The sonnet begins with the simile "like a huntsman," and then turns into a typical hunting metaphor that was common in 16th century England. The only variation on this metaphor is that the deer has more agency than is typically given to women in these types of poems. The "gentle deer" is the subject of the poem; so if you rearrange the sentence it reads "the deer, like a hunter tired from the hunt, returns to the brook to quench her thirst. Equating the deer and the hunter gives her more personal power (agency). In the second quatrain, the deare returns to the brook on her own accord, not only is that sign of her dominance over the hunter it is also like saying 'if you let something go and it comes back then it is meant to be.
Spencer is creating a metaphor in the sonnet. In fact, he uses metaphor throughout the entire set of Amoretti sonnets. The metaphor in Sonnet 1 is that of a book. In the first four lines, the author compares himself to a book that is read by his love, Elizabeth. His hope is that she will hold his poems in her 'lily white hands.' He views Elizabeth's acceptance of his letters as her acceptance of his love. The second four lines speak of his wish to see his lover's eyes light up when she reads the poem or perhaps when she sees Spenser. He longs for Elizabeth to see his sadness because she has not yet loved him.
The final six lines, or sestet, of Sonnet 1 allude to a spring of water in Greek mythology from which the muse of poetry flows called Hippocrene in the Helicon mountains. Spencer calls Elizabeth an 'angel' in this poem and when she reads his sonnets, Spenser is satisfied as with food. There is no woman on earth he longs to please as much as Elizabeth.
This suggests that perhaps in love, aggressive pursuit is not the only successful technique; instead, the beloved needs to consent of her own free will, as we see in the following lines, which describe how the the doe/ beloved
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