ELIZABETHAN SONNET CYCLES FIVE MAJOR POETIC SEQUENCES Five Major Elizabethan Sonnet Sequences by Samuel Daniel, Michael Drayton, Sir Philip Sidney, William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser. A collection of five major sonnet sequences from the Elizabethan era by some of the great poets of the period: Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, Michael Drayton, Samuel Daniel and William Shakespeare. Each sonnet cycle is love poetry, and some of the finest verse in the English language: Sidney's 'Astrophel and Stella', Daniel's 'Delia', Drayton's 'Idea', Spenser's 'Amoretti', and Shakespeare's 'Sonnets'. This edition prints each poem cycle on its own, without notes or editorial intrusions. And each poem has a page to itself, rather than being crammed together. It's a useful edition for students. MICHAEL DRAYTON, SONNET 4, FROM 'IDEA': BRIGHT STAR of beauty, on whose eyelids sit A thousand nymph-like and enamoured graces, The goddesses of memory and wit, Which there in order take their several places; In whose dear bosom, sweet delicious love Lays down his quiver which he once did bear, Since he that blessed paradise did prove, And leaves his mother's lap to sport him there Let others strive to entertain with words My soul is of a braver mettle made; I hold that vile which vulgar wit affords; In me's that faith which time cannot invade. Let what I praise be still made good by you; Be you most worthy whilst I am most true! Includes the illustrations of the poets, and notes on further reading. The book is also in a hardback edition. British Poets Series.Bibliography & illustrations. 536 pages. ISBN 9781861715661. www.crmoon.com"

Brink’s provocative biography shows that Spenser was not the would-be court poet whom Karl Marx’s described as ‘Elizabeth’s arse-kissing poet’. In this readable and informative account, Spenser is depicted as the protégé of a circle of London clergymen, who expected him to take holy orders. Brink shows that the young Spenser was known to Alexander Nowell, author of Nowell’s Catechism and Dean of St. Paul’s. Significantly revising the received biography, Brink argues that that it was Harvey alone who orchestrated Familiar Letters (1580). He used this correspondence to further his career and invented the portrait of Spenser as his admiring disciple. Contextualising Spenser’s life by comparisons with Shakespeare and Sir Walter Ralegh, Brink shows that Spenser shared with Sir Philip Sidney an allegiance to the early modern chivalric code. His departure for Ireland was a high point, not an exile.