Literature is very ancient. A great deal of literature has been written. Literature has been written in many languages. In which Gujarati, English, Sanskrit, Arabic, French etc.  There are many periods of literature. In which comes Elizabeth age in English literature.  In which there are many authors, such as Edmund Spenser, George Chapman, Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson etc. So today we are going to discuss about Edmund Spenser.He was english poet.

The Edmund Spenser

                      

 🔷  Introduction :-  

            Edmund Spenser was a poet of English literature. They died in the time of Elizabeth. Edmund Spenser was a great poet at that time. He didn’t write much. But one of the best works he has ever written is called The Faerie Queen. This poem he did not complete.  Otherwise this would have been a masterpiece at the time. So let's see about Edmund Spenser. 

   🔷 Life :- 

1]Born :-

  Edmund Spencer was born around 1552 in East Smithfield, London. His family situation was very bad. He was born in a poor house. He had to face a lot of difficulties. There is no definite information about his father but he was probably the son of Johon Spenser. 

2]Education :-

        He also had a lot of discomfort in education. So let's talk about it.

He was educated at Merchant Taylor's School in London. He matriculated as a Caesar at    Pembroke College, Cambridge.

3]Friends :-

       While at Cambridge he became a friend of Gabriel Harvey and later consulted him, despite their differing views on poetry. 

4]Family (wife and children ):-

Spouse: Elizabeth Boyle (m. 1594–1599), 

Machabyas Childe (m. 1579–1594)

Edmund Spenser was previously married to Machabyas Childe..He had two sons.

 The children were, Sylvanus and Catherine. Spenser married Elizabeth Boyle for the second time.

5]Death :-

In the year after being driven from his home, 1599, Spenser travelled to London, where he died at the age of forty-six.

 

🔷 Works 

         He has been writing since he was in Edmund Spenser  college.  Didn't write much. But one of his poems was that he was famous because of the Faerie Queen.  However this poem was not completed at that time. Yet it is known as the masterpiece. So let’s see about his work.

> 1569: Jan van der Noodt's A Theatre for Worldlings, 

> 1579: The Shepheardes Calender, published under the pseudonym "Immerito"

> 1590:The Faerie Queene, 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 Petrarc

> 1595:Amoretti and Epithalamion, containing

> 1596:Prothalamion, The Faerie Queene, Books 4-6

              

 🔷  The Faery Queen :-

               

    Spenser's masterpiece is the epic poem The Faerie Queene. The first three books of The Faerie Queene were published in 1590, and a second set of three books were 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 work, and can do on several levels of allegory, including as praise of Queen Elizabeth I. 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".

>  The description of Una shows the poet's sense of ideal beauty:

    One day, nigh wearie of the yrkesome way,

    From her unhastie beast she did alight;

    And on the grasse her dainty limbs did lay

    In secrete shadow, far from all mens sight;

    From her fayre head her fillet she undight

    And layd her stole aside; Her angels face,

    As the great eye of heaven, shynéd bright,

    And made a sunshine in the shady place;

Did never mortall eye behold such heavenly grace.

    It fortunéd, out of the thickest wood

    A ramping lyon rushéd suddeinly,

    Hunting full greedy after salvage blood:

    Soone as the royall Virgin he did spy,

    With gaping mouth at her ran greedily,

    To have at once devourd her tender corse:

    But to the pray whenas he drew more ny,

    His bloody rage aswaged with remorse,

And, with the sight amazd, forgat his furious forse.

    Instead thereof he kist her wearie feet,

    And lickt her lilly hands with fawning tong;

    As he her wrongéd innocence did weet.

    O how can beautie maister the most strong,

    And simple truth subdue avenging wrong!

🔷The Shepherd's Calendar:- 

       

              The Shepheardes Calender is Edmund Spenser's first major work, which appeared in 1579. It emulates Virgil's Eclogues of the first century BCE and the Eclogues of Mantuan by Baptista Mantuanus, 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.

🔷Characteristics of Spenser's Poetry:-

            The five main qualities of Spenser's poetry are......  

     (1) a perfect melody; 

     (2) a rare sense of beauty;

     (3) a splendid imagination, which could gather into one poem heroes, knights, ladies, dwarfs, demons and dragons, classic mythology, stories of chivalry, and the thronging ideals of the Renaissance,--all passing in gorgeous procession across an ever-changing and ever-beautiful landscape;

     (4) a lofty moral purity and seriousness; 

    (5) a delicate idealism, which could make all nature and every common thing beautiful. 

My Opinion :-

       Edmund Spencer was a good poet. He struggled a lot in life.  Because the condition of their home was not good. He also had many difficulties in teaching. And he also had trouble writing. Yet he has written a lot of good literature.  Her most important work is The Fairy Queen. He had been interested in that literature since college. They also came under the influence of saffron. He was also helped a lot by his friends. So he came out as a good writer. He deems it appropriate to write in this literature about the events that took place in his life. Many of his poems are famous. He has written many other articles besides poetry.  Thus,Edmund Spenser was a good poet. His The Faerie Queene poem was incomplete. Otherwise this 6poem would have been number one at that time. However, he has tried to give a good literature. And that is why his name is still spoken in English literature today.

        There was an interest in beauty in his poems. He has also written melody type poetry. His poems include fairy tales, myths, stories of monsters and dragons.  His poems also include idealism, which also takes on nature. Thus he is famous for all these beautiful works. 

References :-

Wikipedia :Edmund Spenser 

History of English Literature by W.J.Long

Youtube video 

   THANKS....  

                                 Words -1226