Sonnet 54
Edmund Spenser
 A Cambridge graduate (with an
M.A.), Spenser lived under
Elizabeth I’s rule. He wrote The
Faerie Queene in her honor, but it
failed to garnish political favor as
Spenser held unpopular political
views. This remains his most
famous work, however.
Edmund Spenser
1552 - 1599
 Sent to Ireland to hold English
property, Spenser met and courted
Elizabeth Boyle for a year. His suit
is documented in his sonnet series,
Amoretti.
 He is considered the foremost
English poet of the 16th century, a
man who was considered the most
celebrated poet writing in English.
William Camden recorded that
many poets threw poems and
quills into Spenser’s grave at his
funeral, but when his tomb was
searched in 1930, nothing was
found.
Context
This sonnet is number 54 in the
Amoretti, a sequence of eighty-nine
sonnets that detail Spenser’s wooing
of Elizabeth Boyle. In this sonnet,
Spenser uses the theatre to describe
his situation. He is the actor who
plays various parts, and she is the
unmoved spectator.
Elizabeth Boyle
Structure
 This sonnet is a conceit that
compares the speaker’s actions to
that of the theatre.
 This Spenserian sonnet contains
an octave and a sestet with the
last two lines forming a couplet.
 The first four lines of the octave
introduce the metaphor. Rather
than a volta in line five, Spenser
chooses to continue the above
logic into his next four lines. The
rhyme scheme (ABABBCBC
CDCDEE) in the first octave
allows the continuance of logical
thought through the linked
rhyme.
 The concluding sestet turns on a
volta at line 9, which introduces
Elizabeth’s reactions.
 The resolution to his problem
appears in the final couplet when
he rejects her.
 Unlike a Shakespearean of
Petrarchan sonnet, this
Spenserian sonnet poses no
paradox.
Sonnet 54
Of this world’s theatre in which we stay,
My love like the spectator idly sits,
Beholding me, that all the pageants play,
Disguising diversly my troubled wits.
Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits,
And mask in mirth like to a comedy:
Soon after, when my joy to sorrow flits,
I wail, and make my woes a tragedy.
Yet she, beholding me with constant eye,
Delights not in my mirth nor rues my smart:
But when I laugh she mocks, and when I cry
She laughs, and hardens evermore her heart.
What then can move her? if nor mirth nor moan,
She is no woman, but a senseless stone.
The “theatre is a
metaphor for life.
Simile
establishes
his love as
the
spectator.
Conceit begins my explaining
that the speaker’s “love” is the
spectator of his performance.
The first line may be an
allusion to Shakespeare’s line,
“All the world’s a stage, and all
the men and women merely
players.”
Of this world’s theatre in which we stay,
My love like the spectator idly sits,
Beholding me, that all the pageants play,
Disguising diversly my troubled wits.
Alliteration of “p” and
“d” sounds stress his
frustration at trying
to win her.
Pageants were a
short, dramatic
parade of scenes.
Alliteration of “m” sounds reveal his pretense at
happiness. The alliterative “w” stresses his grief.
He moves from hiding
his true feelings with
laughter to portraying
sorrow.
Sometimes I joy when glad occasion fits,
And mask in mirth like to a comedy:
Soon after, when my joy to sorrow flits,
I wail, and make my woes a tragedy.
Caesuras mark how quickly he can move from one emotion
to the next. He tries comedy and then tragedy, but she
remains unmoved.
Repetition of “when I”
compounds the woman’s
rejection of him.
Caesura’s stress her emotional
reactions to his ministrations.
Yet she, beholding me with constant eye,
Delights not in my mirth nor rues my smart:
But when I laugh she mocks, and when I cry
She laughs, and hardens evermore her heart.
Her
responses
are the
opposite of
what he
expects.
Imagery is used to portray the woman as a hard, unyielding material that resists his attempts to win her.
What then can move her? if nor mirth nor moan,
She is no woman, but a senseless stone.
This metaphor stresses how unmoved Elizabeth is by
his actions. The sibilance reinforces the speaker’s
frustration so that he is practically hissing at her lack of
attraction.
Alliteration of “m” sound
stresses his frustration.
Elizabeth was not eager to
align herself with a widower
who was twice her age.
After one year of wooing,
however, she married him.
Theme
Regardless of the man’s attempts to win the woman’s affection, his love remains
unrequited.
Tone
The speaker’s tone is fairly frustrated throughout the poem as his reactions express his
doubt that he can move her. The final couplet, however, reveals a tone of bitterness.
Works Cited
http://blog.oup.com/2012/06/10-facts-and-conjectures-about-edmund-spenser/
http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-can-make-critical-commentary-sonnet-54-edmund-169465
http://www.gradesaver.com/author/edmund-spenser/
http://rainbowliterature.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/sonnet-54-edmund-spenser/
http://voices.yahoo.com/analysis-edmund-spensers-amoretti-sonnet-54-7530288.html