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SPENSERIAN STANZA

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 643 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SPENSERIAN See also:

STANZA , a See also:form of See also:verse which derives its name from the fact that it was invented by the poet Edniund See also:Spenser, and first used in his Faery Queene in 1590. The origin of this stanza has been See also:matter for disagreement among critics of See also:prosody. Schipper has argued that it was adapted from the oid See also:French See also:ballade-stanza (see BALLADE). But it is much More probable that it was of See also:Italian origin, and that Spenser, who was See also:familiar with ottava rimy as it had See also:long been employed in See also:Italy, and was at that very See also:time being used by the school of See also:Tasso, added a See also:line between the Italian See also:fourth and fifth, modified slightly the arrangements of See also:rhyme, and added a See also:foot to the last line, which became an Alexandrine. The form of the pure Spenserian stanza can best be observed by the study of a specimen from the Faery Queene: Into the inmost See also:temple thus I came, Which fuming all with See also:frankincense I found, And odours rising from the See also:altar's See also:flame. Upon a See also:hundred See also:marble pillars See also:round The roof up high was reared from the ground, All decked with crowns and chains and garlands See also:gay, And thousand See also:precious gifts See also:worth many a See also:pound, The which sad lovers for their vows did pay, And all the ground was strow'd with See also:flowers as fresh as May." It is necessary to preserve in all respects the characteristics of this example, and the number, See also:regular sequences and identity of rhymes must be followed. It is a curious fact that, in spite of the very See also:great beauty of this stanza and the popularity of Spenser, it was hardly used during the course of the 17th See also:century, although See also:Giles and Phineas See also:Fletcher made for themselves adaptations of it, the former by omitting the eighth line, the latter by omitting the See also:sixth and eighth. In the See also:middle of the 18th century the study of Spenser led poets to revive the stanza which bears his name. The initiators of this reform were See also:Akenside, in The Virtuoso (1737); See also:Shenstone, in The Schoolmistress (1742); and 1 See Conversations with See also:Drummond, See also:Shakespeare Society, PP. 7, 12. See also:Thomson, in The See also:Castle of Indolence (1748). Mrs See also:Tighe (1772-181o) used it for her once-famous epic of See also:Psyche.

It was a favourite form at the time of the romantic revival, when it was employed by See also:

Campbell, for his Gertrude of See also:Wyoming (18og); by See also:Keats, in The See also:Eve of St See also:Agnes (182o) ; by See also:Shelley, in The Revolt of See also:Islam (See also:Liston and Cythna) (1818) ; by Mrs See also:Hemans; by Reginald See also:Heber; but pre-eminently by See also:Byron, in Childe Harold (1812-1817). See also:Thomas See also:Cooper, the Chartist, wrote his See also:Purgatory of Suicides (1845) in Spenserian stanza, and See also:Tennyson See also:part of his See also:Lotus Eaters. By later poets it has been neglected, but See also:Worsley and See also:Conington's See also:translation of the Iliad (1865-1868) should be mentioned. The Spenserian stanza is an exclusively See also:English form.

End of Article: SPENSERIAN STANZA

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