Analysis of Sonnet 75 by Edmund Spenser 📜

Introduction

• Date: April 17th
• Sonnet 75 by Edmund Spenser
• Fifteen more lines of iambic pentameter.
• Set rhyme scheme.
• Objective: Speaker's attempt to immortalize loved one.

Poem Summary

• Setting: At the beach, writing the lover's name in the sand.
  • Tide washes away the name each time.
• Woman's Reaction: Points out the futility of the effort, saying she too will fade away and be forgotten.
• Speaker's Argument: Through his poetry, she and their love will be immortalized.

Structure & Rhyme Scheme

• Spenserian Sonnet: Three quatrains + a couplet.
• Rhyme Scheme: Interlocking quatrains sharing one rhyme sound: ababbcbccdcdee.
• Question 1: Identify the rhyme scheme and type.

Key Questions and Analysis

1. Speaker's Unsuccessful Attempt
   • Trying to write her name on the beach, washed away by the tide.
2. Personification (Question 3)
   • Tide made to seem like a predator.
   • Efforts to write name are the prey.
3. Futility of Speaker's Attempts (Question 4)
   • Woman says making something mortal into something immortal is futile.
   • Similar to writing initials on a tree or spray painting.
4. Vain Attempts (Question 5)
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