Comprehensive information and links about Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser (c. 1552 - January 13, 1599) was an English poet and Poet Laureate. Spenser is a controversial figure due to his zeal for the destruction of the Irish culture.

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Life

Spenser was born in 1552, and educated in London at the Merchant Taylors' School. He went to Ireland in the 1570s, during the Elizabethan re-conquest of the country, to acquire land and wealth there. From 1579 to 1580, he served with the English forces during the second of the Desmond Rebellions, and afterwards was awarded lands in Cork that had been confiscated from the rebels in the Munster Plantation. Amongst his acquaintances in the area was Walter Raleigh who, like Spenser, had been granted land in Munster.

In the early 1590s he wrote a prose pamphlet titled, . This piece has become quite famous since it was published in the mid seventeenth century, although it was not published in Spenser's lifetime, being thought too inflammatory. The pamphlet argued Ireland would never be totally 'pacified' until its indigenous language and customs had been destroyed, if necessary by violence. He recommended using scorched earth tactics, such as he had seen used in the Desmond Rebellions, to create famine. Although it has been highly regarded as a polemical piece of prose and valued as a historical source on 16th century Ireland, the "View" is seen today as genocidal in intent. He also siphoned Ireland's Celtic tradition for poetic source material. Spenser was driven from his home by Irish rebels during the Nine Years War in 1598. He died in 1599.

Poetry

The first poem to earn Spenser notability was a collection of eclogues called written from the point of view of various shepherds throughout the months of the year. The poem is an allegory symbolizing the state of humanity. The diversity of forms and meters, ranging from accentual-syllabic to purely accentual, and including such departures as the sestina in "August," gave Spenser's contemporaries a clue to the range of his powers and won him praise in his day.

is his major contribution to English poetry. The poem is a long, dense allegory, in the epic form, of Christian virtues, tied into England's mythology of King Arthur. Spenser intended to complete twelve books of the poem, but managed only six before his death. The work remains the longest epic poem in the English language, and has inspired writers from John Milton and John Keats through James Joyce and Ezra Pound. He devised a verse form for that has come to be known as the "Spenserian stanza," and which has since been applied in poetry by the likes of William Wordsworth, John Keats, and Alfred Lord Tennyson. The language of his poetry is purposely archaic. It reminds readers of earlier works as is the most admired of its type in the English language. It was written for his wedding to his young bride, Elizabeth Boyle. Spenser is often overshadowed by William Shakespeare. For a modern take at Spenser, see Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae.

was a phrase Spenser coined for the ignorant, slanderous, clamour of the mob. However, the Blatant Beast from is clearly shown to indicate slander in general, and a large part of the final complete book (Book VI, although the Blatant Beast first appears towards the end of Book VEdmund Spenser is showing how thoroughly the Blatant Beast ravages the world, first spreading from the Court (not the villages or slums) and causing havoc everywhere it goes until it even penetrates into the monestaries and causes great distress there. Only Calidore, the most courteous of knights, was able to tame, chain, and imprison the Blatant Beast, which eventually would break free and, as concludes by saying, still ravages the world today since only two Arthurian knights ever even came close to doing what Calidore did and even