Audiobook1 hour
Amoretti: A sonnet sequence
Written by Edmund Spenser
Narrated by LibriVox Community
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this audiobook
The Amoretti (meaning little love poems) is a sequence of 89 sonnets written in the tradition of the Petrarchan sonnets, a popular form for poets of the Renaissance period. Spenser’s sequence has been largely neglected in modern times, while those of his contemporaries William Shakespeare and Sir Philip Sidney have been acclaimed. However, because of the artistic skill, along with the emotion and the humor exhibited, these poems deserve a broader hearing, even though they may be somewhat difficult for the present-day reader, partly through Spenser’s love for words and expressions that were already archaic in his time.
Amoretti, written throughout the year 1594 and published the following year, violates at least one of the conventional elements of the Renaissance sonnet sequences. Other poets, including Petrarch and Sidney, chose as the inspiration for their sonnets a woman who was inaccessible to the poet, sometimes even married to someone else. They idealized this woman, seeming to be extravagantly suffering because of their passionate admiration, while in real life they might hardly know the lady and had no real interest in an actual love affair. Spenser, however, dedicated his verses to a woman that he actually loved and sought, Elizabeth Boyle, whom he then married.
Also the sonnet series by other poets were usually despairing of any fruition in regard to the lady, and Spenser certainly does show much frustration himself in his efforts to achieve a closer relationship with his love; but as the series progresses, he gradually sees improvement in the success of his wooing, as his actual wedding nears. The poems feature elaborate imagery, loaded with metaphorical situations, saying much the same thing repeatedly in a wide variety of ways, with much clever creativity, sometimes impressive and sometimes a bit awkward. There is a rich vein of humor running through the whole sequence, often through mock passion, and there is even a bit of sensuality in some of the later sonnets. The better poems are often sharp and crystalline, sparkling in their freshness and originality. (Introduction by Leonard Wilson)
Amoretti, written throughout the year 1594 and published the following year, violates at least one of the conventional elements of the Renaissance sonnet sequences. Other poets, including Petrarch and Sidney, chose as the inspiration for their sonnets a woman who was inaccessible to the poet, sometimes even married to someone else. They idealized this woman, seeming to be extravagantly suffering because of their passionate admiration, while in real life they might hardly know the lady and had no real interest in an actual love affair. Spenser, however, dedicated his verses to a woman that he actually loved and sought, Elizabeth Boyle, whom he then married.
Also the sonnet series by other poets were usually despairing of any fruition in regard to the lady, and Spenser certainly does show much frustration himself in his efforts to achieve a closer relationship with his love; but as the series progresses, he gradually sees improvement in the success of his wooing, as his actual wedding nears. The poems feature elaborate imagery, loaded with metaphorical situations, saying much the same thing repeatedly in a wide variety of ways, with much clever creativity, sometimes impressive and sometimes a bit awkward. There is a rich vein of humor running through the whole sequence, often through mock passion, and there is even a bit of sensuality in some of the later sonnets. The better poems are often sharp and crystalline, sparkling in their freshness and originality. (Introduction by Leonard Wilson)
Author
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599) was an English poet considered to be one of the greatest poets in the English language. While Spenser would published more than a dozen works in his lifetime he is best known for his epic poem, The Faerie Queene. Dedicated to Queen Elizabeth I, the book is both one of the longest poems and most influential in the English language.
More audiobooks from Edmund Spenser
Faerie Queene Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Faerie Queene Book 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStories From The Faerie Queene Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry of Edmund Spenser Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book I (Unabridged) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Faerie Queene Book 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Amoretti
Related audiobooks
Dome of Many-Coloured Glass Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMen, Women and Ghosts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBoat Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPeaches Goes It Alone: Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChinese Poetry in English Verse (????) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGods are Athirst Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShakespeare's Sonnets, 1st Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Camp Austen: My Life as an Accidental Jane Austen Superfan Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll of Us: The Collected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parallel Movement of the Hands: Five Unfinished Longer Works Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shakespeare: Ten Great Comedies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Alastor: Or the Spirit of Solitude And Other Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLetters to a Young Poet: With the Letters to Rilke from the "Young Poet" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love And Friendship & Other Early Works Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeceit: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How and Why a Poem Works: Delving Beneath the Surface of Poetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOthello Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eliza Hamilton: The Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dear Elizabeth: A Play in Letters from Elizabeth Bishop to Robert Lowell and Back Again Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Classic Fifty Poems Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Elizabeth Bishop: A Very Short Introduction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, Raven Edition, Volume 1 Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Thomas Hardy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Letters of Jane Austen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Julius Caesar Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Merchant of Venice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tragedy of Arthur Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Humor & Satire For You
Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living with Guts and Confidence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Young Doctor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nobody Wants Your Sh*t: The Art of Decluttering Before You Die Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tidy the F*ck Up: The American Art of Organizing Your Sh*t Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love and Other Words Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxious People: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Big Swiss: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Soulmate Equation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Stay Married Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Can't Joke About That: Why Everything Is Funny, Nothing Is Sacred, and We’re All in This Together Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sh*t My Dad Says Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to be Alone: If You Want to, and Even If You Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Humans: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shopgirl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Really Good, Actually: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Three Wishes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Is this Anything? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Harold Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spoiler Alert: You're Gonna Die: Unveiling Death One Question at a Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Jane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Britt-Marie Was Here: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scrappy Little Nobody Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Amoretti
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews