By Edmund Spenser
Joy of my life, full oft for loving you
I bless my lot, that was so lucky placed:
But then the more your own mishap I rue,
That are so much by so mean love embased.
For had the equal heavens so much you graced
In this as in the rest, ye might invent
Some heavenly wit, whose verse could have enchased
Your glorious name in golden monument.
But since ye deign’d so goodly to relent
To me your thrall, in whom is little worth,
That little that I am shall all be spent
In setting your immortal praises forth;
Whose lofty argument uplifting me
Shall lift you up unto an high degree.
Poet Bio
Edmund Spenser was a master of the English language and is considered one of its preeminent poets. Born in London in the sixteenth century, he wrote his classic epic poem, The Faerie Queen, in honor of Queen Elizabeth I and in celebration of the Tudor dynasty. Among his many contributions to English literature, he is the originator and namesake of the Spenserian stanza and Spenserian sonnet.
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