""Not so", quoth i; let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame;
My verse your virtues rare shall eternise,
And in the heavens write your glorious name,"
This excerpt is extracted from sonnet 75 by Edmund Spenser. This is a typical Elizabethan sonnet that deals with the emotional affliction of the poet and his pride in his verse. It belongs to a cycle, a collection of poems that are narrative and that have the same subject or linked together, that is called Amoretti. Spenser is one of the most experimental poets in the sixteenth century England, whose reputation is mainly based on his romantic epic, Faerie Queene. His experimental-ism and innovation are exhibited here in dealing with the theme of the eternizing power of verse through the use of imagery, rhyme scheme, and diction.
First, the poet skillfully utilizes imagery to stress the validity of the persona's scheme to immortalise his beloved through his verse, i.e."my verse your virtues rare shall eternise", and "in the heavens write your glorious name". In fact, the persona wants to evolve her beloved spiritually and immortalize her through the power of his verse and it's immortality. In the same metaphor, he underscores the rarity of her virtues which indicates that she is realistic or down-to-earth. Then the first metaphor is extended to the following line and the poet claims the power of his verse to transfigure his beloved to a heavenly being by writing her name.
Furthermore, the poet subtly uses juxtaposition and the personal pronouns to shed light on the power of his verse, and also the strength of his argument. He juxtaposes mortality with immortality, hedonism with spirituality. First, he refutes his beloved skeptical logic in the immortality by first asserting the mortality of the " baser things", then distinguishing her from these things that are object to" die in dust", and finally resolving to the power of his poetry in eternizing her, " let baser things devise/ To die in dust, but shall live by fame;/ My verse your virtues rare shall eternise". Thus, what the poet seeks is to immortalize the spiritual beauty not the physical and establish authority to his verse. The use of the personal pronouns also contributes to the same pride the poet wants to display in his verse, i.e."quoth I", "My verse".
Creatively and innovating, Edmund Spenser deftly manipulates a special rhyme scheme that demonstrate his mastery of English poetry. It follows this pattern , Abba, bcbc, cdcd, ee. The compliance of the rhyme scheme to the logical development of the poem, the first attempt of the poet upon "the strand", the beloved doubts and realizations, then the statement of his viewpoint clearlt in this passage. In fact, it gives a sense of continuity to the main line of action in the poem through this interlocking between the different stanzas.Moreover, he makes use of the inversion for the sake of the rhyme scheme, namely the verb " eternise" is positioned at the end of the line, " My Verse your virtue shall eternise".
In conclusion, Spenser resolves the common Renaissance paradox that baffled many intellectuals and poets in this passage, namely, the mortality of our beings. Spenser figures out the clue in his determination to immortalize the spiritual beauty of his beloved through his verse, which means that " virtues" and man's work can render humans immortality. In short, Spenser reflects his age in every aspect of his sonnet. According to Colin Burrow, Spenser's " interest in the power and immortality of verse" are the most " distinctive Renaissance aspects, since, it is often thought the key element in Renaissance attitudes is a sense of power and dignity of the poet."
