We have a textbook of poems and short stories, one of which is Edmund Spenser's formerly said poem. I was thinking of doing that for our research paper/presentation. I was wondering about the spelling.
Here it is:
"One day I wrote her name upon the strand;
But came the waves, and washed it away:
Agayne, I wrote it with a second hand;
But came the tyde, and made my paynes his pray.
Vayne man, sayd she, that doest in vaine assay
A mortall thing so to immortalize;
For I my selve shall lyke to this decay,
And eke my named bee wyped out lykewize.
Not so, quod I; let baser things devize
To dy in dust, but you shall eternize,
And in the hevens wryte your glorious name.
Where, when as death shall all the world subdew,
Our love shall live, and later life renew."
Why does Spenser do this? I don't understand at all. Is there a specific reason? Did he have other poems like this one? Was it intentional or was he just uneducated and the textbook is just keeping it genuine? I don't see why that would be the answer though.
Any ideas/answers?
Here it is:
"One day I wrote her name upon the strand;
But came the waves, and washed it away:
Agayne, I wrote it with a second hand;
But came the tyde, and made my paynes his pray.
Vayne man, sayd she, that doest in vaine assay
A mortall thing so to immortalize;
For I my selve shall lyke to this decay,
And eke my named bee wyped out lykewize.
Not so, quod I; let baser things devize
To dy in dust, but you shall eternize,
And in the hevens wryte your glorious name.
Where, when as death shall all the world subdew,
Our love shall live, and later life renew."
Why does Spenser do this? I don't understand at all. Is there a specific reason? Did he have other poems like this one? Was it intentional or was he just uneducated and the textbook is just keeping it genuine? I don't see why that would be the answer though.
Any ideas/answers?