Edmund
Spenser - 1552 - 1599
The life and works of Spenser are influenced by Cambridge - where he
became famous with classics and Italian poets; London - where he experienced disappointment
of court life and Ireland- where he experienced beauty and imagery of old
Celtic poetry, and there he has written his masterpiece.
Life:
He was born in London and was poor. He studied in Cambridge University. In
Cambridge he read Classics, made familiarity with great Italian poets, and also
wrote numberless poems of his own. Then he went to North of London and started working on Shepherd's Calendar.
After that he came to London with his poems, and finished his Shepherd's
Calendar. The court was full of intrigues and he has explained his own
uncomfortable position in "Mother Hubbard's Tale".
"To lose
good days, that might be better spent;
To waste long
nights in pensive discontent"
In 1580, he became queen's deputy in Ireland. After sixteen years of
residence he wrote his "View of the State of Ireland" (1596) which is
his only prose work.
In Kilcolman, surrounded by great natural beauty, Spenser finished the
first three books of the Faery Queen. These books got instant success
when published and still known as the greatest work in the English Language. A
yearly pension of fifty pounds was conferred by Elizabeth to him. He came back
to Ireland and fell in love with beautiful Elizabeth and wrote
"Amoretti" in her honour and after that represented her in "Fairy
Queen". In 1594, he married to Elizabeth and wrote
"Epithalamion" which is wedding hymn.
In 1595 he wrote "Astrophel" - an elegy on the death of Sidney
and also written three more books of the Faery Queen. Because of
Tyrone's Rebellion Spenser has to escape with wife and two children and some unfinished parts of Faery
Queen has were burnt in the castle.
This was the heart breaking incident in the life of Spenser and he has
never recovered from this experience. He returned to England and in 1599 he
died. According to Ben Jonson he died "for want of bread." He was buried
beside his master Chaucer in Westminster Abbey.
The Faery Queen:
This is the most important work of Spenser. The original plan was of
twenty-four books, which includes adventure and triumph of a knight who
represented a moral virtue.
In all the books, a knight is fighting his opposing Vice, and the poem
tells the story of the conflicts, it also represents life as the struggle
between good and evil. Spenser completed only six books, celebrating Holiness,
Temperance, Chastity, Friendship, Justice, and Courtesy. There is also a
seventh fragment, Constancy.
Works Cited
Long, W. J. "English
Literature." Long, W. J. English Literature. n.d.
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