Contents
Introduction to Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser (c. 1552–1599) was one of the preeminent poets of the English Renaissance and is often regarded as one of the greatest poets in the English language. He is best known for his epic poem, The Faerie Queene, but his other works, including the sonnet sequence Amoretti and the accompanying wedding hymn Epithalamion, cemented his reputation.
- Life and Influence: Spenser attended Cambridge University and served in various governmental roles, including as secretary to prominent figures in Ireland. He was an innovator, famous for creating the Spenserian stanza (used in The Faerie Queene) and for adapting the sonnet form.
- Context: Spenser was writing during the Elizabethan era, a time of great literary and cultural flourishing, and his work often blends classical, medieval, and contemporary Christian and Protestant ideals.
Background to the Poem (Amoretti)
The title Amoretti means “little loves” or “little cupids” in Italian. The sequence consists of 89 sonnets and was first published in 1595.
- Subject: Unlike many contemporary sonnet sequences (like Sidney’s or Shakespeare’s) that often chronicled unrequited or fictionalized love, Amoretti is widely believed to be an autobiographical account of Spenser’s successful courtship and eventual marriage to Elizabeth Boyle, a young Anglo-Irish woman.
- Themes: Key themes include the trials and triumphs of courtship, the immortalizing power of poetry to overcome time and decay, and, significantly, the ideal of Christian love and marriage, which he presents as a sacred union rooted in spiritual virtue, contrasting with the purely secular or courtly love of others.
- Form: Spenser uses his own variation, the Spenserian sonnet, which has a distinct rhyme scheme of ABAB BCBC CDCD EE. It consists of three interlocking quatrains and a concluding couplet.
Analysis of Sonnet LXXXIX (or 79)
Background to the Poem (Sonnet)
This particular sonnet, “Men call you fair,” addresses the subject of true beauty versus physical appearance. It is a philosophical sonnet that shifts the focus from the lady’s external beauty, which is temporary, to her internal, spiritual virtue, which is eternal and divine.
Line-by-Line Explanation
| Lines | Text | Explanation/Paraphrase |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | Men call you fair, and you do credit it, / For that your self ye daily such do see: | Other men say you are physically beautiful, and you believe them because you see your beauty in the mirror every day. |
| 3-4 | But the true fair, that is the gentle wit, / And vertuous mind, is much more prais’d of me. | But the true form of “fairness” (beauty), which is your intelligence (“gentle wit”) and moral character (“vertuous mind”), is what I praise and value more highly. |
| 5-6 | For all the rest, how ever fair it be, / Shall turn to naught and lose that glorious hue: | Because all your external, physical beauty, no matter how lovely it is now, will eventually decay (“turn to naught”) and lose its color and brilliance. |
| 7-8 | But only that is permanent and free / From frail corruption, that doth flesh ensue. | Only your spiritual beauty (your wit and virtue) is permanent and free from the decay and corruption that inevitably follows the mortal, physical body (“flesh”). |
| 9-12 | That is true beauty: that doth argue you / To be divine, and born of heavenly seed: / Deriv’d from that fair Spirit, from whom all true / And perfect beauty did at first proceed. | That inner virtue is true beauty, which proves you are divine and of heavenly origin, derived from God (the “fair Spirit”)—the source of all perfect and true beauty. |
| 13-14 | He only fair, and what he fair hath made, / All other fair, like flowers untimely fade. | God alone is truly fair (beautiful) and what God has made beautiful in the soul is permanent. All other physical beauty, like flowers that die too soon (“untimely fade”), will quickly vanish. |
Figure of Speeches
- Metaphor: The body is a frail corruption (L. 8) and an impermanent vessel. Physical beauty is compared to flowers untimely fade (L. 14), emphasizing its transience.
- Allusion/Religious Imagery: References to the soul as divine (L. 10) and heavenly seed (L. 10) and to God as the fair Spirit (L. 11) highlight the Christian Neoplatonic theme of spiritual beauty being derived from the divine source.
- Rhyme Scheme: The ABAB BCBC CDCD EE Spenserian sonnet form provides a tightly interlinked argument across the three quatrains before a strong, summarizing conclusion in the couplet.
Conclusion
Sonnet LXXXIX powerfully encapsulates one of Amoretti‘s central Protestant and Neoplatonic themes: the superiority of spiritual and moral beauty over transient physical beauty. Spenser compliments his beloved while simultaneously offering a moral lesson—that her truest, immortal worth lies not in her reflection but in her God-given mind and virtue. This belief elevates his sonnet sequence above the traditional focus on secular or purely physical love.
Aman Pal
Literatureman
References:
Abrams, M. H., general editor. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed., vol. 1, W. W. Norton, 1993
Spenser, Edmund. “Sonnet LXXXIX: Men Call You Fair.” Amoretti, Amorettifoundation.org, n.d., amorettifoundation.org/amoretti-lxxxix-men-call-you-fair/.