Poem 10
LOng-while
I
sought
to
what
I
might
compare
those
powrefull
eies,
which
lighte[n]
my
dark
spright,
yet
find
I
nought
on
earth
to
which
I
dare
resemble
th'ymage
of
their
goodly
light.
Not
to
the
Sun:
for
they
doo
shine
by
night;
nor
to
the
Moone:
for
they
are
changed
neuer;
nor
to
the
Starres:
for
they
haue
purer
sight;
nor
to
the
fire:
for
they
consume
not
euer;
Nor
to
the
lightning:
for
they
still
persuer;
nor
to
the
Diamond:
for
they
are
more
tender;
nor
vnto
Christall:
for
nought
may
them
seuer;
nor
vnto
glasse:
such
basenesse
mought
offend
her;
Then
to
the
Maker
selfe
they
likest
be,
whose
light
doth
lighten
all
that
here
we
see.
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser (born 1552/53, London, England—died January 13, 1599, London) English poet whose long allegorical poem The Faerie Queene is one of the greatest in the English language. It was written in what came to be called the Spenserian stanza. In 1598 rebels attacked and burned Kilcolman Castle, forcing Spenser and his family to flee to Cork. In December he returned to England, where he delivered a report on the Irish crisis at Whitehall on Christmas Eve. Three weeks later, on 13 January 1599, he died, perhaps of illness brought on by exhaustion. He was buried soon after in the south transept of Westminster Abbey in the Poets’ Corner.