Hi. I was wondering if anyone could help me sort out the main thematic differences in these poems. The Spenser poem is difficult for me to analyze. Thank you so much.

liz

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Les

Edmund Spenser - Sonnet 75

One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washèd it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay
A mortal thing so to immortalize,
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eek my name be wiped out likewise.
Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name.
Where whenas Death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew.


Yeah, Shakespeare used this them a LOT in his sonnets. I.e. you may die in body, but will live on in my verse. I wonder who stole it from whom.


John Milton : How Soon Hath Time

How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stol'n on his wing my three and twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth,
That I to manhood am arrived so near,
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy spirits endu'th.
Yet be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure even
To that same lot, however mean or high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven;
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great Taskmaster's eye.


But Milton appears to be admonishing himself for tardiness in getting around to serving his God, not the same theme at all, I don't think.

I would say that Spenser is bragging about his talent, and Milton is almost denigrating his.- 'If I can use it for God's purposes, that will be right.'

pam

i have anb essay due about the poem "one day i wrote her name upon the strand" by edmund spenser . the qusetion that needs to be answered is Do you find the speaker's feelings dated or still relevant in "One day i wrote her name upon the strand"? thank you if you can help, even if you can at least i was given a chance to ask a question

One day I wrote her name upon the strand, (strand = sand/beach)
But came the waves and washèd it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey. (his?)
Vain man, said she, that dost in vain assay (said she? not he? assay=try)
A mortal thing so to immortalize!
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eek my name be wiped out likewise. (eek = add?)
Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name;
Where, whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew.

First 'his' is the tide. Then 'she' must be his lady, not the tide. I'm guessing he made the tide masculine to distinguish it from the lady in the next line.

Same theme as that used by Will Shakespeare so often. Things die, but you my love will live on in my poetry. Are the poet's feelings still timely? Of course they are. Look up Spenserian Sonnet for extra credit, and show how that form differs from the Petrarchan and Shakespearean (English) sonnets.

eek = also

Eek, a freak! = also a falso?

what do you think about one day I wrote her name?

what do you think about spenser's sonnet 75?

This thread spends some time discussing it- try clicking on Flat View and read the other posts.

pam