Edmund Spenser

Lore & Background

Edmund Spenser was born in East Smithfield, London, around 1552, probably the son of John Spenser, a journeyman clothmaker. He was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School and matriculated as a sizar at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he befriended Gabriel Harvey. In 1579 he published The Shepheardes Calender and married his first wife, whose name is uncertain (later sources give it as Machabyas Childe), and they had children, though the exact number is unknown. In July 1580 he went to Ireland in service of Lord Deputy Arthur Grey, serving in a clerical/administrative capacity during the campaign that included the siege of Smerwick; direct military collaboration with Walter Raleigh is not clearly established. He acquired lands in the Munster Plantation, including his main estate at Kilcolman, near Doneraile in North Cork, and later a second holding at Rennie. In 1590 he brought out the first three books of The Faerie Queene, travelling to London to publish and promote the work with likely assistance from Raleigh, and obtained a life pension of £50 a year from the Queen. After his first wife died, he married Elizabeth Boyle in 1594, addressing to her the sonnet sequence Amoretti and celebrating the marriage in Epithalamion. In 1596 he wrote a prose pamphlet, A View of the Present State of Irelande, which argued for the destruction of Irish language and customs. During the Nine Years' War in 1598, he was driven from his home by native Irish forces; his castle at Kilcolman was burned, and according to a later account by Ben Jonson (not universally accepted), one of his infant children died in the blaze. Spenser died in London the following year, at age forty-six.

Reader's Guide

Edmund Spenser's significance rests primarily on The Faerie Queene, an epic poem that remains one of the longest in the English language and is notable for its multi-layered allegory, including praise of Queen Elizabeth I. The poem was intended to consist of twelve books but was left incomplete after the publication of six books. Spenser also developed the Spenserian stanza, a distinctive verse form used in several works. His shorter poems, including Amoretti and Epithalamion, explore love and sorrow, while The Shepheardes Calender emulated classical and Renaissance pastoral traditions. His prose pamphlet A View of the Present State of Irelande, though unpublished in his lifetime, reflects the contentious political views of the period. Spenser's influence on English poetry is considerable; he is recognized as a premier craftsman of nascent Modern English verse. His burial in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, near Geoffrey Chaucer, and the tribute paid by other poets at his funeral, underscore his lasting legacy in the English literary tradition.

Did You Know?

• Spenser's coffin was carried to his grave in Westminster Abbey by other poets, who threw pens and pieces of poetry into it.
• A tree known locally as 'Spenser's Oak' near his estate at Rennie was destroyed by lightning in the 1960s; local legend claims he wrote part of The Faerie Queene under it.
• Spenser's prose pamphlet A View of the Present State of Irelande remained unpublished until the mid-17th century, likely due to its inflammatory content.
• Ben Jonson claimed Spenser died 'for want of bread,' though this is doubtful since Spenser had a payment authorised and was due his pension.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"I trow that countenance cannot lie, Whose thoughts are legible in the eie." — Edmund Spenser "Death slue not him, but he made death his ladder to the skies." — Edmund Spenser "I hate the day, because it lendeth light To see all things, but not my love to see." — Edmund Spenser "So love is Lord of all the world by right." — Edmund Spenser