An Explanation of Edmund Spenser's Amoretti Sonnet LXXV Sonnet LXXV from Edmund Spenser's Amoretti is one of the most celebrated and frequently anthologized poems in the English language. It perfectly encapsulates a central theme of Renaissance poetry: the power of verse to immortalize beauty and love, thereby triumphing over the destructive forces of time and mortality. The sonnet is a brief, dramatic dialogue between the poet and his beloved, culminating in a powerful promise that elevates their love to an eternal status. Here is the sonnet for reference: One day I wrote her name upon the strand, but came the waves and washèd it away: again I wrote it with a second hand, but came the tide, and made my pains his prey. 1 "Vayne man," said she, "that doest in vain assay 2 a mortal thing so to immortalize, for I my selfe shall like to this decay, and eke my name be wipèd out likewise." "Not so," (quod I) "let baser things devise 3 to die in ...
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