Amoretti XXXV: "My hungry eyes, through greedy covetize"

Edmund Spenser’s Sonnet XXXV, or Sonnet 35, is part of his sonnet sequence Amoretti, which was published with Epithalamion in 1595. This collection of poems was published after the first three books of his famous narrative poem, The Faerie Queene, and just a few years before his death. Spenser was inspired by Philip Sidney’s sonnet sequence, Astrophil and Stella, as well as sonneteers from France, Italy, and England.

Overall, Amoretti, which means “little loves,” is autobiographical. The speaker is Spenser discussing his courtship and marriage to Elizabeth Boyle. Celebrating a successful love affair is unique among Renaissance sonnet sequences, which usually portray unrequited or doomed love.

Amoretti contains 89 sonnets, and the sequence’s structure is based on the passage of time. Sonnet 35 also appears as Sonnet 83 in the sequence. It focuses on the speaker’s eyes and the act of seeing. Spenser thematically explores beauty as sustenance, romantic love in opposition to vanity, and the combination of classical and Christian elements.

Poet Biography

Edmund Spenser was born around 1552, but scholars are unsure of the exact date. His family lived in London and were lower class.