Analysis of Edmund Spenser's "Amoretti: Sonnet 1"
Edmund Spenser wrote Amoretti about his courtship with Elizabeth Boyle and their eventual wedding in June of 1594. Spenser follows the Petrarchan style; however, one notable difference is that the women that Petrarch
writes about are unavailable to him while Spenser wrote about a woman that he actually could have and did have. The rhyme scheme is a typical Spenserian sonnet: ABAB BCBC CDCD EE. In Sonnet 1, Spenser is talking to his poem/book about how wonderful it would be for his beloved to read his words; it would mean everything to him for his beloved to behold his loving words.
Happy ye leaves when as those lilly hands,
Which hold my life in their dead doing might,
Shall handle you and hold in loves soft bands,
Lyke captives trembling at the victors sight. (lines 1-4)
Spenser is telling his poem that it will be so happy when his beloved's hands hold its pages in her Lilly white hands. Like other Petrarchan heroines, Spenser's beloved holds all of the power; she could kill him (metaphorically speaking) by rejecting his poem, which would be like rejecting his love. His soul would die without his beloved's love. Spenser uses an analogy to further convince the reader how much his beloved controls his destiny. His beloved is both his captor and his victor. She holds his poem and heart in "loves soft bands" (bonds- something that binds or restrains). Her hands could kill him ("dead doing might") or give him life. The poem and his heart trembles with the anticipation of her love, like when a captive catches sight of his victor (the person who frees him).
And happy lines, on which with starry light,
Those lamping eyes will deigne sometimes to look
And reade the sorrowes of my dying spright,
Written with teares in harts close bleeding book. (5-8)
Happy ye leaves when as those lilly hands,
Which hold my life in their dead doing might,
Shall handle you and hold in loves soft bands,
Lyke captives trembling at the victors sight. (lines 1-4)
Spenser is telling his poem that it will be so happy when his beloved's hands hold its pages in her Lilly white hands. Like other Petrarchan heroines, Spenser's beloved holds all of the power; she could kill him (metaphorically speaking) by rejecting his poem, which would be like rejecting his love. His soul would die without his beloved's love. Spenser uses an analogy to further convince the reader how much his beloved controls his destiny. His beloved is both his captor and his victor. She holds his poem and heart in "loves soft bands" (bonds- something that binds or restrains). Her hands could kill him ("dead doing might") or give him life. The poem and his heart trembles with the anticipation of her love, like when a captive catches sight of his victor (the person who frees him).
And happy lines, on which with starry light,
Those lamping eyes will deigne sometimes to look
And reade the sorrowes of my dying spright,
Written with teares in harts close bleeding book. (5-8)
Published by Sophia Brookshire
I love books! I love the smell of them and the words contained within. Peace and Love! View profile
- A Discussion of the Poetry of Queen Elizabeth and Edmund Spencer A look at Queen Elizabeth's poem 'The doubt of future foes' and Edmund Spencer's 'Amoretti LXXV,' 'The Tamed Deer' and 'What guile is this.'
- Travel Narratives in Edgar Allan Poe and Herman Melville An inspection on how two prominent nineteenth-century American authors combined travel-narratives with romantic fiction in order to posit the reader in a similar place as the narrator(s) himself.
- Sir Walter Raleigh: The Life and of Death of an Explorer Sir Walter Raleigh was born about 1554 near Budleigh Salterton in Devonshire, England. He was a soldier, poet, historian, scientist, and explorer.
Edmund Spenser and Ireland: A Social and Historical Context Edmund Spenser and his life and writings during The Desmond Rebellion and The Nine Year's War.
- Edmund Spenser, the Faerie Queene, Book One, Canto Two, First Stanza Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book One, canto two, first stanza: The Northerne wagoner with his seven fold teame behind the stedfast starre. In ocean waves yet never wet. Redcrosse envious that night.
