Amoretti LXXIX: Men Call you Fair

Edmund Spenser 1552 (London) – 1599 (London)



Men call you fair, and you do credit it,
    For that your self ye daily such do see:
    But the true fair, that is the gentle wit,
    And vertuous mind, is much more prais'd of me.
    For all the rest, how ever fair it be,
    Shall turn to naught and lose that glorious hue:
    But only that is permanent and free
    From frail corruption, that doth flesh ensue.
    That is true beauty: that doth argue you
  To be divine, and born of heavenly seed:
  Deriv'd from that fair Spirit, from whom all true
  And perfect beauty did at first proceed.
  He only fair, and what he fair hath made,
  All other fair, like flowers untimely fade.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
124

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABBCBCCDCDEE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 637
Words 118
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. more…

All Edmund Spenser poems | Edmund Spenser Books

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