Amoretti

by Edmund Spenser

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Genres: Poetry, Classics, Romance, Fiction, Read For School

108 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

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

[Omri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spenser's poetry is elegant, skillful, witty and complex. It makes you re-appreciate the art of sonnet on an entire new level. But it is not the same kind of witty that you get in Sydney, Wyatt or Shakespeare - it is a completely different kind of sonnet. It's beauty is in it's elegance as well as in content.

When I first read Spenser I thought that his sonnets were beautiful, but as for complexity or wit I was a bit unsure. It took me a couple of readings to truly appreciate what he is doing here, in this beautiful beautiful sequence. I have to admit that now he is one of my favorite sonneteers, one of the better sonnet writers I've read, especially when you look at it as a sequence, not as stand-alones. Highly recommended.

[William Zeng · Rating 5 out of 5]

these are actually very lovely sonnets except now i have to write a long paper good bye world

[Jared · Rating 5 out of 5]

One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washed it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
"Vain man," said she, "that dost in vain assay,
A mortal thing so to immortalize;
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eke my name be wiped out likewise."
"Not so," (quod I) "let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your vertues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name:
Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew.”

[May · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is another sonnet sequence I had to read for my Univeristy course and this one was not as good as Astrophil and Stella. I found it dragged on and had to start reading each word aloud so I knew I was actually reading each word haha.

[Archie Hamerton]

i now regret complaining about sidney, bc spenser is so much worse

[imeda · Rating 2 out of 5]

unlike some other sonnets that i've read (notably shakespeare as well as philip sidney's astrophel and stella), i find that amoretti isn't quite as clever. the sonnets don't have that same clever wit to them that others that i've read have. this sonnet collection is undeniably beautiful and its strength lies in that rather than its wit. each one is composed beautifully and the imagery is really vivid.

i did find this collection a little bit difficult to get through and often felt sorta bored. like, yeah, the sonnets are pretty, but what else??? they're kinda just boring. i can't deny that edmund spenser is a brilliant writer—he has a mastery over the english language and i would never dare to claim that i could write objectively better sonnets than him—this collection just wasn't my favourite in terms of writing style and content. i think i might have enjoyed the sonnets more if i spaced out my reading of them though that wasn't really an option for me as i did read this as required reading for class. i think these sonnets are really good to read in small doses, but just get a little dense if you read the entire collection at once.

[Gu Kun · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMORETTI LXXV

One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washed it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.

"Vain man,"said she, "that dost in vain assay (=try)
A mortal thing so to immortalize;
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eke (=also) my name be wiped out likewise."

"Not so," quoth I, "let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name:

Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew."

[Katie Franzmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of love sonnets is diverse and intriguing. I’m reading them in preparation for starting the Faerie Queen. There are actually several sonnets in here where he talks about how his progress on the Faerie Queen has been halted by his romance.

The sonnets go through several phases: an early phase in which the poet is all-admiring of his love and defends her to others, a middle phase where he complains of her pride and coldness and how ill these fit her beauty and virtue, and a final phase after she has accepted his love which is again admiring, humble, occasionally sexy, and longing.

His imagery can be very striking in each.

[Amaranta · Rating 4 out of 5]

estás viendo que no sé inglés antiguo y vienes a escribirme mezclando inglés medieval y del siglo XVI me caes mal, pero me caes bien Spenser

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Alex Sitar · Rating 3 out of 5]

eye roll

[katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

So lovely

[Mélanie Fléchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly what you would expect to read from Spenser. No surprises there. Some beautifully written sonnets, an agreeable read.

[Andrew Shapir]

where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew

[Beth Bauman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a selection of the poems, including:
1, 4, 10, 11, 15, 16, 18, 20, 23, 28, 30, 33, 45, 48, 54, 67, 71, 74, and 75.

Not the complete book - would like to come back and read it in more detail.

[Giulia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lo adoro, ma - si sa - è il mio poeta preferito.