Lyke As a Ship That Through the Ocean Wyde

Nathaniel Pelley

Prof. Earla Wilputte

English 100:11

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Lyke as a ship that through the Ocean wyde

Sonnet thirty-four of Spenser’s Amoretti he uses the idea of a ship to create an image of a lovers’ Quarrel. Sonnet thirty-four, may describe Spenser’s feelings for Elizabeth Boyle, his wife, in the footnotes of Amoretti (Note 1, 651).

In the first quatrain, Spenser introduces the image that will carry through the sonnet. He begins the sonnet with an epic simile in the first line “Lyke as a ship that through the Ocean wyde” (Spenser, 652). Using both “like” and “as”, he introduces the ship that will be compared to something else, thus, showing that there will be a comparison throughout the sonnet. The quatrain continues with mention of a star. This star is described as the “trusty guide”. From the usage of “trusty guide” to describe the star, the connection can be made between guide and star creating the relationship that the star guides the stars navigation. By reading on, one learns that a storm has blocked this trusty guide, causing the ship to “wander far astray” (Spenser, 652). When reading one can sense a lack of emotion, a “just a sonnet” feeling. This quatrain creates an image, but there is no human emotion or connection to completely understand what Spenser is trying to compare at this point.

The second quatrain presents the comparison, introduced in the first quatrain, between the ship and what is to come. Spenser brings in a new image of the ship by presenting the word “I” (Spenser, 652). This word connects the ship to Spenser, meaning that Spenser is the anonymous speaker because when he says “I” (Spenser, 652), he makes the sonnet personal. Previous to this, the reader does not experience a human connection, until the “I” (Spenser, 652) is made present. There is no exact reference that can pin point a speaker in the image created in the first quatrain that one identifies in the second. Spenser brings in this new character as a comparison to the ship. For example “ship” is a metaphor for “he” and “I” (Spenser, 652). With the start of the quatrain Spenser is no longer talking about “just a ship”, he is now referring to himself as speaker. Getting further into the second quatrain one comes to understand that the star is a woman because instead of referring to a star, Spenser starts talking about a “her” (Spenser, 652). The phrase “wont with her bright ray” (Spenser, 652), explains that Spenser knows this woman and therefore is familiar with her beauty, as indicated in the reference to ‘bright ray’.

After Spenser revealed the woman, by reading on, one discovers that his relationship submersed in a bottomless sea of quarrel. He makes reference to clouds through use of the word ”overcast” (Spenser, 652), meaning that a storm is on its way. This “storm” (Spenser, 652) is a reference to the negativity that is blocking his sight of her beauty. He can’t reach her because of something he has yet to cope with, made apparent by the storm, blocks his way. Spenser also writes that he “wander[s] in darkness” (Spenser, 652). When one is said to “wander” (Spenser, 652), it is assumed that one would be traveling without direction, which could lead to being lost. With the Image(s) “darkness and dismay” one can feel the anticipation and fear of what is to come later in the sonnet.

With the introduction of the speaker the second quatrain evokes emotion. This is done through the diction and the punctuation that helps the reader to feel the emotion in the writing. The first line of the second quatrain is monosyllabic, meaning that it is written using only one syllable words, making it sound longer, as if there is more time passing. It helps to set the mood of something that is continuously, slowly bothering him that he is trying to hide. In the punctuation one notices a break in Spenser’s process of thought, created by the commas, when he says “So I whose star, that wont with her bright ray, me to direct, with cloudes is overcast” (Spenser, 652), Spenser has positive thoughts but then transforms them into negative. This is seen in the clause, “that wont with her bright ray” (Spenser, 652). This clause adds details and creates mood by adding the emotion of comfort by saying that he is comfortable in the presence of her beauty. Spenser uses the word “wont” (Spenser, 652), a word that means “accustomed to” (www.oed.com, result 2), as a way to express his feelings of being accustomed to her bright ray, or her beauty.

The quatrain also reveals a reverse stress, in the sixth line of the sonnet; Spenser writes “me to direct”(Spenser, 652). This reverse stress creates the change from regular iambic pentameter and the stress falls on the first word “me” (Spenser, 652), thus putting an emphasis on the word “me” (Spenser, 652) that makes the speaker a more prominent presence. By putting an emphasis on the word “me” (Spenser, 652) it gives the speaker a more prominent presence because now Spenser is bring himself into the writing on a personal level because Spenser is reveling his private feeling towards the “her” (Spenser, 652). As one gets further into the second quatrain, one sees the second appearance of the word “wanders” (Spenser, 652). The first time the reader is exposed to “wanders” (Spenser, 652) is in the first quatrain. Wherein Spenser writes how the disappearance of the bright star has caused the ship to “wander far astray” (Spenser, 652); in its second appearance in the second quatrain, Spenser brings himself into the picture, he writes how he is wandering far astray (Spenser, 652) and also admits that it is he who is lost in “darkness and dismay”(Spenser, 652).

After introducing the image of the ship and himself, a representation of the star is presented in the third quatrain. Spenser talks about “a” woman when he refers to the star as a her. This woman is not necessarily “his” woman, but from what one comes to understand, one can make the connection that the woman he writes about is connected to his allusion to Ursula Major. When Spenser writes “Helice the lodestar of my lyfe” (Spenser, 652), he alludes to Ursula Major, a constellation that is connected to the North Star. Spenser refers to the North Star when he writes how he is being guided by a star, his “trusty guide” (Spenser, 652) because it’s the brightest star that one can see in the night sky and so efficiently good for navigation in his day and age. Also, Spenser makes a reference to this constellation in The Faerie Queene when he mentions the “northern wagoner” :“By this the northern wagoner had set” (Spenser, Canto 2, line 1, 584).

Alliteration is a term that is used to identify a scenario where when one is writing they constantly make use of a certain sound. For example the usage of “lovely light” (Spenser, 652) or “Helice the Lodestar of my lyfe” (Spenser, 652) that Spenser uses in Amoretti to make that constant “L” sound. This sound shows Spenser’s hesitation to express love, because of the “storm” (Spenser, 652) that has arisen between ship and star, and the love quarrel that is symbolized by Spenser’s wording of “storme” (Spenser, 652) between man and woman. Although Spenser writes “Yet hope I well, that when this storme is past” (Spenser, 652) giving the reader a sense of hope. Hope, that the storm, that is referenced to the quarrel between speaker and woman, passes. This quarrel between man and woman can be interpreted to be Spenser and Elizabeth Boyle. This interpretation can be made because of the title Amoretti, meaning “little loves” (Note 1, 651)or love poems. The editor of The Broadview Anthology of British Literature says that the sonnets in Amoretti are “generally read as a description of Spenser’s courtship of and marriage to Elizabeth Boyle” (Note 1, 651),thus connecting star to woman; woman to Elizabeth and ship to man; man to Spenser .

In quatrain three Spenser uses words like “cloudes” (line 6, 652), “overcaste” (line 6, 652), and “storme” (lines 3 & 9, 652), to make the separation of the ship from the “star”, the “trusty guide” (Spenser, 652) conscious to the reader. If “ship” (Spenser, 652) is the speaker, who is Spenser, and “star” (Spenser, 652) is woman, who is possibly Elizabeth Boyle, one can make a connection that the storm is the ‘block’ that is preventing Spenser from expressing his infatuation. This ‘block’ is what Spenser wishes to pass because this storm is creating his “dismay” (Spenser, 652).

Just like the usage of words to make an image, Spenser uses monosyllabic words to create a feeling. The usage of many monosyllabic words creates the feeling that time is slowly passing. This often occurs when Spenser is talk about her, the star and Elizabeth Boyle, when he refers to himself he uses longer words. By this he is revealing his emotions, but when talking about her it is quick because he doesn’t understand or know her feelings. He describes his emotions as “cloudy grief” (Spenser, 652), this makes a reference back to “storme” (Spenser, 652), in description of his own feelings. The hope Spenser has at the beginning of the quatrain is diminished when he reminds himself of grief and becomes sad. When talking about her, the star as well as E. Boyle, he hopes she will “look on me at last”. His hope for her is expressed in one syllable words, without fully going into depth; he starts a new thought, but is reminded of grief or emotional pain that is caused by the quarrel.

Just like in the third quatrain, the couplet creates a sense of feeling in the reader. This couplet is where the last reference to “wander” appears, this time it is in future tense. Whereas in quatrain two it is written in present and the image in quatrain one is making reference to something that has already happened. Spenser feels lost without her, wandering away from her beauty, was comforted by “her bright ray” (Spenser, 652), but is now left to be “carefull” (Spenser, 652) and “comfortlesse” (Spenser, 652). As the reader continues, they pick up on more alliteration from the constant use of the ‘s’ sound. One notices the sound when they read “in secret sorrow and sad pensivenesse” (Spenser, 652). The ‘s’ sound reminds the reader of sadness and sighs, and creates tone of misery along with negative thoughts at the end of the poem.

Sonnet 34 is a metaphoric creation written by Spenser to express his love for Elizabeth boyle. He created the many images of peril that a ship was sailing going through. Storm at sea is a metaphor for the speaker’s trouble in a relationship. Spenser uses different elements of syle to create an internal monologue going from the initial metaphor of a ship lost at sea into a description of his conealed feelings.

By referring to Boyle as Ursula Major the constellation that is connected to the North Star.

http://www.oed.com/

Sonnet thirty-four is a Spenserian sonnet; it follows Spenserian sonnet rhyme scheme and is written in standard iambic pentameter with a few exceptions.

Elizabeth Boyle is the woman that Spenser had married in the previous year, 1594 (Spenser, 651)