7/27/2019 Poetry Sonnet 11

1/4

Maha Alyami

Dr. Afra Al ShibanPoetry

Sonnet 11 : " She Cruell Warriour Doth her Selfe Addresse"By Ednmond Spenser

7/27/2019 Poetry Sonnet 11

2/4

Sonnet 11 : " She Cruell Warriour Doth her Selfe Addresse"

By Ednmond Spenser

Dayly when I do seeke and sew for peace,And hostages doe offer for my truth,

She, cruell warriour, doth her selfe addresseTo battell, and the weary war renew'th;

Ne wilbe moov'd, with reason or with rewth*,

To graunt small respit to my restlesse toile;But greedily her fell intent poursewth,

Of my poore life to make unpittied spoile.Yet my poore life, all sorrowes to assoyle,

I would her yield, her wrath to pacify;

But then she seeks, with torment and turmkoyle,

To force me live, and will not let me dy.All paine hath end, and every war hafh peace;But mine, no price nor prayer may surcease.

Summary:

The speaker starts his series of sonnets entitled Amoretti with lines thatare filled with the lover's sighs, soaked with tears , addressing his belovedin sweet expressions of infatuation. He pleads for her to stop avoiding hislove , and ask her to accept his heart as a sign of his truthful love.However, in these lines the tone changes. The speaker describes his loveand his beloveds rejection as a weary battle through which he claimsdaily to sew for peace and ends this war . (sue for peace, line 1) . Heasks for peace , and for her love to end his turmoil in her love. He offersher a hostage (line 2) a beautiful young doe as a metaphor of his heart ,but she continues in torturing the speaker with her coldness. He describesher as a cruel warrior who enjoys his suffering (line 3) and his own lifeas her spoil. He tells the reader that he is captivated in her love (line 8).He wants peace with herwhich entails her confessing love for himbut

she refuses to acknowledge any feelings for him, thus keeping the wearywar (line 4) going.

The speaker uses irony in describing her giving in to feelings for him ashis own surrender, while her constant resistance to his repeated words oflove as an act of aggression.

.

7/27/2019 Poetry Sonnet 11

3/4

Analysis : The poem is a Spenserian sonnet , written in 14 lines stanzawith a rhyme scheme abab bcbc cdcd ee . In sonnets 10 and 11 from theseries sonnets of Amoretti , The speaker changes his tone in the previoussonnets (1-9), from one of adoration to one of anger at the beloved

rejection and coldness. The lines conveys an extended metaphor of thebeloved being described as a cruel , sadistic tease who enjoys thespeaker's pain in her love. This metaphor starts in sonnet 10 andcontinues in this sonnet and the one after. The speaker put an emphasis onhis suffering in such love affair as if he fights in a battle field against a

fierce enemy not a delicate creature ( a woman.(He moves further to grasp the reader attention with vivid

images of his suffering. So , the reader finds him first as an exhausted ,weary soul that seeks peace and love from this merciless , cold-hearted

beloved who refused to accept" the doe" which stands for his heart as herhostage , and as a true symbol of his total submission to her.He tells us that he tried to win her love by reason or even by

raising her pity but all that has gone in vain. The speaker in these linessounds hurt and in great pain that he compares his continuous pleadingfor love and the beloved abandonment to a " torment and turmoyle" . Hecleverly uses words that carry many layers of meanings. For example,

the word torment , in English it means agony or great pain , however, itis derived from the Latin word (tormentum) which means the folloing:

1. an engine for hurlingmissiles;

2. an instrument of torture3. a (twisted) cord or rope4. torture, anguish, pain, torment

All these meanings are drown together to describe the cruelty and thesadistic nature of this lady who seems to torture his heart by rejecting hisadvances .The twisting and squeezing implications of the words aremetaphorically implied to heighten the tension and the speaker's pain ,reflecting his anguish. Then , he adds to that the image of the heartless

woman in order to win the sympathy and total agreement of the reader.

He says that she is so brutal that she does not accept my love , breathinglife in my tortured heart , neither let me die peacefully, alluding to herteasing characteristic.

He ends his lines by stating that his pain is not like normal sickness orinjury that would be cured by money or by prayers, or a war that wouldreach an end. His love for her has caused him an uncured and infinite

pain. The use of the extended image of the cruel lady adds unity to thesonnet and at the same time hinges the previous and the next poem

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/enginehttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hurlinghttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/missileshttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/instrumenthttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/torturehttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/twistedhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cordhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ropehttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/torturehttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anguishhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/painhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tormenthttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hurlinghttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/missileshttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/instrumenthttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/torturehttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/twistedhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cordhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ropehttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/torturehttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anguishhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/painhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tormenthttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/engine

7/27/2019 Poetry Sonnet 11

4/4

together adding more coherence and cohesiveness to the sonnet 11 inparticular and to the whole series of Amoretti in general.

The poet uses alteration in the first line (seek and sew) using the /s/ thatreoccurs frequently throughout the poem as an outlet for the speakers

sighs of sorrow, which add to the sorrowful tone in this sonnet.

From a psychoanalytic point of view, many studies have discussed theemotional needs that should be fulfilled in a healthy love relationship .they say that a person in love needs to be :

To be listened to and understoodTo be nurturedTo be appreciatedTo be valued

To be acceptedFor affectionFor loveFor companionship

As we can see that the speaker is deprived from allof the previousemotional needs . According to psychoanalysis studies he would besuffering from "emotional abandonment ". It happens when you cantconnect and your emotional needs arent being met in the relationship.

Henceforth, resentments easily develop in such relationship when yourfeelings, especially hurt or anger, arent expressed. When they gounderground, you may either pull away emotionally or push your partneraway with criticism or undermining comments. And one likely to developfeelings of rage as a result of beingor feelingunnoticed andemotionally abandoned. Consequently, this is what happens to thespeaker. He starts the series of poems yearning for love and passion , butwith the lady constant rejection and cruel reactions he shifts to describeher as a cruel sadistic tormentor who enjoys his pains .