EDMUND SPENSER
I was called “The poet’s poet”. I was born
in the 16th century in 1552 in London. My father was a penniless tailor, a
contributor that helped me to get a suitable education in one of the grammar
schools of the capital. I also was a partially free student when I was at
Cambridge. At an early age, I began to write my first well-known volume known
as The
Shepherd’s Calendar in 1579. Three years later, I left Cambridge and I
started to live in Northern England where I fell in love with a girl I named
Rosalind but her real name was Rosa.
Later on, I returned to London in order to
meet Sir Philip Sydney, whose father was a Lord commissionar. In those times,
it was extremely necesary to have influencial friends to survive. Even though
the invention of printing was able to produce books at a low cost, the number
of people who admired my art was very limited at that epoch. Then in 1580, I
was appointed secretary to Lord Arthur in Ireland where many catholic revolts
took place during Lord Grey’s attempt of pacification. In the meantime, I wrote
one of the most powerful books entitled Faery Queen since
Chaucer and I got married to Elizabeth Boyle whose I had four children. In that
time, my collection of poems were published for the first time in London.
During the following years, I published a
good number of literary works. However, in 1597 I had to escape from the city
with my wife and children to England because my castle was burned. Finally, I
died in poverty and miserable on January 1599. I was buried in Westminster
Abbey near to my mentor Chaucer.
