Spensers The Faerie Queene | Page 3

of tuition fees and earned his way by serving in the dining hall
or performing other menial duties. His poverty, however, did not
prevent him from forming many helpful friendships with his
fellow-students. Among his most valued friends he numbered
Launcelot Andrews, afterward Bishop of Winchester, Edward Kirke, a
young man of Spenser's own age, who soon after edited his friend's first
important poem, the Shepheards Calender, with elaborate notes, and
most important of all, the famous classical scholar, a fellow of
Pembroke, Gabriel Harvey, who was a few years older than Spenser,
and was later immortalized as the Hobbinoll of the Faerie Queene. It
was by Harvey that the poet was introduced to Sir Philip Sidney, the
most accomplished gentleman in England, and a favorite of Queen
Elizabeth.
Spenser's residence in Cambridge extended over seven years, during
which he received the usual degrees of bachelor and master of arts. He
became one of the most learned of English poets, and we may infer that
while at this seat of learning he laid the foundations for his wide
scholarship in the diligent study of the Greek and Latin classics, the
philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, the pastoral poetry of Theocritus and
Vergil, and the great mediæval epics of Italian literature. On account of
some misunderstanding with the master and tutors of his college,
Spenser failed to receive the appointment to a fellowship, and left the
University in 1576, at the age of twenty-four. His failure to attain the
highest scholastic recognition was due, it is supposed, to his being
involved in some of the dangerous controversies which were ripe in
Cambridge at that time "with daily spawning of new opinions and
heresies in divinity, in philosophy, in humanity, and in manners."
On leaving the University, Spenser resided for about a year with
relatives in Lancashire, where he found employment. During this time
he had an unrequited love affair with an unknown beauty whom he
celebrated in the Shepheards Calender under the name of Rosalind,
"the widow's daughter of the glen." A rival, Menalchas, was more
successful in finding favor with his fair neighbor. Although he had

before this turned his attention to poetry by translating the sonnets of
Petrarch and Du Bellay (published in 1569), it was while here in the
North country that he first showed his high poetic gifts in original
composition.
After a visit to Sir Philip Sidney at Penshurst, Spenser went down to
London with his friend in 1578, and was presented to Sidney's great
uncle, the Earl of Leicester. He thus at once had an opportunity for
advancement through the influence of powerful patrons, a necessity
with poor young authors in that age. An immediate result of his
acquaintance with Sidney, with whom he was now on relations of
intimate friendship, was an introduction into the best society of the
metropolis. This period of association with many of the most
distinguished and cultivated men in England, together with the
succession of brilliant pageants, masks, and processions, which he
witnessed at court and at Lord Leicester's mansion, must have done
much to refine his tastes and broaden his outlook on the world.
In personal appearance Spenser was a fine type of a sixteenth century
gentleman. The grace and dignity of his bearing was enhanced by a
face of tender and thoughtful expression in which warmth of feeling
was subdued by the informing spirit of refinement, truthfulness,
simplicity, and nobility. He possessed a fine dome-like forehead,
curling hair, brown eyes, full sensuous lips, and a nose that was straight
and strongly moulded. His long spare face was adorned with a full
mustache and a closely cropped Van Dyke beard.
The Shepheards Calender was published in the winter of 1579 with a
grateful and complimentary dedication to Sidney. It is an academic
exercise consisting of a series of twelve pastoral poems in imitation of
the eclogues of Vergil and Theocritus. The poem is cast in the form of
dialogues between shepherds, who converse on such subjects as love,
religion, and old age. In three eclogues the poet attacks with Puritan
zeal the pomp and sloth of the worldly clergy, and one is devoted to the
courtly praise of the queen. It was at once recognized as the most
notable poem that had appeared since the death of Chaucer, and placed
Spenser immediately at the head of living English poets.

In 1580 Spenser went over to Ireland as private secretary to Lord Grey
of Wilton, the Artegall of the Legend of Justice in the Faerie Queene.
After the recall of his patron he remained in that turbulent island in
various civil positions for the rest of his life, with the exception of two
or three visits and a last sad flight to England. For seven years he was
clerk of the