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Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)
Edmund Spenser was born in 1551 or 1552 to John and Elizabeth Spenser in London
England. The year of his birth could be either of the two, it is unknown for certain. He
wrote in Sonnet 1x of Amoretti that he had spent a year in love that was longer than the
40 he had lived. The poem was known to be written 1-2 years prior to it’s publishing in
1593. His father was a free journeyman from Burnley, Lanceshire. He had one sister and
several brothers.
Edmund attended Merchant Taylor’s school in 1561 and was taught Humanism, who’s
figures (Petrarch and others) later influenced his works. He later attends Pembrocke Hall
as a sizer. He graduates from Pembroke and becomes a scholar in Latin and Greek and an
expert in French and Italian literature.His first publication is “A Theatre for Worldlings”
in 1569 which is composed of poems translated into English. This edition was later reworked
and added to. It was published as “Complaints” in 1591. Following this is a long list of
deputy and militant services to country and Queen, as well as inheritances and acquisitions
of property. It’s all rather uninteresting. Edmund Spenser died in January of 1599 and was
buried at Westminster Abbey. His other works are:
1579 – The Shepheardes Calender
1590 – The Faerie Queene books I-III
“Letters To Authors”
1591 - Colin clouts come home againe
1592 – Daphnaïda
Translated Axiochus
1594 - Amoretti and Epithalamion
1596 - The Faerie Queene books IV-VI
1598 - A vewe of the present state of Irelande
Aitken. "Edmund Spenser." Dictionary of National Biography. Shearman - Stovin ed. Vol. XVIII.
London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1909. 793-806.
Bear, Richard. The Life of Edmund Spenser. April 12, 2004 2004. Electronic. University of
Oregon. Available: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Erbear/esbio.html.
Britannica, Encyclopedia. Edmund Spenser. 25. 1911. Electronic. Encyclopedia Britannica.
Available: http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/SOU_STE/SPENSER_EDMUND_c_1552_1599_.html.
Maley, Willy. The Edmund Spenser Homepage: Biography. 03/07/2005 2005. Electronic. University
of Cambridge. Available: http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/spenser/biography.htm.
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