Edmund Spenser (c. 1552–1599), author of the allegorical Tudor-celebrating epic “The Faerie Queene,” was also one of the early innovators of the sonnet form in English. Imported from the Italian chiefly through the work of the diplomat-poet Thomas Wyatt, the sonnet had already begun to assume what we now generally call its Shakespearean form via the experimentations of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. Spenser, in the generation following Wyatt and Surrey, developed his own variation on the sonnet pattern, with the rhyme scheme abab bcbc cdcd ee. “The Amoretti,” a cycle of 89 such sonnets, chronicles his courtship of and marriage to Elizabeth Boyle. Here, in the 70th sonnet of that cycle, the speaker exhorts his lover to wake up and follow in Love’s springtime entourage while it briefly tarries. Amoretti LXX: Fresh Spring the Herald of Loves Mighty Kingby Edmund SpenserFresh spring the herald of loves mighty king,In whose cote armour richly are displayed All sorts of flowers the which on earth do spring In goodly colours gloriously arrayd: Goe to my love, where she is carelesse layd, Yet in her winters bowre not well awake: Tell her the joyous time wil not be staid Unless she doe him by the forelock take. Bid her therefore her selfe soone ready make, To wayt on love amongst his lovely crew: Where every one that misseth then her make, Shall be by him amearst with penance dew. Make hast therefore sweet love, whilest it is prime, For none can call againe the passèd time.___________________________________________With “Poem of the Day,” The New York Sun offers a daily portion of verse selected by the Sun’s poetry editor, Joseph Bottum of Dakota State University, with the help of the North Carolina poet, Sally Thomas. Tied to the day, or the season, or just individual taste, the poems will be typically drawn from the lesser-known portion of the history of English verse. In the coming months we will be reaching out to contemporary poets for examples of current, primarily formalist work, to show that poetry can still serve as a delight to the ear, an instruction to the mind, and a tonic for the soul.
