 Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (c. 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.
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. Spenser devised a verse form for The Faerie Queene that has come to be known as the "Spenserian stanza."
The number of english poets influencced by Spenser are manifest, but he is often overshadowed by his immediate succesor, William Shakespeare. For a revitalizing look at Spenser, look to Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae.
Two poets who became 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.
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