sonnet75 赏析

My comments on sonnet 75 by Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser (c. 1552 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queen, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English language. As to his sonnet 75, it is a short poem but conveys the author’s thoughts and emotions, which is regarded as a represent of his achievements.

Though the English sonnet is greatly popularized by Shakespeare, the Spenser form in fact demanded more skills and dexterities of language which was named “the Spenserian stanza. “Sonnet 75 was according to this structure, which is special in the rhyme abab bcbc cdcd ee:

One day I wrote her name upon the stra nd, (a)

But came the waves and washed it aw ay: (b)

Agayne I wrote it with a second ha nd, (a)

But came the tyde, and made my paynes his pr ay. (b)

“Vayne man,”, said she, “that does in vain ass ay,” (b)

A mortal thing so to immortal ize. (c)

For I my selve shall lyke to this dec ay, (b)

And eek my name bee wiped out lykew ize.” (c)

This kind of interlocking pattern made the two quatrains connect closely, which is consistence with the romantic dialogues between poet and his lover. And the main theme of the poem was expressed naturally. Romantic dialogues, fluent structure made the whole poem more like a prose. Exactly, it became a prose poem. Sonnet 75 was also according to the tradition of iambic feet, emphasizing on unstressed syllable and stressed syllable which is corresponding with tide’s fluctuation. When readers read it, as if they were in the shore and have watched the scenes by themselves.

Looking into the contents of this sonnet, we find that Spenser claims to give her wife immortality in his verse. Line 1 tells of how the man wrote his beloved's name

on the beach, Line2 of how the wave washed them away, Line 3 and 4 of how he rewrote them and the tide erased them again. Line 5-8wrote is about his beloved words. She criticized the man saying all these are in vain. Like she herself will die and vanish, her name also can not stay on the beach forever. The first four lines of the octet have described the action of the sea; the second four lines then quote the beloved as drawing a moral from that action. Spenser thus makes explicit the parallel between the transitory words and mortal human life. The octet contains a step-by-step argument. And then in the sestet Spenser made a claim that his verse will bestow immortality upon the beloved.

Edmund Spenser is a representative English poet in the period of the Renaissance; it is obvious to find that the author displayed humanity’s desire in pursuing of truth, goodness and beauty in this sonnet. For example:

“Not I”, quod I, “let baser thin gs devi ze,”

To dy in dust, but you shall live by fame;

Here, poet first made a contrast——His lover and “baser things”. Different people had different results depending on one thing——character. What were characters of “baser things”? They were impudent, despicable and vacuous. The result of baser thin gs is to “devize”. Poet thoug ht his lover was opposite to baser things. Therefore, it is easy to know what characters of his lover were. She must have not only the beautiful appearance, but also have rare virtues. Compared with “baser thin gs”, his lover has dazzling brilliance. Therefore, in the following line, poet said:” My verse your virtues rare shall eternize”. “Virtues rare shall eternize”. That is right. The body of human is destined to disappear whereas the spirit, the virtue of human can be immortal. The true love can be immortal.

In a word, Sonnet 75 has two aspects. One is that poem can keep his lover perpetual. As a kind of genuine art creation, poem can contend with time. His lover can exist forever in his poems and his poems can exist in the world forever. The other