Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser (1552-January 13, 1599) was an English poet, and a contemporary of William Shakespeare.
The Faerie Queene is his major contribution to English poetry. It is mostly a poem seeking (successfully) the favour of Queen Elizabeth I. The poem is a long allegory of Christian belief, tied into England's mythology of King Arthur. In form, the poem is an epic, in the style of Beowulf and the verses of Virgil and Homer.
The language is purposely antique. As such, it is supposed to remind readers of such earlier works as those mentioned above, as well as the Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer, whom Spenser greatly admired.
Spenser's Epithalamion is the most admired of its type in the English language. It was written on the occasion of his wedding to his young bride, Elizabeth Boyle.
Spenser's effort to match the epic proportions of the Aeneid earned his place in English literature. For The Faerie Queene, Spenser devised a verse form that has come to be known as the "Spenserian stanza."
Two poets influenced by Edmund Spenser were John Milton, author of Paradise Lost, and John Keats.
Faerie Queene. Book iii. Canto xi. St. 54.
And as she lookt about, she did behold,
How over that same dore was likewise writ,
Be bold, be bold, and every where Be bold,
That much she muz'd, yet could not construe it
By any ridling skill, or commune wit.
At last she spyde at that roomes upper end,
Another yron dore, on which was writ,
Be not too bold; whereto though she did bend
Her earnest mind, yet wist not what it might intend.
External links
Referenced By
13 January | 13th January | 1501 in literature | 1502 in literature | 1503 in literature | 1504 in literature | 1505 in literature | 1506 in literature | 1507 in literature | 1508 in literature | 1509 in literature | 1510 in literature | 1511 in literature | 1512 in literature | 1513 in literature | 1514 in literature | 1515 in literature | 1516 in literature | 1517 in literature | 1518 in literature | 1519 in literature | 1520 in literature | 1521 in literature | 1522 in literature | 1523 in literature | 1524 in literature | 1525 in literature | 1526 in literature | 1527 in literature | 1528 in literature | 1529 in literature | 1530 in literature | 1531 in literature | 1532 in literature | 1533 in literature | 1534 in literature | 1535 in literature | 1536 in literature | 1537 in literature | 1538 in literature | 1539 in literature | 1540 in literature | 1541 in literature | 1542 in literature | 1543 in literature | 1544 in literature | 1545 in literature | 1546 in literature | 1547 in literature | 1548 in literature | 1549 in literature | 1550 in literature | 1551 in literature | 1552 in literature | 1553 in literature | 1554 in literature | 1555 in literature | 1556 in literature | 1557 in literature | 1558 in literature | 1559 in literature | 1560 in literature | 1561 in literature | 1562 in literature | 1563 in literature | 1564 in literature | 1565 in literature | 1566 in literature | 1567 in literature | 1568 in literature | 1569 in literature | 1570 in literature | 1571 in literature | 1572 in literature | 1573 in literature | 1574 in literature | 1575 in literature | 1576 in literature | 1577 in literature | 1578 in literature | 1579 in literature | 1580 in literature | 1581 in literature | 1582 in literature | 1583 in literature | 1584 in literature | 1585 in literature | 1586 in literature | 1587 in literature | 1588 in literature | 1589 in literature | 1590 in literature | 1591 in literature | 1592 in literature | 1593 in literature | 1594 in literature | 1595 in literature | 1596 in literature | 1597 in literature | 1598 in literature ...
|
