Spenser's Love Poetry in an Irish Context

Introduction

The module, written by literary scholar Thomas Herron, places excerpts from the poetic work Amoretti and Epithalamion (London 1595) by the English poet Edmund Spenser (1554-1599) in the context of the Kilcolman Castle Virtual Reality tour. Spenser's volume of poems narrates his courtship and marriage to an Englishwoman, Elizabeth Boyle, who will come live with him and be his love at Kilcolman. In the selection of sonnets found here, Spenser pines for and celebrates aspects of his beloved Elizabeth, as a lovelorn renaissance poet was expected to do. Ultimately, the speaker worships Elizabeth’s “saintly” characteristics and admires her soul as a fellow Protestant (presumably) who will be joined forever to him in holy matrimony. The poems are about more than the spiritual fulfillment and happiness of two people, however. To marry her, we understand, will not only secure the couple's physical and spiritual happiness, but it will attest to the worldly and artistic success of the poet himself at Kilcolman Castle, the place where the couple made their new home. The couple’s colonial identity as ‘New English’ planters on the Munster Plantation is reflected in various facets of the castle presented here.

Further discussion, information, and instructions on the module are found on the opening page of the VR module (linked below) as well as in the documents “Spenser’s Love Poetry in an Irish Context: Introduction, Analysis, and Further Context”, “Outline”, and “Bibliography” (all linked below). 

To learn more about Spenser’s colonial situation in Ireland, see the companion website to this teaching module: Centering Spenser: a digital resource for Kilcolman Castle.