Значение слова SPENSER в Литературной энциклопедии

SPENSER

EDMUND (1552?-1599).-Poet, was _b._ in East Smithfield, London, the _s._ of John S., described as gentleman and journeyman in the art of cloth-making, who had come to London from Lancashire. In 1561 the poet was sent to Merchant Taylor's School, then newly opened, and in 1569 he proceeded to Pembroke Hall, Camb., as a sizar, taking his degree in 1576. Among his friends there were Edward Kirke, who ed. the _Shepheard's Calendar_, and Gabriel Harvey, the critic. While still at school he had contributed 14 sonnet-visions to Van de Noot's _Theatre for Worldlings_ (1569). On leaving the Univ. S. went to the north, probably to visit his relations in Lancashire, and in 1578, through his friend Harvey, he became known to Leicester and his brother-in-law, Philip Sidney. The next year, 1579, saw the publication of _The Shepheard's Calendar_ in 12 eclogues. It was dedicated to Sidney, who had become his friend and patron, and was received with acclamation, all who had ears for poetry perceiving that a new and great singer had arisen. The following year S. was appointed sec. to Lord Grey of Wilton, Deputy for Ireland, a strict Puritan, and accompanied him to Ireland. At the same time he appears to have begun the _Faerie Queen_. In 1581 he was appointed Registrar of Chancery, and received a grant of the Abbey and Castle of Enniscorthy, which was followed in 1586 by a grant of the Castle of Kilcolman in County Cork, a former possession of the Earls of Desmond with 3000 acres attached. Simultaneously, however, a heavy blow fell upon him in the death of Sidney at the Battle of Zutphen. The loss of this dear friend he commemorated in his lament of _Astrophel_. In 1590 he was visited by Sir Walter Raleigh, who persuaded him to come to England, and presented him to the Queen, from whom he received a pension of L50, which does not, however, appear to have been regularly paid, and on the whole his experiences of the Court did not yield him much satisfaction. In the same year his reputation as a poet was vastly augmented by the publication of the first three books of the _Faerie Queen_, dedicated to Elizabeth. The enthusiasm with which they were received led the publisher to bring out a collection of other writings of S. under the general title of _Complaints_, and including _Mother Hubbard's Tale_ (a satire on the Court and on the conflict then being waged between the old faith and the new), _Teares of the Muses_, and _The Ruins of Time_. Having seen these ventures launched, S. returned to Kilcolman and wrote _Colin Clout's come Home Again_, one of the brightest and most vigorous of his poems, not, however, _pub._ until 1595. In the following year appeared his _Four Hymns_, two on _Love and Beauty_ and two on _Heavenly Love and Beauty_, and the _Prothalamion_ on the marriage of two daughters of the Earl of Worcester. He also _pub._ in prose his _View of Ireland_, a work full of shrewd observation and practical statesmanship. In 1594 he was _m._ to Elizabeth Boyle, whom he had courted in _Amoretti_, and his union with whom he now celebrated in the magnificent _Epithalamion_, by many regarded as his most perfect poem. In 1595 he returned to England, taking with him the second part of the _Faerie Queen_, _pub._ in 1596. In 1598 he was made Sheriff of Cork, and in the same year his fortunes suffered a final eclipse. The rebellion of Tyrone broke out, his castle was burned, and in the conflagration his youngest child, an infant, perished, he himself with his wife and remaining children escaping with difficulty. He joined the President, Sir T. Norris, who sent him with despatches to London, where he suddenly _d._ on January 16, 1599, as was long believed in extreme destitution. This, however, happily appears to be at least doubtful. He was buried in Westminster Abbey near Chaucer, and a monument was erected to his memory in 1620 by the Countess of Dorset. The position of S. in English poetry is below Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Milton only. The first far excels him in narrative and constructive power and in humour, and the last in austere grandeur of conception; but for richness and beauty of imagination and exquisite sweetness of music he is unsurpassed except by Shakespeare. He has been called the poets' poet, a title which he well merits, not only by virtue of the homage which all the more imaginative poets have yielded him, but because of the almost unequalled influence he has exercised upon the whole subsequent course and expression of English poetry, which he enriched with the stanza which bears his name, and which none since him have used with more perfect mastery. His faults are prolixity, indirectness, and want of constructive power, and consequently the sustained sweetness and sumptuousness of his verse are apt to cloy. His great work, the _Faerie Queen_, is but a gorgeous fragment, six books out of a projected twelve; but probably few or none of its readers have regretted its incompleteness. In it Protestantism and Puritanism receive their most poetic and imaginative presentation and vindication. SUMMARY.-_B._ 1552, _ed._ Merchant Taylor's School and Camb., became known to Leicester and Sir P. Sidney 1578, _pub._ _Shepheard's Calendar_ 1579, appointed sec. to Lord Deputy of Ireland 1580, and began _Faerie Queen_, receives various appointments and grants 1581-6, _pub._ _Astrophel_ in memory of Sidney 1586, visited by Raleigh and by him presented to Queen Elizabeth, who pensioned him 1590, and in same year _pub._ first three books of _Faerie Queen_, _Teares of Muses_, etc., writes _Colin Clout_, _pub._ 1595, and in 1596 _pub._ _Four Hymns_ and _Prothalamion_, _m._ E. Boyle 1594, whom he had courted in _Amoretti_, and now celebrated in the _Epithalamion_, returned to England 1595, Sheriff of Cork 1598, in which year the rebellion broke out and ruined his fortunes, returned to London and _d._ 1599. There have been very numerous ed. of the works, among which may be mentioned the Globe (1899), and Dr. Grosart's (10 vols., 1882-84). There is an excellent biography by Dean Church (1879).

Литературная энциклопедия. 2012