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Defining Rhetoric : THE AMORETTI (Sonnet 75): Edmund Spenser


THE   AMORETTI

                 Edmund Spenser - Sonnet 75

One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washed it away:
Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay
A mortal thing so to immortalize,
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eek my name be wiped out likewise.
Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name.
Where whenas Death shall all the world subdue,
Out love shall live, and later life renew.


L1-2 "One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washed it away:"

Here, the rhetoric employed is personification. The waves are given human characteristics, as they are described as coming and washing away the name that the speaker wrote on the strand. By attributing the action of washing away to the waves, the poet emphasizes the transient nature of life and the inevitable passage of time.

This a case of Hyperbaton because the normal order of wards has been changed .The ordinary syntactic order world have been  “I wrote her name upon the strand’’.

L 3-4 "Again I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey."

This  is a case of   Transferred Epithet  [ Hypallage ] The  epithet ‘ second ’ properly belongs to time rather than to hand .
It may also a case of personification since ‘tide’ is seen as hunting down the efforts of the poet.

In these lines, the rhetoric used is once again personification, with the tide being personified. The tide is depicted as making the speaker's efforts its prey, symbolizing how the passing of time erodes and consumes human endeavors. The use of the word "prey" adds a sense of vulnerability and the idea that the speaker's attempts are helpless against the forces of nature.

L 5-6 "Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay
A mortal thing so to immortalize,"

In these lines, the rhetoric employed is direct address. The beloved addresses the speaker as a "vain man," criticizing his futile attempts to immortalize her through his mortal actions. By directly addressing the speaker, the beloved emphasizes the ephemeral nature of human existence and the ultimate futility of trying to escape mortality.

L 7-8 "For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eek my name be wiped out likewise."

This is a case of simile .The poet points to the similarity between the destruction of the engraved name by the sea and the death caused to the lady by time, the similarity is explicitly stated by the use of word ‘like’.

The rhetoric used in these lines is simile, comparing the speaker's beloved to the transitory nature of the name written on the shore. The speaker acknowledges that the beloved herself, like the name, will decay and be wiped out in due course. This comparison further underscores the theme of mortality and reinforces the notion that all things are subject to the passage of time.

L 9- 10 "Not so (quoth I), let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:"

This is a case of antithesis where two opposed ideas are balanced against  each other to the same effect .The two ideas contrasted are the idea of the meaner things being reduced to dust by time on the one hand, and the idea of the superior beloved  ‘ transcending this by fame , on the other .

The rhetoric employed in these lines is contrast. The speaker counters the beloved's assertion that she will also decay by declaring that she will live on through fame. The contrast between "baser things" that die in dust and the beloved who will live on through the speaker's verse emphasizes the exceptional qualities and virtues of the beloved, elevating her above ordinary mortals.

L11-12 "My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,
And in the heavens write your glorious name."

The rhetoric used in these lines is hyperbole. The speaker claims that his poetry will eternize the beloved's rare virtues and inscribe her glorious name in the heavens. This exaggerated statement intensifies the power and impact of the speaker's verse, suggesting that his words have the ability to transcend time and elevate the beloved to a celestial level.

L 13-14 "Where whenas Death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew."

In these lines, the rhetoric employed is personification. Death is personified as a force that will subdue the entire world. The speaker counters this by asserting that their love will persist beyond Death's dominion, suggesting that love has the power to transcend mortality and grant renewed life in the future. The personification of Death heightens the contrast between the fleeting nature of life and permanancy of love. 

 It is a case of Antithesis since the two opposed ideas of the death of the world and the living of their love are balanced against each other.   
   
This is also a cause of Epigram .Ordinarily the idea of the renewal of love after life may seem absurd, but on thinking more deeply one realizes that their love would indeed be renewed by the later generations of lovers who would model their love on the poet’s.  

Ardhendu De 

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