Edmund Spenser | Biography in 1 minute British Literature Short Audio Video Notes

Edmund Spencer was born in London in the year 1552 or 1553. Little is known about his family or his childhood except that he received a scholarship to attend the Merchant Taylor School where he likely studied Latin and Greek. He went on to study literature and religion at Cambridge University's Pembroke Hall, receiving a BA in 1573 and an MA in 1576. Spencer published his first volume of poetry, The Shepherdeer's Calendar, in 1579, dedicating it to the poet Sir Philip Sidney. He was also the author of The Fairy Queen 1596, a major English epic, Amoratian Epithalamion 1595, a sonnet sequence dedicated to his second wife, Elizabeth Boyle. Alongside his poetry, Spencer pursued a career in politics, serving as a secretary first for the Bishop of Rochester and then for the Earl of Leicester, who introduced him to other poets and artists in Queen Elizabeth's court. In 1580, he was appointed secretary to the Lord Deputy of Ireland. Later, in 1596, he wrote a provocative pamphlet called A View of the Present State of Ireland. In 1598, during the Nine Years' War, Spencer was driven from his home in Ireland. He died in London in 1599 and was buried in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. Thanks for watching.