Amoretti 30 by Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser oil painting.

In this paper, Sonnet 30 from Amoretti is analyzed according to the parts of the poem, such as the speaker, audience, tone, etc. Sonnet 30 is about the love of a man referring to Spenser and the love for a woman to Elizabeth Boyle. This poem is an epithalamium that celebrates the wedding of Edmund Spenser with Elizabeth Boyle.

My love is like to ice, and I to fire

“My love is like to ice, and I to fire: A
How comes it then that this her cold so great B
Is not dissolv’d through my so hot desire, A
But harder grows, the more I her entreat?”B

When a poem is analyzed, firstly, the speaker and the audience should be known. In this stanza, it is seen that the speaker is Edmund Spenser himself because the first line, “My love is like to ice, and I to fire,” stresses the speaker. Additionally, the audience is his beloved, who probably refers to Elizabeth Boyle. The subject of this poem is love, and the poet’s attitude towards the poem is his passion, and it is clearly seen in the third line, “Is not dissolv’d through my so hot desire.” The theme of the poem is uneven love because the contrast conveys unevenness between the speaker, who is reflected as fire, and the audience, who is reflected as ice.

Or how comes it that my exceeding heat

“Or how comes it that my exceeding heat  B
Is not delayed by her heart frozen cold, C
But that I burn much more in boiling sweat, B
And feel my flames augmented manifold?”C

In the second stanza, tactile imagery is seen to stimulate a sense of touch and the words “frozen” and “burn” signifies the emotions to make the reader understand this poem. Also, the word connotation “boiling” signifies his deep passion and intense addiction to his lover.

What more miraculous thing may be told

What more miraculous thing may be told,
That fire, which all thing melts, should harden ice: D
And ice which is congealed with senseless cold, C
Should kindle fire by wonderful device?”D

In this stanza, throughout the smile, the poet reveals his thoughts, emotions, and the poem’s message. He is fire, and his lover is ice, so his fire and his heat harden her ice and make her colder, and her cold, which is filled senseless cold kindles his fire. Even though they destroy each other, her ice is going to kindle his fire and make that fire stronger. The tone of the poem is hopeful and devoted because he does not say any negative thing about her not returning to his love and attention; also, he is in the hope that she will be with him.

Such is the pow’r of love in gentle mind

“Such is the pow’r of love in gentle mind E
That it can alter all the course of kind.”E

The poem has three quatrains and a concluding couplet with the rhyme scheme ‘abab bcbc cdcd ee.’ The power of love alters all the course of kind. The law of nature and science has no meaning in the face of love and its power. This couplet answers all the questions of the speaker, and the love gives its power so that both of them succeed.

In conclusion, this epithalamium conveys the intensity of Edmund Spenser’s love towards Elizabeth Boyle, and sonnet 30 has been discussed according to the content and the parts of the poem. I hope you enjoy it while reading.

Source

Amoretti XXX| Poetry Foundation

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