AMORETTI

by Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser was born around the year 1552, in East Smithfield, London. He attended Pembroke Colle e, Cambrid e. !n "uly of 15#$, he went to !reland to ser%e Lord &eputy, 'rthur (rey, 1)th *aron (rey de +ilton. He helped the En lish defeat the nati%e !rish in the &esmond ,ebellion, and was awarded lands in County Cork. He hoped to obtain a pla-e at -ourt for his poetry, and e%en went to re-ite his poem The Faerie Queene. He re rettably anta oni.ed the /ueen0s prin-ipal se-retary, Lord *ur hley, and was not i%en a pla-e at -ourt. !n 1511, Spenser did re-ei%e a pension from the /ueen. !n 151#, in the midst of the 2ine 3ears +ar, he was dri%en from his home by nati%e !rish for-es. 4hey burned his dwellin s. He was for-ed to o ba-k to London, where he later died. Edmund Spenser wrote Amoretti about his -ourtship with Eli.abeth *oyle and their e%entual weddin in "une of 151). Spenser follows the Petrar-han style5 howe%er, one notable differen-e is that the women that Petrar-h writes about are una%ailable to him while Spenser wrote about a woman that he a-tually -ould ha%e and did ha%e. 4he rhyme s-heme is a typi-al Spenserian sonnet6 '*'* *C*C C&C& EE. 7Amoretti in latin 8 little -upid9

Amoretti

: Edmund Spenser

Sonnet 3
4he so%erayne beauty whi-h ! doo admyre, +itnesse the world how worthy to be pray.ed; 4he li ht wherof hath kindled hea%enly fyre !n my fraile spirit, by her from basenesse raysed5 4hat bein now with her hu e bri htnesse da.ed, *ase thin ! -an no more endure to %iew6 *ut, lookin still on her, ! stand ama.ed 't wondrous si ht of so -elestiall hew. So when my toun would speak her praises dew, !t stopped is with thou hts astonishment5 'nd when my pen would write her titles true, !t ra%isht is with fan-ies wonderment6 3et in my hart ! then both speak and write 4he wonder that my wit -annot endite.

4he poet admires his <souerayne beauty= >his belo%ed?, -omparin her to a li ht of hea%enly fire that he -annot endure to look upon for lon . Spee-h fails him, so he turns to writin >poetry? to e@press <the wonder that my wit -annot endite.= >line 1)?

74he so%erei n beauty whi-h ! do admire, +itness the world how worthy to be praised6 4he li ht whereof hath kindled hea%enly fire !n my frail spirit, by her from baseness raised5 4hat bein now with her hu e bri htness da.ed, *ase thin ! -an no more endure to %iew5 *ut lookin still on her, ! stand ama.ed 't wondrous si ht of so -elestial hue. So when my ton ue would speak her praises due, !t stopped is with thou ht0s astonishment6 'nd when my pen would write her titles true, !t ra%ish0d is with fan-y0s wonderment6 3et in my heart ! then both speak and write 4he wonder that my wit -annot endite.9

Sonnet 15
3e tradefull Aer-hants, that, with weary toyle, &o seeke most pretious thin s to make your ain, 'nd both the !ndias of their treasure spoile, +hat needeth you to seeke so farre in %aineB Cor loe, my Lo%e doth in her selfe -ontaine 'll this worlds ri-hes that may farre be found6 !f saphyres, loe, her eies be saphyres plaine5 !f rubies, loe, hir lips be rubies sound5 !f pearles, hir teeth be pearles, both pure and round5 !f y%orie, her forhead y%ory weene5 !f old, her lo-ks are finest old on round5 !f sil%er, her faire hands are sil%er sheene6 *ut that whi-h fairest is but few behold6:: Her mind adornd with %ertues manifold.
4his sonnet -ompares the belo%edDs %irtues to worldly ri-hes, parti-ularly those treasures in whi-h mer-hants trade. ,ather than des-ribe her beauty as superior to earthly ri-hes, he makes ea-h aspe-t of her -harm a dire-t -omparison to a parti-ular item of %alue. Here eyes are sapphires, her lips are rubies, her teeth are pearls, her forehead is i%ory, her hair is finest old, and her hands are sil%er. He ends, howe%er, with the reatest beauty >and reatest treasure= whi-h <but few behold= >line 1E?6 her mind, whi-h is <adorned with %ertues manifold= >line 1)?. 'lthou h praisin her physi-al beauty for most of the poem, he -onsiders her mind to be the <fairest= treasure she possesses >line 1E?. Sonnet 15 is an e@ample of bla.on sonnet. *la.on is when there is a series of -omparisons or depi-tions that -atalo ue a lady0s body parts.

Sonnet 34
Lyke as a ship, that throu h the o-ean wyde *y -ondu-t of some star doth make her way, +hen as a storm hath dimd her trusty uyde, Fut of her -ourse doth wander far astray, So !, whose star, that wont with her bri ht ray Ae to dire-t, with -loudes is o%er:-ast, &oe wander now in darknesse and dismay, 4hrou h hidden perils round about me plast. 3et hope ! well that, when this storme is past, Ay Heli-eG, the lodestarGG of ray lyfe, +ill shine a ain, and looke on me at last, +ith lo%ely li ht to -leare my -loudy rief. 4ill then ! wander -arefull, -omfortlesse, !n se-ret sorrow and sad pensi%enesse.
[GHeli-e, also known as Callisto, is a wood:nymph turned into Hrsa AaIor. !n Edith Hamiliton0sMythology, the tale is as follows6 Jshe was the dau hter of Ly-aon, a kin of 'r-adia who had been -han ed into a wolf be-ause of his wi-kedness. He had set human flesh on the table for Keus when the od was his uest. His punishment was deser%ed, but his dau hter suffered as terribly as he and she was inno-ent of all wron . Keus saw her huntin in the train of 'rtemis and fell in lo%e with her. Hera, furiously an ry, turned the maiden into a bear after son was born. +hen the boy was rown and out huntin , the oddess brou ht Callisto before him, intendin to ha%e him shoot his mother, in i noran-e, of -ourse. *ut Keus snat-hed the bear away and pla-ed her amon the stars, where she is -alled the (reat *ear. Later, her son 'r-as was pla-ed beside her and -alled the Lesser *ear. Hera, enra ed at this honor to her ri%al, persuaded the (od of the Sea to forbid the *ears to des-ent into the o-ean like the other stars. 4hey alone of the -onstellations ne%er set below the hori.onJ.

'n alternate %ersion of this story -an be found in Hans *iedermann0s Dictionary of Symbolism6 Jthe 'r-adian prin-ess Callisto >Jthe most beautifulJ..., who while a ser%ant of 'rtemis was made pre nant by Keus, whereupon 'rtemis turned her into a bear. She a%e birth to a perfe-tly formed human son, 'r-as, who later felt threatened by his ursine mother. Lest one should kill the other, Keus transported mother and son into the hea%ens6 Keus0 Iealous wife Hera, determined to pre%ent Calisto from e%er bein able to refresh herself by bathin in the sea, pla-ed her >as Hrsa AaIor? amon the -ir-umpolar stars, whi-h ne%er set5 'r-as li%es on the -onstellation *ootesJ

GGa star that leads or uides5 usually refers to the 2orth Star]
Edmund Spenser0s Amoretti -hroni-les his -ourtship with his wife Eli.abeth *oyle. !t was ori inally published in 1515 and loosely follows the Petrar-han sonnet model. Petrar-h wrote his sonnets about women that he would ne%er be able to obtain, while Spenser wrote about a sin le woman whom he did marry. Sonnet 34 appears to des-ribe a break in Spenser0s relationship with Eli.abeth5 it seems like they had a fi ht and Spenser is bidin his time until she for i%es him. Spenser uses the analo y of a ship losin its way durin a storm to -on%ey the separation between him and Eli.abeth. !t is also an adaptation of Petrar-h0s J,ima 1#1J 4he speaker -ompares himself to a ship lost at sea, lookin for uidan-e from the stars. Hnfortunately, <a storme hath dimd her trusty uyde= >line E?, makin the stars in%isible to the na%i ator. 4he se-ond stan.a identifies the storm:hidden stars as his belo%ed turnin herself from the speaker, thus lea%in him to <wander now, in darnesse and dismay= >line L?. He hopes the storm will pass and he will be able to see his uidin star >his belo%ed, showin fa%or to him yet a ain?, but until then he plans to <wander darefull -omfortlesse, Min se-ret sorrow and sad pensiuenesse= >lines 1E:1)?.