Amoretti LXXIX: Men Call you Fair
Amoretti LXXIX: Men Call you Fair
Original Text
Edmund Spenser, Amoretti and Epithalamion (P. S. for W. Ponsonby, 1595). STC 23076. Facs.edn. (Scolar Press, 1968). PR 2360 A5 1595E Robarts Library
2For that your self ye daily such do see:
3But the true fair, that is the gentle wit,
4And vertuous mind, is much more prais'd of me.
5For all the rest, how ever fair it be,
6Shall turn to naught and lose that glorious hue:
7But only that is permanent and free
9That is true beauty: that doth argue you
10To be divine, and born of heavenly seed:
11Deriv'd from that fair Spirit, from whom all true
12And perfect beauty did at first proceed.
13He only fair, and what he fair hath made,
14All other fair, like flowers untimely fade.
Notes
1] A series of eighty-eight sonnets, published in 1595 and probably written between 1592 and 1594 during the poet's wooing of Elizabeth Boyle. Back to Line
8] ensue: pursue. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1595
RPO poem Editors
N. J. Endicott
RPO Edition
2RP 1.113.
Rhyme
Form