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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


AMORETTI: 27 by EDMUND SPENSER

Poet Analysis

First Line: FAIR PROUD! NOW TELL ME, WHY SHOULD FAIR BE PROUD
Last Line: BUT THAT WHICH SHALL YOU MAKE IMMORTALL CHERISH.
Subject(s): PRIDE;

Faire proud! now tell me, why should faire be proud,
Sith all worlds glorie is but drosse uncleane,
And in the shade of death it selfe shall shroud,
How ever now thereof ye little weene?
That goodly idoll, now so gay beseene,
Shall doffe her fleshes borowd fayre attyre,
And be forgot as it had never beene,
That many now much worship and admire.
Ne any then shall after it inquire,
Ne any mention shall thereof remaine,
But what this verse, that never shall expyre,
Shall to you purchas with her thankles paine.
Faire, be no lenger proud of that shall perish,
But that which shall you make immortall cherish.



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