Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


AMORETTI: 56 by EDMUND SPENSER

Poet Analysis

First Line: FAIR YE BE SURE, BUT CRUEL AND UNKIND
Last Line: WHOM YE DOE WRECK, DOE RUINE, AND DESTROY.
Subject(s): BEAUTY;

Fayre ye be sure, but cruell and unkind,
As is a tygre, that with greedinesse
Hunts after bloud, when he by chance doth find
A feeble beast, doth felly him oppresse.
Fayre be ye sure, but proud and pittilesse,
As is a storme, that all things doth prostrate,
Finding a tree alone all comfortlesse,
Beats on it strongly, it to ruinate.
Fayre be ye sure, but hard and obstinate,
As is a rocke amidst the raging floods,
Gaynst which a ship, of succour desolate,
Doth suffer wreck both of her selfe and goods.
That ship, that tree, and that same beast am I,
Whom ye doe wreck, doe ruine, and destroy.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net