Volume II, Issue IX, January 2015 - ISSN 2321-7065

EDMUND SPENSER AS THE POETS POET

Dr. George Kolanchery
Asst. Prof. of English, Dept. of English Studies
Bayan University College, Oman
(Aff. to Purdue University, Indiana, USA)

&
Ms. Yevette Mathew
Lecturer of English, Majan College
Sultanate of Oman.
Abstract
Edmund Spenser is characterized by Charles Lamb as the Poets Poet, while all the
Elizabethans acclaimed him as the Prince of Poets. This is because Spensers poetic faculty
was unique; in the sense that it had excelled the poetic faculty of every other poet of England and
has been held in reverence and imitated by the fraternity of poets. Fluency is a quality found in
the poetry of Spenser. There are many poetic forms available to a writer. Stanza forms vary
from the quatrains of ballads to the longer stanzas used by Spenser. This paper examines the
factors that contributed the title the Poets Poet to Spenser.
Key Words: Spenser, Poets poet, Spensers Greatness

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Introduction
Charles Lamb calls Edmund Spenser the Poets Poet. At the same time, all the Elizabethans
recognized him as the Prince of Poets. This is because Spensers poetic faculty was unique; in
the sense that it had excelled the poetic faculty of every other poet of England and has been held
in reverence and imitated by the fraternity of poets. He established his greatness as a poet with
the publication of his Shepherds Calendar.

It was in Spenser that they looked for the

fulfillment of the dreams in the field of the poetry. There are so many factors that make Spenser
great.
A Poet Out Of Space
It has been remarked that Spenser is as much out of space as Shakespeare out of time. This
remark refers to the wide influence that Spenser had on the poets of his time and of the posterity.
J.R. Lowell, estimating his influence on poets, says, Spensers mere manner had not so many
imitations as Miltons but no other of our poets has given an impulse and in the right direction
also to so many and so diverse minds; above all no other has given so many young souls a
consciousness of their wings and a delight in the use of them
Throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a number of poets followed him
called him their master and exalted him as their guide and mentor.

Compton Ricket remarks,

Spenser has been happily called the Poets Poet. In his own day, he influenced a large
number of verse writers of more or less power. Cowley and Dryden at a later period testified to
his in opening influence as a literary artist; Milton paid him warm tribute; and even Pope whose
poetic faculty is a different in kind from that of the Elizabethans, admitted to his compelling
magic.

The indebtedness of Keats and Tennyson is easily comprehensible, but the most

significant testimony to the greatness of this romantic Puritan lies in the power he wields over
versifiers as alien in imaginative vision. The younger generation of the romantics adopted his
stanza for their powerful expression. Thus we see that he is the Poets poet in the true sense,
for he is the fountain-head of all those Excellencies and beauties which are scattered in the works
of subsequent poets.

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Spensers Noble Conception of His Vocation

Spenser gave a high and noble conception of his calling to the poets of his time and of all ages.
He inculcated the belief in the immortality of poetry. Together with Plato, Ovid and Horrace, he
believed that the poet was a creator like God and so shared some of his immortality. Powerful
empire and great and noble civilization are destroyed and forgotten but art and poetry remain in
all their strength and brightness. This faith in the performance of poetry and immortality of
poets he recovers in a very powerful language.
For deeds do die, however, nobly done
And thoughts of men do as they decay
But wise words taught in number for to run
Recorded by the tenses live forever.
Poetry, he affirmed, represents the power of God and men could not be its interpreter unless
they were consecrated from their birth and dedicated to this ministry. It is this high sense of
his vocation that makes him the leader and the prince of poets.
Spensers Services to English Poetry
The age of Spenser was the age of intense patriotism. Under the patronage of Queen Elizabeth,
England had emerged a powerful nation. It had already crushed the Spanish Armada. In war,
traffic and exploration, England could hold her own self with the nations of the world. But she
lagged behind in the domain of poetry. People of England were animated by the purest form of
nationality which was a common characteristic of our older poets. Chaucer had, no doubt,
written great poetry but it could not do with the great work of the continental poets. Now it was
the mission of Spenser to glorify his country to elevate England into a queen, an empress of the
heart. He set out to endow England poetry as great as that of the continental poets. He showed
the world that modern England was capable of poetry as great as that of any other age and
country, that he had her share of poetic power, of art and learning. It was a tremendous work
that he accomplished and it brought an enviable credit to him. By making a sedulous study of
the classics, he could pat England on a high pedestal in the realm of poetry. This made England
to lead among other nations and earned him the title of the Prince of Poets. Spensers The
Faerie Queene remains outstanding of its own kind without any comparison.

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Spensers Service to English Language

Spenser rendered invaluable service to English language as well and thereby enhanced its power
of expression. He was a great craftsman and knew that only by mastering his craft that a poet
can be great. He made it well-known over the continent that English language was no more a
lisping child; it was capable of powerful utterances of subtlety and devotion. He treated English
language as if it belonged to him and therefore took every care to make it fearless and powerful
language. He felicitated the work of the coming poets by giving them a great language. Not only
language, he invented a particular stanzaic form which became a rich legacy for the posterity. It
is known as Spenserian stanza. Lowell rightly remarks The service which Spenser did to our
literature by his exquisite sense is incalculable.
Summing Up
Thus, Spenser rendered a very great service to English poetry. On account of the manifold
services that

he contributed to English poetry, he earned the title of being Poets Poet.

Spenser like Shakespeare still stands up sharply and distinctly against the skies and continues to
attract and inspire those who have wings of poesy with his rich sense of sensuous loveliness.

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Bibliography
Burgess, Anthony: English Literature: A Survey for Students, Pearson Education Ltd, England,
2003.
Carter, Ronald, and McRae, John: Literature in English: Britain and Ireland, Pearson Education
Ltd, England, 2004.
Gill, Richard: Mastering English Literature, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2006.
Kennedy, X.J., Gioia, Dana: LITERATURE-An Intro to Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Writing,
Pearson Education Ltd, England, 2007.

Bio-Note: Dr. George Kolanchery, Asst. Professor of English, currently works at Bayan College (Aff. to
Purdue University, USA), Oman. He is the Chairperson of College Research Committee and Coordinator
of Curriculum Development. He also works as Reviewer for ELT Journals.
Ms. Yevette Mathew, Lecturer of English, presently works at Majan College, Oman. She has been an
ELT professional for more than 15 years.

Her area of interest is English Language Teaching

Methodology.

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