The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5

A grieving woman gives the ruined city of Verlame a human voice at the beginning of this collection. Speaking with the poem's observer, she recalls past splendour and laments the loss of buildings, power and fame. Edmund Spenser's fifth volume brings The Ruines of Time together with shorter works such as Amoretti, Epithalamion, Prothalamion and Fowre Hymnes. The contents also include epigrams, sonnets, two letters to Harvey and an appendix recording changes between editions.

The vision poems turn springs, ships and cities into scenes of unstable worldly fortune. A beautiful spring is disturbed, a richly laden vessel meets a storm, and a splendid city's foundations give way. Older spelling preserves the verse's historical character, while notes explain unfamiliar words and literary references. This volume suits readers interested in early modern English poetry, particularly its use of imagined scenes to explore beauty, memory and change.