[1] A Spenserian sonnet consists of fourteen lines, which are broken into four stanzas: three interlocked quatrains and a final couplet, with the rhyme scheme ABAB BCBC CDCD EE.
"Not so," (quod I) "let baser things devise To die in dust, but you shall live by fame: My verse your vertues rare shall eternize, And in the heavens write your glorious name: Where whenas death shall all the world subdue, Our love shall live, and later life renew."
This intricate, captivating, and occasionally bizarre poem honors Elizabeth I in particular as well as the Tudor Dynasty in general.
The Spenserian sonnet gained popularity in Scotland during the 16th and 17th centuries, with Scottish royalty including King James VI using this form.
[5] Although Spenser is best-known for The Faerie Queene, he also wrote numerous sonnets such as one, Amoretti (1595), pioneering a new form that is now synonymous with his name[2]