Edmund Spenser
author profile
died
January 13, 1599
gender
male
place of birth
London, United Kingdom
genre
Poetry, Literature & Fiction
about this author
Edmund Spenser (c. 1552 – 13 January 1599) was an important English poet and Poet Laureate best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem celebrating, through fantastical allegory, the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I.
Though he is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, Spenser is also a controversial figure due to his zeal for the destruction of Irish culture and colonisation of Ireland.
books by Edmund Spenser
combine editionsavg rating: 3.70 | 1062 ratings | 58 distinct works see all books by Edmund Spenser »
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quotes by Edmund Spenser
"Why then should witless man so much misweene
That nothing is but that which he hath seene?"
— Edmund Spenser
That nothing is but that which he hath seene?"
— Edmund Spenser
"So furiously each other did assayle,
As if their soules they would attonce haue rent
Out of their brests, that streames of bloud did rayle
Adowne, as if their springes of life were spent;
That all the ground with purple bloud was sprent,
And all their armours staynd with bloudie gore,
Yet scarcely once to breath would they relent,
So mortall was their malice and so sore,
Become of fayned friendship which they vow'd afore."
— Edmund Spenser (The Faerie Queene, Books Three and Four)
As if their soules they would attonce haue rent
Out of their brests, that streames of bloud did rayle
Adowne, as if their springes of life were spent;
That all the ground with purple bloud was sprent,
And all their armours staynd with bloudie gore,
Yet scarcely once to breath would they relent,
So mortall was their malice and so sore,
Become of fayned friendship which they vow'd afore."
— Edmund Spenser (The Faerie Queene, Books Three and Four)
