Though Spenser lays the senior poet's claim,
As sonneteer with interlocking rhyme,
Upon the scene that upstart Shakespeare came,
And simplified the sonnet for all time.
No doubt the older man eschewed the crime,
Unlacing his three stanzas from their stays,
But Willy did not give a silver dime
For fuddy-duddy Spencer's strictured ways.
And thus, since Socrates in ancient days,
Young men have undermined establishment.
Their elders think it just a passing phase
Until they realise its true extent.
Come, Edmund Spenser, leave the sonnet scene!
I far prefer your famous Faerie Queen.
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Writing Prompt |
A Spenserian Sonnet was created by Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599). It is a variation or a Shakespearean sonnet - it has three quatrains and a couplet. But there is a twist where you employ linking rhymes between quatrains. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, BCBC, CDCD, EE - and it is to be written in iambic pentameter.
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Author Notes
Spenser was twelve years older than Shakespeare
Edmund Spenser (1552 - 1599)
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
The Spencer is a somewhat tight item of clothing
A stricture is a rule that limits or controls something, hence 'strictured'.
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