Edmund Spenser (; – 13 January 1599 O.S.) was an English poet best known for ''

The Faerie Queene ''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 sta ...

'', an epic poem and fantastical

allegory As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...

celebrating the

Tudor dynasty The House of Tudor ( ) was an English and Welsh dynasty that held the throne of England from 1485 to 1603. They descended from the Tudors of Penmynydd, a Welsh noble family, and Catherine of Valois. The Tudor monarchs ruled the Kingdom of Eng ...

and

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of nascent Modern English verse, and he is considered one of the great poets in the English language.

Life

Edmund Spenser was born in

East Smithfield East Smithfield is a small locality in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, east London, and also a short street, a part of the A1203 road. Once broader in scope, the name came to apply to the part of the ancient parish of St Botolph without ...

, London, around the year 1552; however, there is still some ambiguity as to the exact date of his birth. His parentage is obscure, but he was probably the son of John Spenser, a journeyman clothmaker. As a young boy, he was educated in London at the Merchant Taylors' School and matriculated as a

sizar At Trinity College Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is an Undergraduate education, undergraduate who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in retur ...

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

. While at Cambridge he became a friend of

Gabriel Harvey Gabriel Harvey (1545 – 11 February 1631) was an English writer. Harvey was a notable scholar, whose reputation suffered from his quarrel with Thomas Nashe. Henry Morley, writing in the ''Fortnightly Review'' (March 1869), has argued that Harve ...

and later consulted him, despite their differing views on poetry. In 1578, he became for a short time secretary to John Young, Bishop of Rochester. In 1579, he published ''

The Shepheardes Calender ''The Shepheardes Calender'' (originally titled ''The Shepheardes Calendar, Conteyning twelve Aeglogues proportionable to the Twelve monthes. Entitled to the Noble and Vertuous Gentleman most worthy of all titles both of learning and chevalrie ...

'' and around the same time married his first wife, Machabyas Childe. They had two children, Sylvanus (died 1638) and Katherine. In July 1580, Spenser went to Ireland in service of the newly appointed

Lord Deputy The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...

Arthur Grey, 14th Baron Grey de Wilton The Rt Hon. Arthur Grey, 14th Baron Grey de Wilton, KG (1536–1593), was a baron in the Peerage of England. Lord Grey de Wilton is now largely remembered for his memoir of his father, for participating in the last defence of Calais (1558), a ...

. Spenser served under Lord Grey with

Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebell ...

at the

siege of Smerwick The siege of Smerwick took place at Ard na Caithne (the Hill of the Arbutus Tree, known in English as Smerwick) in November 1580, during the Second Desmond Rebellion in Ireland. A force of between 400 and 700 Papal freelance soldiers, mostly ...

massacre. When Lord Grey was recalled to England, Spenser stayed on in Ireland, having acquired other official posts and lands in the

Munster Plantation Plantation (settlement or colony), Plantations in 16th- and 17th-century Ireland () involved the confiscation of Irish-owned land by the Kingdom of England, English The Crown, Crown and the colonisation of this land with settlers from Great Br ...

. Raleigh acquired other nearby Munster estates confiscated in the

Second Desmond Rebellion The Second Desmond Rebellion (1579–1583) was the more widespread and bloody of the two Desmond Rebellions in Ireland launched by the FitzGerald Dynasty of County Desmond, Desmond in Munster against English rule. The second rebellion began in ...

. Sometime between 1587 and 1589, Spenser acquired his main estate at Kilcolman, near

Doneraile Doneraile (), historically Dunnerail, is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is on the R581 regional road east of the N20 road, which runs from Limerick to Cork. It is about north of Mallow town. It is on the River Awbeg, a branch of th ...

in North Cork. He later bought a second holding to the south, at Rennie, on a rock overlooking the river Blackwater in North Cork. Its ruins are still visible. A short distance away grew a tree, locally known as "Spenser's Oak", until it was destroyed in a lightning strike in the 1960s. Local legend claims that he penned some of ''The Faerie Queene'' under this tree.Hadfield, p. 362 In 1590, Spenser brought out the first three books of his most famous work, ''

'', having travelled to London to publish and promote the work, with the likely assistance of Raleigh. He was successful enough to obtain a life pension of £50 a year from the Queen. He probably hoped to secure a place at court through his poetry, but his next significant publication boldly antagonised the queen's principal secretary, Lord Burghley (William Cecil), through its inclusion of the satirical '' Mother Hubberd's Tale''. He returned to Ireland. He was at the centre of a literary circle whose members included his lifelong friend Lodowick Bryskett and Dr. John Longe,

Archbishop of Armagh The Archbishop of Armagh is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from the Episcopal see, see city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic success ...

. In 1591, Spenser published a translation in verse of

Joachim Du Bellay Joachim du Bellay (; – 1 January 1560) was a French poet, critic, and a founder of '' La Pléiade''. He notably wrote the manifesto of the group: '' Défense et illustration de la langue française'', which aimed at promoting French as a ...

's sonnets, ''Les Antiquités de Rome'', which had been published in 1558. Spenser's version, ''Ruines of Rome: by Bellay'', may also have been influenced by Latin poems on the same subject, written by Jean or Janis Vitalis and published in 1576. By 1594, Spenser's first wife had died, and in that year he married a much younger Elizabeth Boyle, a relative of

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (13 October 1566 – 15 September 1643), also known as 'the Great Earl of Cork', was an English politician who served as Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland. Lord Cork was an important figure in the continu ...

. He addressed to her the sonnet sequence '' Amoretti''. The marriage was celebrated in ''

Epithalamion An epithalamium (; Latin form of Greek ἐπιθαλάμιον ''epithalamion'' from ἐπί ''epi'' "upon," and θάλαμος ''thalamos'' " nuptial chamber") is a poem written specifically for the bride on the way to her marital chamber. This f ...

''. They had a son named Peregrine. In 1596, Spenser wrote a prose pamphlet titled '' A View of the Present State of Irelande''. This piece, in the form of a dialogue, circulated in manuscript, remaining unpublished until the mid-17th century. It is probable that it was kept out of print during the author's lifetime because of its inflammatory content. The pamphlet argued that Ireland would never be totally "pacified" by the English until its indigenous language and customs had been destroyed, if necessary by violence. In 1598, during the

Nine Years' War The Nine Years' War was a European great power conflict from 1688 to 1697 between Kingdom of France, France and the Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg), Grand Alliance. Although largely concentrated in Europe, fighting spread to colonial poss ...

, Spenser was driven from his home by the native Irish forces of Hugh O'Neill. His castle at Kilcolman was burned, and

Ben Jonson Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...

, who may have had private information, asserted that one of his infant children died in the blaze. Fowre Hymnes by Edmund Spenser 1596

In the year after being driven from his home, 1599, Spenser travelled to London, where he died at the age of forty-six – "for want of bread", according to Ben Jonson; one of Jonson's more doubtful statements, since Spenser had a payment to him authorised by the government and was due his pension. His coffin was carried to his grave, deliberately near that of

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

, in what became known as

Poets' Corner Poets' Corner is a section of the southern transept of Westminster Abbey in London, England, where many poets, playwrights, and writers are buried or commemorated. The first poet interred in Poets' Corner was Geoffrey Chaucer in 1400. Willia ...

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

by other poets, probably including

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

, who threw many pens and pieces of poetry into his grave. His second wife survived him and remarried twice. His sister Sarah, who had accompanied him to Ireland, married into the Travers family, and her descendants were prominent landowners in Cork for centuries.

Rhyme and reason

Thomas Fuller Thomas Fuller (baptised 19 June 1608 – 16 August 1661) was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his ''Worthies of England'', published in 1662, after his death. He was a prolific author, and ...

, in ''Worthies of England'', included a story where the Queen told her treasurer, William Cecil, to pay Spenser £100 for his poetry. The treasurer, however, objected that the sum was too much. She said, "Then give him what is reason". Without receiving his payment in due time, Spenser gave the Queen this

quatrain A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four Line (poetry), lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India ...

on one of her progresses:

I was promis'd on a time, To have a reason for my rhyme: From that time unto this season, I receiv'd nor rhyme nor reason.

She immediately ordered the treasurer to pay Spenser the original £100. This story seems to have attached itself to Spenser from

Thomas Churchyard Thomas Churchyard (c. 1523 – 1604) was an English author and soldier. He is chiefly remembered for a series of autobiographical or semi-autobiographical verse collections, including ''Churchyardes Chippes'' (1575); ''Churchyard's Choise'' (157 ...

, who apparently had difficulty in getting payment of his pension, the only other pension Elizabeth awarded to a poet. Spenser seems to have had no difficulty in receiving payment when it was due as the pension was being collected for him by his publisher, Ponsonby.

''The Shepheardes Calender''

'' is Edmund Spenser's first major work, which appeared in 1579. It emulates

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

's ''

Eclogues The ''Eclogues'' (; , ), also called the ''Bucolics'', is the first of the three major works of the Latin poet Virgil. Background Taking as his generic model the Greek bucolic poetry of Theocritus, Virgil created a Roman version partly by o ...

'' of the first century BCE and the ''Eclogues'' of Mantuan by

Baptista Mantuanus Baptista Spagnuoli Mantuanus, O.Carm (, English: Battista the Mantuan or simply Mantuan; also known as Johannes Baptista Spagnolo; 17 April 1447 – 22 March 1516) was an Italian Carmelite reformer, humanist, and poet. Biography Spagnoli was b ...

, a late medieval, early renaissance poet. An eclogue is a short pastoral poem that is in the form of a dialogue or soliloquy. Although all the months together form an entire year, each month stands alone as a separate poem. Editions of the late 16th and early 17th centuries include woodcuts for each month/poem, and thereby have a slight similarity to an emblem book which combines a number of self-contained pictures and texts, usually a short vignette, saying, or allegory with an accompanying illustration.

''The Faerie Queene''

Spenser's masterpiece is the

epic poem In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...

''The Faerie Queene''. The first three books of ''The Faerie Queene'' were published in 1590, and the second set of three books was published in 1596. Spenser originally indicated that he intended the poem to consist of twelve books, so the version of the poem we have today is incomplete. Despite this, it remains one of the longest poems in the English language. It is an

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...

work, and can be read (as Spenser presumably intended) on several levels of allegory, including as praise of Queen

. In a completely allegorical context, 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 behind ''The Faerie Queene'' was to "fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline".

Shorter poems

Spenser published numerous relatively short poems in the last decade of the 16th century, almost all of which consider love or sorrow. In 1591, he published '' Complaints'', a collection of poems that express complaints in mournful or mocking tones. Four years later, in 1595, Spenser published ''Amoretti and Epithalamion''. This volume contains eighty-eight sonnets commemorating his courtship of Elizabeth Boyle. In '' Amoretti'', Spenser uses subtle humour and parody while praising his beloved, reworking Petrarchism in his treatment of longing for a woman. ''

'', similar to ''Amoretti'', deals in part with the unease in the development of a romantic and sexual relationship. It was written for his wedding to his young bride, Elizabeth Boyle. Some have speculated that the attention to disquiet, in general, reflects Spenser's personal anxieties at the time, as he was unable to complete his most significant work, ''

''. In the following year, Spenser released '' Prothalamion'', a wedding song written for the daughters of a duke, allegedly in hopes to gain favour in the court.

The Spenserian stanza and sonnet

Spenser used a distinctive verse form, called the

Spenserian stanza The Spenserian stanza is a fixed verse form invented by Edmund Spenser for his epic poem ''The Faerie Queene'' (1590–96). Each stanza contains nine lines in total: eight lines in iambic pentameter followed by a single ' alexandrine' line in iamb ...

, in several works, including ''

''. The stanza's main metre is

iambic pentameter Iambic pentameter ( ) is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in each line. Meter is measured in small groups of syllables called feet. "Iambi ...

with a final line in

iambic hexameter Alexandrine is a name used for several distinct types of verse line with related metrical structures, most of which are ultimately derived from the classical French alexandrine. The line's name derives from its use in the Medieval French '' Ro ...

(having six feet or stresses, known as an

Alexandrine Alexandrine is a name used for several distinct types of verse line with related metrical structures, most of which are ultimately derived from the classical French alexandrine. The line's name derives from its use in the Medieval French '' Ro ...

), and the rhyme scheme is . He also used his own rhyme scheme for the sonnet. In a Spenserian sonnet, the last line of every quatrain is linked with the first line of the next one, yielding the rhyme scheme . "Men Call you Fayre" is a fine sonnet from ''Amoretti''. The poet presents the concept of true beauty in the poem. He addresses the sonnet to his beloved, Elizabeth Boyle, and presents his courtship. Like all Renaissance men, Edmund Spenser believed that love is an inexhaustible source of beauty and order. In this Sonnet, the poet expresses his idea of true beauty. The physical beauty will finish after a few days; it is not a permanent beauty. He emphasises beauty of mind and beauty of intellect. He considers his beloved is not simply flesh but is also a spiritual being. The poet opines that he is beloved born of heavenly seed and she is derived from fair spirit. The poet states that because of her clean mind, pure heart and sharp intellect, men call her fair and she deserves it. At the end, the poet praises her spiritual beauty and he worships her because of her Divine Soul.

Influences

Though Spenser was well-read in classical literature, scholars have noted that his poetry does not rehash tradition, but rather is distinctly his. This individuality may have resulted, to some extent, from a lack of comprehension of the classics. Spenser strove to emulate such ancient Roman poets as

and

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

, whom he studied during his schooling, but many of his best-known works are notably divergent from those of his predecessors. The language of his poetry is purposely archaic, reminiscent of earlier works such as ''

The Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' () is a collection of 24 stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. The book presents the tales, which are mostly written in verse, as part of a fictional storytelling contest held ...

'' of

and ''

Il Canzoniere ''Il Canzoniere'' (; ), also known as the ''Rime Sparse'' (), but originally titled ' (, that is ''Fragments composed in vernacular''), is a collection of poems written in the Italian language by Francesco Petrarca, Petrarch. Though the majorit ...

'' of

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

, whom Spenser greatly admired. An Anglican and a devotee of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth, Spenser was particularly offended by the anti-Elizabethan propaganda that some Catholics circulated. Like most Protestants near the time of the Reformation, Spenser saw a Catholic church full of corruption, and he determined that it was not only the wrong religion but the anti-religion. This sentiment is an important backdrop for the battles of ''

''. Spenser was called "the Poet's Poet" by Charles Lamb, and was admired by

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poetry, Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism, Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Balla ...

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

Alfred Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...

and others. Among his contemporaries

wrote a commendatory poem to ''

'' in 1590 in which he claims to admire and value Spenser's work more so than any other in the English language. John Milton in his ''

Areopagitica ''Areopagitica; A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing, to the Parlament of England'' is a 1644 prose polemic by the English poet, scholar, and polemical author John Milton opposing licensing. ''Areopagitica'' is ...

'' mentions "our sage and serious poet Spenser, whom I dare be known to think a better teacher than

Scotus The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on questions ...

Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

". In the 18th century,

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early ...

compared Spenser to "a mistress, whose faults we see, but love her with them all".

''A View of the Present State of Irelande''

In his work '' A View of the Present State of Irelande'' (1596), Spenser discussed future plans to establish control over Ireland, the most recent Irish uprising, led by Hugh O'Neill having demonstrated the futility of previous efforts. The work is partly a defence of Lord Arthur Grey de Wilton, who was appointed

Lord Deputy of Ireland The Lord Deputy was the representative of the monarch and head of the Irish executive (government), executive under English rule, during the Lordship of Ireland and then the Kingdom of Ireland. He deputised prior to 1523 for the Viceroy of Ireland ...

in 1580, and who greatly influenced Spenser's thinking on Ireland. The goal of the piece was to show that Ireland was in great need of reform. Spenser believed that "Ireland is a diseased portion of the State, it must first be cured and reformed, before it could be in a position to appreciate the good sound laws and blessings of the nation". In ''A View of the Present State of Ireland'', Spenser categorises the "evils" of the Irish people into three prominent categories: laws, customs and religion. According to Spenser, these three elements worked together in creating the supposedly "disruptive and degraded people" who inhabited the country. One example given in the work is the Irish law system termed "

Brehon law Early Irish law, also called Brehon law (from the old Irish word breithim meaning judge), comprised the statutes which governed everyday life in Early Medieval Ireland. They were partially eclipsed by the Norman invasion of 1169, but underwe ...

", which at the time trumped the established law as dictated by

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

. The Brehon system had its own court and methods of punishing infractions committed. Spenser viewed this system as a backward custom which contributed to the "degradation" of the Irish people. A particular legal punishment viewed with distaste by Spenser was the Brehon method of dealing with

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

, which was to impose an ''

éraic Éraic (or ''eric'') was the Ireland, Irish equivalent of the Wales, Welsh galanas and the Anglo-Saxon language, Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian weregild, a form of tribute paid in reparation for murder or other major crimes. The term survived into ...

'' (fine) on the murderer's family. From Spenser's viewpoint, the appropriate punishment for murder was

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

. Spenser also warned of the dangers that allowing the education of children in the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

would bring: "Soe that the speach being Irish, the hart must needes be Irishe; for out of the aboundance of the hart, the tonge speaketh". He pressed for a

scorched earth A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy of destroying everything that allows an enemy military force to be able to fight a war, including the deprivation and destruction of water, food, humans, animals, plants and any kind of tools and i ...

policy in Ireland, noting its effectiveness in the

"'Out of everye corner of the woode and glenns they came creepinge forth upon theire handes, for theire legges could not beare them; they looked Anatomies fdeath, they spake like ghostes, crying out of theire graves; they did eate of the carrions, happye wheare they could find them, yea, and one another soone after, in soe much as the verye carcasses they spared not to scrape out of theire graves; and if they found a plott of water-cresses or shamrockes, theyr they flocked as to a feast… in a shorte space there were none almost left, and a most populous and plentyfull countrye suddenly lefte voyde of man or beast: yett sure in all that warr, there perished not manye by the sworde, but all by the extreamytie of famine ... they themselves had wrought.'"

List of works

1569: * Jan van der Noodt's ''A Theatre for Worldlings'', including poems translated into English by Spenser from French sources, published by Henry Bynneman in LondonWeb page title
"Edmund Spenser Home Page/Biography"
, "Chronology" section (at bottom of Chronology, Web page states: "Source: adapted from

Willy Maley William Timothy "Willy" Maley (born 2 December 1960, in Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish literary critic, editor, teacher and writer. Maley is Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Glasgow, Fellow of the English Association (FEA) ...

, ''A Spenser Chronology''."), at the website of the University of Cambridge Faculty of English website, retrieved 24 September 2009 1579: * ''

'', published under the pseudonym "Immerito"Cox, Michael, editor, ''The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature'', Oxford University Press, 2004, (entered into the Stationers' Register in December) * ''Iambicum Trimetrum'' 1590: * ''

'', Books 1–3 1591: * '' Complaints, Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie'' (entered into the Stationer's Register in 1590), includes: ** "The Ruines of Time" ** "The Teares of the Muses" ** "Virgil's Gnat" ** "Prosopopoia, or Mother Hubberds Tale" ** "Ruines of Rome: by Bellay" ** "Muiopotmos, or the Fate of the Butterflie" ** "Visions of the Worlds Vanitie" ** "The Visions of Bellay" ** "The Visions of

" 1592: * ''Axiochus'', a translation of a pseudo-Platonic dialogue from the original

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

; published by Cuthbert Burbie; attributed to "Edw: Spenser" but the attribution is uncertain * ''Daphnaïda. An Elegy upon the Death of the Noble and Vertuous Douglas Howard, Daughter and Heire of Henry Lord Howard, Viscount Byndon, and Wife of Arthure Gorges Esquier'' (published in London in January, according to one source; another source gives 1591 as the year) It was dedicated to Helena, Marchioness of Northampton. 1595: * ''Amoretti and Epithalamion'', containing: ** " Amoretti" ** "

" * '' Astrophel. A Pastorall Elegie vpon the Death of the Most Noble and Valorous Knight, Sir Philip Sidney'' * '' Colin Clouts Come Home Againe'' 1596: * ''Fowre Hymnes'' dedicated from the court at Greenwich; published with the second edition of ''Daphnaida'' * '' Prothalamion'' * ''

'', Books 4–6 * ''Babel, Empress of the East – a dedicatory poem prefaced to Lewes Lewkenor's The Commonwealth of Venice, 1599. Posthumous: * 1609: ''Two Cantos of Mutabilitie'' published together with a reprint of ''

''Hadfield, Andrew
''The Cambridge Companion to Spenser''
"Chronology", Cambridge University Press, 2001, , p xx, retrieved via Google Books, 24 September 2009 * 1611: First folio edition of Spenser's collected works * 1633: ''A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande'', a prose treatise on the reformation of Ireland, first published by Sir

James Ware (historian) Sir James Ware (26 November 1594 – 1 December 1666) was an Anglo-Irish historian. Personal details Born at Castle Street, Dublin on 26 November 1594, James Ware was the eldest son of Sir James Ware (1568–1632) and Mary Bryden, daughter of ...

entitled ''The Historie of Ireland'' (Spenser's work was entered into the Stationer's Register in 1598 and circulated in manuscript but not published until it was edited by Ware)

Editions

* Edmund Spenser, ''Selected Letters and Other Papers''. Edited by Christopher Burlinson and Andrew Zurcher (Oxford, OUP, 2009). * Edmund Spenser, ''The Faerie Queene'' (Longman-Annotated-English Poets, 2001, 2007) Edited by A. C. Hamilton, Text Edited b
Yamashita and Toshiyuki Suzuki
.

Digital archive

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

professor Joseph Lowenstein, with the assistance of several undergraduate students, has been involved in creating, editing, and annotating a digital archive of the first publication of poet Edmund Spenser's collective works in 100 years. A large grant from the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

has been given to support this ambitious project centralized at

Washington University Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

with support from other colleges in the United States.

References

Sources

* Croft, Ryan J. "Sanctified Tyrannicide: Tyranny And Theology in John Ponet's Shorte Treatise of Politike Power And Edmund "Spenser's The Faerie Queene." ''Studies in Philosophy'', 108.4 (2011): 538–571. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 8 October 2012. * * * * * * Henley, Pauline. ''Spenser in Ireland''. Cork: Cork University Press, 1928. * Johnson, William. "The struggle between good and evil in the first book of 'The Faerie Queene'." ''English Studies'', Vol. 74, * Maley, Willy. "Spenser's Life". ''The Oxford Dictionary of Edmund Spenser''. Ed. Richard A. McCabe. 1st Ed. 2010. Print. * Rust, Jennifer. "Spenser's The Faerie Queene." Saint Louis University, St. Louis. 10 October 2007. No. 6. (December 1993) p. 507–519. * Wadoski, Andrew. ''Spenser's Ethics: Empire, Mutability, and Moral Philosophy in Early Modernity''. Manchester University Press, June 2022, . * Zarucchi, Jeanne Morgan. "Du Bellay, Spenser, and Quevedo Search for Rome: A Teacher's Peregrination." ''The French Review'', 17:2 (December 1997), pp. 192–203.

External links

*
The Edmund Spenser Home Page at the Cambridge University
* Complete works in Verse and Prose at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

* The works of Edmund Spenser in a single volume at

* ** Project Gutenberg edition of
Biography of Edmund Spenser
' by John W. Hales * *
Profile and works at the Poetry Foundation

''The Spenser Encyclopedia'' by A. C. Hamilton in Google Books Preview
* *
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Edmund Spenser"> People of Elizabethan Ireland Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge">People of Elizabethan Ireland">Edmund Spenser"> People of Elizabethan Ireland Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge 1550s births 1599 deaths English Anglicans Sonneteers Burials at Westminster Abbey People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood 16th-century English poets Critics of the Catholic Church Writers of Arthurian literature Chief secretaries for Ireland English male poets Epic poets People of the Second Desmond Rebellion People from Doneraile 16th-century English male writers