Question- Explain with reference to the context any four of the following passages.

Answer -

1.

Like as a huntsman after weary chase, seeing the game from him escap'd away, sets down to rest him in some shady place with panting bounds beguiled of their prey:

Reference: These lines have been extract from the Edmund Spenser "Like as a Huntsman" from Amoretti sonnet LXVII. Edmund Spenser wrote the Amoretti ostensibly to woo Elizabeth Boyle it is written inform of Shakespearean sonnet or English sonnet.

Context: Amoretti reflect his poetic ideologies, such as his love of classicism and the platonic underpinning of his world view. The poet compares the love to a hunter pursuing a clear unsuccessfully.

Explanation: The poem is written in first person. It is an extended simile, comparing the lover to a hunter and the beloved to a doe. And the poet comparing the lover to a hunter pursuing a deer unsuccessfully when the lover hunter sits down to rest, tired from the extended chase, the deer returns to drink at a brook. It portrays a man, a huntsman and a woman as his game. The man has been chasing after and longing this woman and she keeps getting away from him. He is trying to court her and she is not encouraging him, she doesn't want anything to do with the man. He decides to stop and rest ford bit because chasing after his woman is so exhausting emotionally and mentally suddenly he realizes that he has been courting her for along time and he isn't going to win the women's affections and resigns himself to giving up on his courtship of her.love.

Notes:

(1) Hunting is used as a metaphor for chasing or looking for
(2) The "game" is the women he is trying to court.
(3) It is English or Shakespearean sonnet.

2.

So after long pursuit and vain assay, when I all weary had the chase forsook, the gentle deer returned the self-same way thinking to quench her first thirst at the next brook.

Reference : As above.

Context : In this para, poet thought again so after long pursuit when I was tired and had given lep or forsaken the game (deer) beloved returned the same way to quench her thirst at the next brook.

Explanation : The lover (hunter) has pursued the (deer) lady for a considerable time now, but all his attempts have been futile and of no avail. His beloved is proud and arrogant and she would not surrender to his desires. The lover gives up the chase having realized the futility of his essay. The word "assay" could also meant that he had attempteds to drink and taste rather prematurely and did not realize the fact that hunting and killing the deer were not appropriate measures. However, she did not return to him specifically but just happened upon him in her search for someone or something else. It only means that he failed to comprehend the true meaning of lover-beloved relationship, their significance and value.

Notes :

(1) Spenser uses word deare instead of deer to allude to the metaphor of the deer actually being a woman that he cares for very much.
(2) When the speaker says "self-same away" he is saying that has never changed but at the same time lightly saying he has.

3.

There she beholding me with milder look, sought not to fly, but fearless still did bide: Till I in hand her yet half trembling took, And with her own goodwill her family tied.

Reference: As above.

Context: In this para, the woman sees that the man is no longer chasing after her. Spenser wrote, suddenly he might not be such a bad suitor. After all he decides to reach out and grab her hard.

Explanation: Beloved then looked at him without fear because she knew he had returned to himself. The same person she once knew. His emotions are stable and he is calm. He shows that it is the woman that is in control as opposed to the man. He reaches out to her nervously because she has been running from him all this time and now she seems to be encouraging and wanting his affections. He appears hopeful that his sentiments will be well received by the woman and at the same time fearful of rejection. But she allows him to court her now and encourages him to love her instead of playing hard to get and running off again. The man then thinks that it seems very odd to see the woman who was so adamantly against him and his affections and who was such a free spirit to be a gentle, meek and mild woman willing to submit to a man. She is trembling from fear that he might go back to trying hard and letting his emotions get in the way but he stays collected and confident.

Notes:

(1) Spenser turns this piece around from the original Petrarch piece here.
(2) It's metaphorical piece written in the late 16th century in England.

4.

Strange thing, me seemed, to see a beast so wild, so goodly won, with her own will be guiled.

Reference: As above.

Context: He concludes in the final timeline couplet, will immortalize rare (beloved) qualities although woman is called "Beast so Wild" so that in the afterlife together we will, she is won over the end.

Explanation: Spenser concludes his poem with rhyming couplet, here he compares his beloved as "Beast so Wild" means it shows as the woman's thought in this para at last, her mind is untamed and cannot be read, but she is won over in the end, despite with her wildness. When the woman comes back and finds that he is no longer chasing her fervently she decides she does want him and they wind up together in the end.

Notes:

(1) Spenser's vision is rare in that in the end, he gets the girl.
(2) Petrarch's version of this Rima.
(3) Used a couplet at the end, also a Spenserian attribute.
(4) The meter of the poem is iambic pentameter.

...Prev | Next...