way,

To bear the message of her gentle sprite. The rest be works of nature's wonderment, But this the work of heart's astonishment.

• He is describing the looks of a woman he finds

attractive.

• He is acting very fascinated with the

female body.

• He goes on describing everything he sees about

her.

• The author uses a rhyming scheme for this

certain poem.

FAIR IS MY LOVE, WHEN HER FAIR GOLDEN HAIRS

He's expressing his amazement of the Female body. He's not doing so in a lustful way, but he is speaking of it with a heart of purity. He speaks of how her gentle touch can wipe away his anger and his pride. He speaks of the gate being

open. He speaks of the women opening herself up to receive a gift.

FAIR IS MY LOVE, WHEN HER FAIR GOLDEN HAIRS

Lyke as a ship, that through the ocean wydeBy conduct of some star doth make her way,Whenas a storm hath dimd her trusty guyde,

Out of her course doth wander far astray,So I, whose star, that wont with her bright ray

Me to direct, with cloudes is over-cast,Doe wander now in darknesse and dismay,

Through hidden perils round about me plast.Yet hope I well that, when this storme is past,

My Helice*, the lodestar of ray lyfe,Will shine again, and looke on me at last,

With lovely light to cleare my cloudy grief.Till then I wander carefull, comfortlesse,In secret sorrow and sad pensivenesse.

• Using a ship as a metaphor, he writes

about himself feeling lost at sea without his lover’s

love.• He goes on about how he

feels without her, but hopes she shall be back

again.

SONNET 34

In this sonnet, Spenser uses another metaphorical "picture." This time, the picture the poet presents is himeslf

as a ship lost at sea without his lover's love. Without his lover, he has no "star, that wont with her bright ray/ Me to direct," in other words, without her he has no guiding star,

or north star. He has no compass to help him through "a storme." By line 11, he utters words of "hope," which is the

important Protestant word in prayer. Meanwhile, as he hopes for her return, he must continue on, lost in a storm.

Note also how we saw the image / metaphor of an individual lost at sea as far back as Anglo-Saxon poetry.

SONNET 34

Sweet is the rose, but growes upon a brere;Sweet is the iunipeer; but sharpe his bough;

Sweet is the eglantine, but pricketh nere;Sweet is the firbloome, but his braunches

rough*;Sweet is the cypresse, but his rynd is

rough;Sweet is the nut, but bitter is his pill**;

Sweet is the broome-flowre, but yet sowre enough;

And sweet is moly, but his root is ill.So every sweet with soure is tempred still,

That maketh it be coveted the more:For easie things, that may be got at will,Most sorts of men doe set but little store.Why then should I accompt of little paine,

That endlesse pleasure shall unto me gaine!

• He lists many good things being repetitive with the words “sweet” and “but”.

Using these words to show that there are many

good things that are sweet but what comes

with them may not be so great.

• His brings back the signature rhyming

scheme, he does much in his writings.

SONNET 26

Spenser lists a bunch of things in nature that are equally pleasant and unpleasant. If something is acquired too easily without pain, one won't get as much pleasure out of it. The more the pleasure, the more the pain; the more the pain,

the more the pleasure. He'd rather endure the pain since it means more pleasure.

SONNET 26

http://www.eastpenn.k12.pa.us/teacherpages/bdoklan/myimages/30Pd9Sonnet.pdf

http://sonnetexplantations.blogspot.com/2008/01/spensers-sonnet-75-and.html

http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/sonnet/29

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/116detail.html

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/130detail.html

WORKS CITED

If this be love, to draw a weary breath, To paint on floods till the shore cry to th'air,

With downward looks, still reading on the earth The sad memorials of my love's despair; If this be love, to war against my soul,

Lie down to wail, rise up to sigh and grieve, The never-resting stone of care to roll,

Still to complain my griefs whilst none relieve; If this be love, to clothe me with dark thoughts,

Haunting untrodden paths to wail apart; My pleasures horror, music tragic notes,

Tears in mine eyes and sorrow at my heart. If this be love, to live a living death,

Then do I love and draw this weary breath.

IF THIS BE LOVE, TO DRAW A WEARY BREATH