Edmund Spenser's Amoretti Sonnet Cycle

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Questions and Answers

What is the title of the volume in which Amoretti was first published in 1595?

  • Spenser's Sonnets
  • Amoretti and Sonnets
  • Sonnet Cycles of the 16th Century
  • Amoretti and Epithalamion (correct)

Who published Amoretti in 1595?

  • William Ponsonby (correct)
  • Torquato Tasso
  • Petrarch
  • Edmund Spenser

In which year did Edmund Spenser marry Elizabeth Boyle?

  • 1594 (correct)
  • 1595
  • 1593
  • 1596

What is the title of the poem that celebrates Spenser's marriage?

<p>Epithalamion (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How many complete copies of Amoretti and Epithalamion remain today?

<p>Six (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the name of the scholar who considered Spenser's sonnets to be inferior?

<p>C.S. Lewis (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the name of the epic allegorical masterpiece written by Edmund Spenser?

<p>The Faerie Queene (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

In which library is one of the remaining complete copies of Amoretti and Epithalamion stored?

<p>Folger Shakespeare Library (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How many sonnets are included in the sequence of Amoretti?

<p>89 (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the name of the tradition from which Amoretti draws heavily?

<p>Petrarchan tradition (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What period does Sonnets 76-89 correspond to?

<p>May 3 - May 17 (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which feast day does Sonnet 82 correspond to?

<p>The feast of the Ascension (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the dominant emotion expressed in the sonnets preceding Pentecost?

<p>Painful and anxious sense of expectation (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How does Spenser adapt Petrarchan models?

<p>By using them to connect to scripture themes and imagery (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the characteristic of Spenser's use of Petrarchan paradox?

<p>Blurring of distinctions within the paradox (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the ultimate preoccupation and goal of Amoretti?

<p>The achievement of poetic harmony (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How does Spenser's work differ from other Renaissance sonneteers?

<p>It focuses on the reconciliation and harmony of love (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the result of examining the underlying structure of the sequence and its religious parallels?

<p>A richer appreciation of Amoretti's complexity (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of Spenser's use of scriptural loci?

<p>It creates a poetic and personal harmony (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Why is Spenser considered one of the most important sixteenth-century sonneteers?

<p>Because he adapted Petrarchan models to create connections to scripture (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is a common feature of traditional Petrarchan love poetry?

<p>The speaker's love is often already married (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic of Spenser's Amoretti that differs from traditional Petrarchan love poetry?

<p>The speaker's love is dedicated to a woman he can honorably win (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the outcome of the love affair between Spenser and Elizabeth Boyle?

<p>The love affair ends in a public marriage (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of the scriptural readings prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer in relation to Spenser's Amoretti?

<p>The readings provide a source of inspiration for the themes and imagery of the sonnets (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the exception in the sequence of correspondences between Spenser's sonnets and the daily scripture readings?

<p>Sonnets 28-33 do not correspond to the scripture readings (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the likely explanation for the lack of correspondence between Sonnets 28-33 and the daily scripture readings?

<p>Spenser was traveling and had no access to scriptural resources (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of Sonnet 53 in relation to the sequence of correspondences?

<p>It is an exception to the sequence of correspondences, and suggests travel through its explicit descriptions of absence (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How does Spenser's Amoretti resolve the conflict between spiritual and physical love?

<p>By finding a way to reconcile spiritual and physical love in a harmonious union (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of the number of sonnets in Spenser's Amoretti?

<p>The 89 sonnets correspond to the scriptural readings prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer for specific dates in 1594 (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the characteristic of the love situation in traditional Petrarchan love poetry that Spenser revises in his Amoretti?

<p>The love situation is fraught with egotism, conflict, and continual transformations (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

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Study Notes

Amoretti by Edmund Spenser

  • Amoretti is a sonnet cycle written by Edmund Spenser in the 16th century, describing his courtship and marriage to Elizabeth Boyle.
  • The cycle was first published in 1595 in London by William Ponsonby as part of a volume entitled Amoretti and Epithalamion.
  • The volume included 89 sonnets, along with a series of short poems called Anacreontics and Epithalamion, a public poetic celebration of marriage.
  • Only six complete copies of the original publication remain today.

Theme and Structure

  • The sonnets chronicle the progress of Spenser's love for Elizabeth Boyle and record his marriage to her.
  • Spenser innovatively dedicates the entire sequence to a woman he could honorably win, breaking with conventional love poetry.

Petrarchan Tradition and Influence

  • The sonnets draw heavily on authors of the Petrarchan tradition, including Torquato Tasso and Petrarch himself.
  • Spenser uses established topoi and conceits, but also revises the tradition by moving away from the constant transformation and self-absorption of the Petrarchan love situation.
  • He represents the Protestant conception of marriage, celebrating it as a sanctuary in which two people can find peace and rest in a mutual love covenant.

Scriptural Influences

  • The 89 sonnets were written to correspond with scriptural readings prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer for specific dates in 1594.
  • Spenser generally made use of daily psalms or New Testament readings, often drawing upon the Gospel or Epistle for Sundays or feast days.
  • The sequence of correspondences to daily scripture readings is not perfectly consecutive or uninterrupted, with some exceptions.

Unique Features

  • Amoretti breaks with conventional love poetry by dedicating an entire sequence to a woman Spenser could honorably win.
  • The sequence celebrates the Protestant conception of marriage as a sanctuary for mutual love.
  • Spenser's use of Petrarchan models and connections to scripture themes and imagery creates a unique poetic and personal harmony.

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