Edmund Spenser

Spenser was born in London and graduated from Cambridge in 1576. He was the friend of men eminent in literature and at court, including Garbriel Harvey, Sir Walter Ralegh, Sir Philip Sidney, and

January

by Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599)

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A Shepheardes boye (no better do him call),

When Winters wastful spight was almost spent

All in a sunneshine day, as did befall,

Led forth his flock that had bene long ypent:

So faynt they woxe, and feeble in the folde,

That now unnethes their feete could them uphold.

 All as the Sheepe, such was the shepeheards looke, 
 For pale and wanne he was, (alas the while!) 
 May seeme he lovd, or els some care he tooke; 

Click here for complete poem

Poets Book of Days

January 13

John Frederick Nims died, 1999

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Poetry Trivia

Question:

What acclaimed Australian Poet was actually invented by two bored soldiers in 1943?

Answer

"Ern Malley." The soldiers, James Philip McAuley and Harold Stewart, who were poets themselves, constructed an oeuvre for "Ern Malley" by making collages of texts available in their remote security outpost. "Malley," originally intended as an embarrassment to the Australian avant-garde, has come to be highly respected by poets like John Ashbery and Kenneth Koch.

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