The long love that in my thought doth harbour
And in mine hert doth keep his residence,
Into my face presseth with bold pretence
And therein campeth, spreading his banner.
She that me learneth to love and suffer
And will that my trust and lustës negligence
Be rayned by reason, shame, and reverence,
With his hardiness taketh displeasure.
Wherewithall unto the hert's forest he fleeth,
Leaving his enterprise with pain and cry,
And there him hideth and not appeareth.
What may I do when my master feareth
But in the field with him to live and die?
For good is the life ending faithfully.
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Old Love: Reflections on Edmund Spenser's Amoretti, Sonnet 34
Lyke as a ship that through the Ocean wyde,
By conduct of some star doth make her way,
Whenas a storme hath dimd her trusty guyde,
Out of her course doth wander far astray:
So I whose star, that wont with her bright ray
Me to direct, with cloudes is overcast,
Doe wander now in darknesse and dismay,
Through hidden perils round about me plast*. *(placed)
Yet hope I well, that when this storme is past
My Helice the lodestar* of my lyfe *(guiding star)
Will shine again, and looke on me at last,
With lovely light to cleare my cloudy grief.
Till then I wonder carefull comfortlesse*, *(full of cares)
In secret sorrow and sad pensivenesse.
My ship laden with forgetfulness passes through a harsh sea, at midnight, in winter, between Scylla and Charybdis, and at the tiller sits my lord, rather my enemy;
Each oar is manned by a ready, cruel thought that seems to scorn the tempest and the end; a wet, changeless wind of sighs, hopes, and desires breaks the sail;
A rain of weeping, a mist of disdain wet and loosen the already weary ropes, made of error twisted up in ignorance.
My two usual sweet stars are hidden; dead among the waves are reason and skill; so that I begin to despair of the port
-Petrarch, Rima 189 (a modern prose translation from the original Italian)
Depression and love are mediums in which poets freely swim, and Edmund Spencer is no exception. Still, in his interpretation of Petrarch's Rima 189, which became Sonnet 34 of his Amoretti (a collection of poems written after his marriage to his second wife at the age of 56), Edmund Spencer is too much in love with his wife to swim in depression's deepest waters. He has lived long enough to know that things will turn around and that his love for his wife will bring joy to him again before long. He expresses his feelings through words and even through skillfully placed consonant sounds.
Edmund Spencer clearly links himself to the main metaphor of the poem, which is a ship lost at sea during a storm. He is "overcast...in darkness and dismay, [with] hidden perils round about me [placed]." (6-8). The star hidden in the storm that guides his way in more peaceful times, he personifies in his wife. The storm the ship is battling symbolizes the depression that he is feeling. The combined metaphorical picture gives the reader the feeling that for some reason, he is bobbing like a cork, with no direction and no control.
At the turn in the poem, there is a major departure from the original source material that is very telling. Both Petrarch's original poem and Sir Thomas Wyatt's version just soak themselves in misery and despair. They speak of the rough waters, and rocks everywhere, and internal weakness in the ship, and of being tortured and sabotaged by their thoughts. Their reason is "dead among the waves" (Petrarch Rima 189, modern prose translation) and they feel that all of this will never end. In contrast, Spencer's poem goes into none of this detail. There is merely a hint of "hidden perils" and light that "with cloudes is overcast" (7, 9). He is not overcome in the same way, and we soon find out why.
In his mind, he leaves the scene at the turn and his rational side seems to emerge. Expectation that joy will come again in the midst of depression is apparent when he speaks of the star that he cannot currently see. His "Helice, the lodestar of my lyfe will shine again" (11). This storm, to Spencer, is only one of many emotional storms. He's had them before, and he knows that it will eventually lift and clear, and he will once again feel the "lovely light" (12) from the love that he has for his wife, and the confidence he has in her love for him.
The turning phrase "yet hope I well" (9) occurs in the middle from the poet's mood, to the poet's reason, and back to darker moods again with "till then" (12) in the last couplet. This suggests that he has no intention of forcing himself to feel something he does not, but that he is content to wait until his feelings change. His "sad pensivenesse" (14) suggests that there is no concrete problem that his depression is tied to, and he knows that. This outside reason showing through his emotional mood indicates to the reader that he is perhaps a more experienced man, and has gone through moods such as this before. He is aware that this is his pattern.
The alliteration found throughout the poem gives audible lift and deflation that coincides with the poet's mood. In the first part of the poem, when he talks about feeling like a ship in a storm, he uses words like "darkness...dismay", "perils...plast" (7-8). The repeated "ds" and "ps" consonant sounds together create a deflating sound, like air escaping a balloon. This sound compliments the sense of depression the poet is trying to create. At the turn in the poem, the alliteration changes to a repeated "l" sound in words such as "Helice...lodestar...life....look...last...lovely light...clear...cloudy" This repeated sound suggests the love that he feels, and gives a feeling that suggest lightness and hope. It gives a bounce to the words. In the final couplet, words such as "carefull...comfortlesse...secret sorrow...sad pensivenesse" create again a subtle sense of deflating, with the repeated "c" and "s" sounds. It returns the reader to the poet's current sad mood.
Edmund Spencer's newfound love for his second wife shines through his interpretation of Petrarch's lyric. His expert use of alliteration gives the reader the feelings of the lift and fall of his own moods through his choice of words. His prevailing sense of sadness, instead of leading to Petrarch's and Wyatt's panic and despair, is broken by the hope that he feels in the steadiness of his wife's love and support. He finds himself content to wait for the storm of his mood to subside in time, knowing that she will be there for him when it does.
Henry Howard, earl of Surrey (1517?-1547)
Love that doth Reign and Live within my Thought
1Love that doth reign and live within my thought
2And built his seat within my captive breast,
3Clad in the arms wherein with me he fought,
4Oft in my face he doth his banner rest.
5But she that taught me love and suffer pain,
6My doubtful hope and eke my hot desire
7With shamefast look to shadow and refrain,
8Her smiling grace converteth straight to ire.
9And coward Love then to the heart apace
10Taketh his flight, where he doth lurk and plain
11His purpose lost, and dare not show his face.
12For my lord's guilt thus faultless bide I pain;
13Yet from my lord shall not my foot remove:
14Sweet is the death that taketh end by love.
Notes
1] Tottel's title: "Complaint of a louer rebuked." His version opens: "Loue that liueth, and reigneth in my thought." Adapted from Petrarch's 140th (109th) sonnet. Cf. Wyatt's "The longe love," a translation of the same sonnet. 6.
eke: also.
6] eke: also.
7] shamefast: modest.
10] plain: complain.
12] bide: endure.
Online text copyright © 2005, Ian Lancashire for the Department of English, University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: Nott, George Fred., ed. The Works of Henry Howard earl of Surrey and of Sir Thomas Wyatt the elder. London: Longman, 1815-16. 2 vols. PR 2370 A1 1815 ROBA.
First publication date: 1557
RPO poem editor: F. D. Hoeniger
RP edition: 3RP 1.13.
Recent editing: 4:2002/5/29
Form: Sonnet
Rhyme: ababcdcdececff