Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for his invention of the verse form Spenserian stanza, and also the influential epic poem The Faerie Queene, which extolled the values of England and Queen Elizabeth I. The poem provides an enduring model for the epic in English—a lavish, 36,000 line exploration of land, virtue, myth, and ruler. In turn, Elizabeth honored him with a lifetime annuity.

Born in 1552 or 1553 in London to a family of modest means, Edmund Spenser was first educated at Merchant Taylors’ grammar school. He later attended Pembroke College at Cambridge University as a sizar, which meant he received financial aid and in turn performed menial tasks. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1573 and received his Masters in 1576. His education was a key component in the foundation of his writing; his knowledge of Greek and Latin classics and contemporary forms and themes of English, French, and Italian works helped him compose his own original poems which were thematically and structurally complex.

Spenser’s first major work was The Shepheardes Calender and was published in 1579, around the time he married his first wife Machabyas Childe. In the same vein as Virgil’s Eclogues, The Shepheardes Calender is a bucolic depiction of shepherds conversing about love and life throughout the twelve months of the year. Spenser employed the use of archaic language in order to harken back to earlier English poetry, most particularly the work of Geoffrey Chaucer. It is considered one of the first notable works of the English literary renaissance.

In 1580, Spenser worked for the newly appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland, Arthur Grey and moved to Ireland. The political situation in Ireland was often volatile, which led to Spenser accompanying Gray on several dangerous journeys. Spenser’s experience in Ireland inspired him to pen A View of the Present State of Ireland, which would not be formally published until 1633. Spenser advocated for harsh treatment of the Irish and believed the Irish people would never be pacified unless their culture was completely wiped out, and they fully assimilated. He did, however, remain in Ireland and married a local woman of consequence after his first wife died. Spenser acquired land and decided to pursue social status in Ireland, where there was more possibility of upward mobility, rather than in his native England.

The first three volumes of his most famous work, The Faerie Queene, were published in 1590 with the help of Spenser’s neighbor and Queen Elizabeth I’s favorite, Sir Walter Raleigh. In his introductory letter, Spenser described his plan to include twelve volumes, though he only completed six and a partial fragment of a seventh volume. The second three volumes were published in 1596 and were seen as more critical of Queen Elizabeth I and the intense political situations that had developed during her rule. On its surface, The Faerie Queene is a collection of stories about the knights of Gloriana, a fictional queen. The work is steeped in allegory and themes of religious and moral righteousness, especially concerning the struggle between Protestant England and Catholic Spain.

The Faerie Queene is still read and studied today as a significant work in the English literary Renaissance, as well as an important allegorical work depicting the fraught politics of England during the latter half of the 16th century. Spenser’s original stanza form greatly influenced later poets, including the romantics of the late 18th and early 19th century, and was employed by Lord Byron and Percy Blythe Shelley.

Spenser, it’s worth noting, was close friends with the swashbuckling adventure-poet, Sir Walter Raleigh, who was also born in 1552. The poet died at the age of forty-six and is buried in Poets’ Corner, Westminster Abbey.