Spenser, Edmund (1552?-1599), was a great Elizabethan poet. His epic poem, The Faerie Queene, though never finished, is a masterpiece of English literature. Spenser completed only 6 of the 12 books (sections) he planned for this work.
Spenser’s life.
Spenser was born in London. He entered Pembroke Hall at Cambridge University in 1569. At Cambridge, he received a strong background in the classics. He also was influenced there by the anti-Roman Catholic feelings and stern moral beliefs of Protestants like John Young, master of Pembroke Hall. These views were later reflected in Spenser’s poems. In all his works, he effectively blended classical literary themes and conventions with Christian moralism, and revealed his strong English patriotic feelings. After leaving Cambridge, Spenser served as secretary to John Young, who had left Pembroke Hall to become Bishop of Rochester. Soon afterward, Spenser entered the service of Robert Dudley, the powerful Earl of Leicester.
In 1580, Spenser became secretary to Lord Grey of Wilton, the governor of Ireland. From 1580 until a month before his death in 1599, Spenser visited England no more than twice, to supervise publication of The Faerie Queene. The first three books of The Faerie Queene were published in 1590. Spenser dedicated them to Queen Elizabeth, who awarded him a yearly pension.
In 1594, Spenser married Elizabeth Boyle, the daughter of an Irish landowner. The second three books of The Faerie Queene appeared in 1596. Spenser was appointed sheriff of Cork in 1598, and late that year was sent to England with reports on the Irish uprisings. He became ill and died in London on Jan. 13, 1599. Part of the seventh book of The Faerie Queene was published in 1609.
The Faerie Queene
is an allegory (extended metaphor) filled with personifications of abstract ideas like pride, hypocrisy, and faith. In writing The Faerie Queene, Spenser was influenced by the works of the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer and two Italian epics of the 1500’s, Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso and Torquato Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered. The Faerie Queene also demonstrates the qualities a gentleman should have, reflecting the tradition of the courtesy book. The main character in each of the six books gradually develops a desired virtue—holiness, temperance, chastity, friendship, justice, or courtesy. Spenser included both moral and political allegory in The Faerie Queene. He wrote in a distinctive pattern, now called the Spenserian stanza, consisting of eight pentameter lines followed by an alexandrine.
Spenser’s other poems.
Spenser’s first major poem, The Shepheardes Calender (1579), made his reputation. It consists of 12 pastoral eclogues (short poems about country life written as dialogues between shepherds). Colin Clouts Come Home Againe (1595) records a visit to London and the royal court that Spenser made with Sir Walter Raleigh. Amoretti (1595) is Spenser’s famous cycle (series) of 89 love sonnets. Epithalamion (1595) is a great poem about marriage. It describes the events of an Irish wedding day and is a blend of classical and Christian traditions.
See also Faerie Queene, The.
