Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) naturally comes first in our group of Elizabethans, for the publication of his poem, Shepherd’s Calendar, about 1579, was the beginning of the great work of this period. Spenser was born in London, of gentle blood, but his family was poor, and he was obliged to do some menial work in the college. After leaving college, it is supposed that he went as a tutor to the north of England, and while there wrote Shepherd’s Calendar. This poem is a pastoral, or poem which treats of country life. It showed more true poetic power than any poem which had appeared since Chaucer. In 1580, he secured the position of secretary to Lord Grey, the queen’s deputy in Ireland.
It was in Ireland that Spenser began the writing of a long poem that he called the Faery Queen. It was full of marvelous adventures. He had finished three books when Raleigh took him to London, where he read his poem to Queen Elizabeth. In 1594 Spenser married an Irish maiden, and he wrote one long poem and a great many sonnets to celebrate his marriage, and three more books of the Faery Queen were printed. But now came days of gloom. In 1598 the Irish rose in revolt and burnt his residence. Spenser, with his wife and children, barely escaped with his life. They fled to London, and there in poverty, in a wretched inn, the next year Spenser died. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, besides Chaucer, with whom he ranks as one of the great poets of England. “Prince of poets in his time” is written over his grave.
*The “Faery Queen.”*—Spenser’s greatest work is the Faery Queen. In this poem, we have knights and ladies, lions and dragons, dwarfs and giants. The versification is exquisite, and the descriptions are wonderful. It is written in stanzas of nine lines with the rimes in the following order: a b a b, b c b c, c. Each line, except the last, contains five accents. The last line contains six. This form of verse takes its name from Spenser and is called Spenserian. The following quotation will illustrate it:─
“At length│they chaunst│to meet│upon│the way│
An ag│ed sire,│in long│blacke weedes│yclad,│
His feet│all bare,│his beard│all hoar│ie gray,│
And by│his belt│his booke│he hang│ing had;│
Sober│he seemed,│and ver│y sage│ly sad,│
And to│the ground│his eyes│were low│ly bent,│
Simeple│in shew,│and voide│of ma│lice bad,│
And all│the way│he pray│ed, as│he went,│
And of│ten knockt│his brest,│as one│that did│repent│.”
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