Poetry Codex

Tudor & Elizabethan

Edmund Spenser

1552–1599

Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for his epic ‘The Faerie Queene,’ but he also wrote a substantial body of shorter verse, including the pastoral ‘Shepheardes Calender,’ the sonnet sequence ‘Amoretti,’ and the wedding hymns ‘Epithalamion’ and ‘Prothalamion.’

He spent much of his career in Ireland as a colonial administrator, and his poetry stands at the centre of English Renaissance literature.

Major Works (2)

  1. The Faerie Queene — Epic poem, 1590–1596
  2. The Shepheard’s Calender — Pastoral poem, 1579

Poems (128)

  1. Whilst it is prime
  2. A Ditty
  3. Prothalamion
  4. Epithalamion
  5. Easter
  6. Amoretti: Sonnet I
  7. Amoretti: Sonnet II
  8. Amoretti: Sonnet III
  9. Amoretti: Sonnet IV
  10. Amoretti: Sonnet V
  11. Amoretti: Sonnet VI
  12. Amoretti: Sonnet VII
  13. Amoretti: Sonnet VIII
  14. Amoretti: Sonnet IX
  15. Amoretti: Sonnet X
  16. Amoretti: Sonnet XI
  17. Amoretti: Sonnet XII
  18. Amoretti: Sonnet XIII
  19. Amoretti: Sonnet XIV
  20. Amoretti: Sonnet XV
  21. Amoretti: Sonnet XVI
  22. Amoretti: Sonnet XVII
  23. Amoretti: Sonnet XVIII
  24. Amoretti: Sonnet XIX
  25. Amoretti: Sonnet XX
  26. Amoretti: Sonnet XXI
  27. Amoretti: Sonnet XXII
  28. Amoretti: Sonnet XXIII
  29. Amoretti: Sonnet XXIV
  30. Amoretti: Sonnet XXV
  31. Amoretti: Sonnet XXVI
  32. Amoretti: Sonnet XXVII
  33. Amoretti: Sonnet XXVIII
  34. Amoretti: Sonnet XXIX
  35. Amoretti: Sonnet XXX
  36. Amoretti: Sonnet XXXI
  37. Amoretti: Sonnet XXXII
  38. Amoretti: Sonnet XXXIII
  39. Amoretti: Sonnet XXXIV
  40. Amoretti: Sonnet XXXV
  41. Amoretti: Sonnet XXXVI
  42. Amoretti: Sonnet XXXVII
  43. Amoretti: Sonnet XXXVIII
  44. Amoretti: Sonnet XXXIX
  45. Amoretti: Sonnet XL
  46. Amoretti: Sonnet XLI
  47. Amoretti: Sonnet XLII
  48. Amoretti: Sonnet XLIII
  49. Amoretti: Sonnet XLIV
  50. Amoretti: Sonnet XLV
  51. Amoretti: Sonnet XLVI
  52. Amoretti: Sonnet XLVII
  53. Amoretti: Sonnet XLVIII
  54. Amoretti: Sonnet XLIX
  55. Amoretti: Sonnet L
  56. Amoretti: Sonnet LI
  57. Amoretti: Sonnet LII
  58. Amoretti: Sonnet LIII
  59. Amoretti: Sonnet LIV
  60. Amoretti: Sonnet LV
  61. Amoretti: Sonnet LVI
  62. Amoretti: Sonnet LVII
  63. Amoretti: Sonnet LVIII
  64. Amoretti: Sonnet LIX
  65. Amoretti: Sonnet LX
  66. Amoretti: Sonnet LXI
  67. Amoretti: Sonnet LXII
  68. Amoretti: Sonnet LXIII
  69. Amoretti: Sonnet LXIV
  70. Amoretti: Sonnet LXV
  71. Amoretti: Sonnet LXVI
  72. Amoretti: Sonnet LXVII
  73. Amoretti: Sonnet LXVIII
  74. Amoretti: Sonnet LXIX
  75. Amoretti: Sonnet LXX
  76. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXI
  77. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXII
  78. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXIII
  79. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXIV
  80. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXV
  81. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXVI
  82. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXVII
  83. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXVIII
  84. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXIX
  85. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXX
  86. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXXI
  87. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXXII
  88. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXXIII
  89. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXXIV
  90. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXXV
  91. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXXVI
  92. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXXVII
  93. Amoretti: Sonnet LXXXVIII
  94. The Ruines of Time
  95. The Teares of the Muses
  96. Mother Hubberds Tale
  97. Muiopotmos: or the Fate of the Butterflie
  98. Visions of the Worlds Vanitie: I
  99. Visions of the Worlds Vanitie: II
  100. Visions of the Worlds Vanitie: III
  101. Visions of the Worlds Vanitie: IV
  102. Visions of the Worlds Vanitie: V
  103. Visions of the Worlds Vanitie: VI
  104. Visions of the Worlds Vanitie: VII
  105. Visions of the Worlds Vanitie: VIII
  106. Visions of the Worlds Vanitie: IX
  107. Visions of the Worlds Vanitie: X
  108. Visions of the Worlds Vanitie: XI
  109. Visions of the Worlds Vanitie: XII
  110. Daphnaida: An Elegie
  111. An Hymne in Honour of Love
  112. An Hymne in Honour of Beautie
  113. An Hymne of Heavenly Love
  114. An Hymne of Heavenly Beautie
  115. In youth, before I waxed old
  116. As Diane hunted on a day
  117. I saw, in secret to my dame
  118. Upon a day, as Love lay sweetly slumbring
  119. To the right worshipfull, my singular good frend, M. Gabriell Harvey, Doctor of the Lawes
  120. Whoso wil seeke, by right deserts, t’attaine
  121. Upon the Historie of George Castriot, alias Scanderbeg, King of the Epirots, translated into English
  122. The antique Babel, empresse of the East
  123. Envoy to the Ruines of Rome
  124. Hobbinol's Ditty in praise of Eliza, Queen of the Shepherds
  125. Perigot and Cuddy's Roundelay
  126. Colin Clout's mournful Ditty for the death of Astrophel
  127. Love's Embassy, in an Iambic Elegy
  128. Virgils Gnat

See Edmund Spenser in the full archive →