Epithalamion

by Edmund Spenser, Denis Daly (Narrator)

Epithalamion is an ode included in an anthology, Amoretti, first published in 1595. Spenser's purpose was to celebrate his courtship of Elizabeth Boyle whose marriage with him is glorified in the Epithalamion.

Public Domain (P)2023 Voices of Today

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Romance

Audible Audio

Published December 2, 2023

About the author

Edmund Spenser (c. 1552 - 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.

Reviews

[Paras2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

didn't particularly enjoy the poem but liked the diction spenser used. his archaism was greatly appreciated.

[Jacky Chan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spenser the poet of the Faerie Queene is very boring, as is Spenser the New Historicist political opportunist. But here (as in Prothalamion, my favourite Spenser poem) we have a Spenser of poignance, wistfulness, a Spenser who thinks about and plays with time, artifice, and poetics. Maybe it's time I took another good long look at Spenser, having had a year's distance now from our dreadful first encounter.

[Kurt Rongey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly elevated love poem in tribute to his bride. It builds in momentum and sensuality, finally receding from its height to twilit ease at the end.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 23 stanzas, of 17 to 19 lines of this poem, modestly pronounce with inordinate gusto the whole of the poet's own wedding-day, from the dawn to the night which brings the bride into her husband's arms. Each stanza structures a rite of the festival and, underneath the amusing, ennobling mythological adornment, humble and informal circumstances are celebrated and revealed of the poet’s wedding which was small Irish town on the 11th June, 1594. Never did Spenser's intellect show its autonomous power as in this poem. This poem marks the high lyrical accomplishment of the English Renascence. This verse has no equal in the poetry of the Renaissance. In fullness and brilliance it outshines all other compositions of the same kind. Time immemorial barely produced any such poem.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edmund Spenser wrote this classic poem for his bride on their wedding day in 1594.
Poem also at poetryfoundation.org

[Purva · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best romantic poems from the 16th Century

[Siva Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love doth transcend time!

[Meg · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 read this for uni and it was horrible experience