Sir Edmund Spenser (1552-99)

Spenserian Sonnet

Sonnet with the interlocking rhyme scheme used by Edmund Spenser as follows: abab,bcbc,cdcd,ee. For an example, see "Happy ye leaves, whenas those lily hands".

Spenserian Sonnet Form

describes the Spenserian Sonnet, a sonnet variation developed in the sixteenth century by English poet Edmund Spenser. While few poets have used this form, it serves as a bridge between the Italian sonnet and the form used by Shakespeare.

In a Spenserian sonnet, the rhyme scheme used is ABAB BCBC CDCD EE, and there does not appear to be a requirement that the initial octet sets up a problem which the closing sestet answers. Instead, the form is treated as three quatrains (linked by the connected rhyme scheme described above) followed by a couplet. Again, iambic pentameter is used.

Spenser's sonnet sequence, the Amoretti, fittingly was published along with his Epithalamion, a poem written in honor of his wedding to Elizabeth Boyle. Whether his sonnets were written for her is an unanswerable question--as they focus on the ebbing and flowing of a romance: first the lover gains his love, then he loses her.

Here's what you should know about Spenser's sonnets:

• He used the sonnet sequence to tell the story of the ups and downs of a romance.
• He often used Petrarchan conceits but also utilitzed elements from his personal life; thus, the sonnets are not merely Petrarchan exercises but a means of personal revelation.
• His usual rhyme scheme was abab bcbc cdcd ee (the Spenserian form).
• He deliberately used archaic spellings, yet the meaning is crystal clear in most cases: the syntax and expressions are unusually modern at times.
• He also extends his themes beyond contemplation of the beloved to matters of religion and the immortality of writing/poetry.
• His sonnets blend the spiritual and the physical.
• He is fond of using a catalogue of the beloved's virtues (See Sonnets XV and LXIV).