Edmund Spenser 
Selected Shorter Poems 

Although known best for his sweeping allegorical epic ‚The Faerie Queen, ‚ Edmund Spenser wrote a number of other significant poems. His first major poetical work ‚The Shepherd’s Calendar‘ begins this collection of his ‚Selected Shorter Poems.‘ An emulation of Virgil’s ‚Eclogues, ‚ ‚The Shepherd’s Calendar‘ depicts the life of shepherd Colin Clout through the twelve months of his year. The twelve eclogues of the poem, each named after a different month, discuss abuses of the church, offer praise for Queen Elizabeth, and reveal the struggles of a lonely shepherd. Also included in this edition of Spenser’s poetry are the following poems: ‚The Ruins of Time, ‚ ‚Prosopopoia, ‚ ‚Muiopotmos, ‚ ‚Colin Clout’s Come Home Again, ‚ ‚Amoretti, ‚ and ‚Epithalamion.‘