Julia Huiras, pd. 9
Sonnet 30 by Edmund Spenser
Original Analysis
Follow-Up Analysis
The narrator in the poem is helplessly in love
with a woman who does not have the same
feelings for him. While he constantly showers
her with love, affection and attention, all she
does is disregard his existence. Instead of
letting this discourage him, the man allows his
love for the woman to grow stronger, while
she seems to distance herself from him more.
The more he falls in love with her and the
more he tries to be with her, the colder her
heart becomes.
The only way the research disagreed with the
original analysis is that it stated (in some
cases) that the poem could be an example of
‘courtly love’. Courtly love is represented by a
situation in the 12th to 14th centuries where a
man, usually a knight, falls in love with a
woman who is already married. The knight
falls head over heels for the woman who can’t
return his love, simply because she already
gave her heart away to another man.
Original Lines
Individual Meanings
My love is like to ice, and I to fire;
He is in love with someone who is very cold
and has no interest in him whatsoever. His
love, on the other hand, is like a raging fire,
that only grows stronger and never burns out.
How comes it then that this her cold so great
Is not dissolv’d through my so hot desire,
But harder grows the more I her entreat?
Even though her heart is cold, my love for her
has not been able to get through to her and
have her change her mind. Instead, she
pushes herself further away and only becomes
colder.
Or how comes it that my exceeding heat
Is not delayed by her heart frozen cold,
On the other hand, why does the coldness of
her heart not weaken my love for her? I love
her all the same, even more than I did at the
start.
But that I burn much more in boiling sweat,
And feel my flames augmented manifold?
My desire for her only becomes more
prevalent and my love for her only grows and
gets stronger
What more miraculous thing may be told
What stranger thing can I say
That fire, which all things melts, should harden
ice,
That my love can push her further away
Julia Huiras, pd. 9
And ice, which is congealed with senseless
cold,
Should kindle fire by wonderful device?
And the coldness of her heart can make my
lover for her grow so much stronger?
Such is the power of love in gentle mind,
That it can alter the course of kind.
The honest love coming from someone with
good intentions has the possibility to change
the way the woman is behaving. It can cause
her to not act like ice, but instead, open up to
him and accept his love.
Literary Devices
Alliteration
How comes it then that this her cold so great
Rhyme
But harder grows the more I her entreat?
Or how comes it that my exceeding heat
Simile
My love is like to ice, and I to fire
Imagery
Or how comes it that my exceeding heat is not
delayed by her heart frozen cold
Exaggeration
But that I burn in much more in boiling sweat
Alliteration is when multiple words in the
same sentence have the same beginning
letter. In this case, ‘then that this’ is the
example of alliteration.
Rhyme is when two or more words have the
same ending sound. In this case, rhyme occurs
at the end of each line, and the example given
is “entreat” and “heat”. Both words end in
“-eat” and therefore make the same sound.
A smile is a comparison of two things, usually
unrelated, using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. In this
example, Edmund is comparing the situation
of his rejected love to the simple elements of
ice and fire.
Imagery is a literary device that is used to
paint a picture in your head while you are
reading something. In this case, you can see a
heart, covered with ice crystals, being
attacked by the flames of a fire.
Short and simple, an exaggeration is an
overstatement. It blows a situation, or thing,
out of proportion to make it seem more
dramatic than it really is. In this case, “boiling
sweat” is the exaggeration, for sweat cannot
be hot enough to be boiling.
Julia Huiras, pd. 9
Tone
Hopeful and Devoted
Theme
Love too eagerly given becomes less and
less appealing
When in love, rejection will only make the
lover more passionate
The paradox of certain situations may be
inevitable
The tone of this sonnet is very hopeful and
devoted, for the author continuously talks as
though he is in awe about the situation he and
the woman are in. Not once does he say a
negative thing about her not returning his
love, but only mentions that her coldness
makes his love grow stronger. He is devoted to
her and only her, for he is hopeful that one
day she will come around.
In every relationship there should be mutual
feelings between the two people. If the
feelings differ, especially to the extent they do
in the poem, the person not in love will
ultimately be pushed further and further
away. Nobody wants to be the center of
attention of someone who they are not fond
of. Constantly having that persons undivided
attention could end up getting annoying. This
exact thing happens with the woman in the
poem, for the more the man loves her, the
colder her heart becomes.
A common phrase when it comes to
relationships is ‘love is blind’. Sometimes,
when a person is madly in love, they may not
realize that the other person does not share
the same feelings. Once the lover does realize
this, however, he will most likely view it as a
challenge to take it upon himself to gain the
love of that specific person. This challenge will
ultimately make the lover more passionate
and prevent him from stopping until he
reaches his goal
The way paradox is shown in this sonnet is by
neither the man nor the woman backing
down. While you would expect one of them to
give in to the other, the poem ends by both of
them still having total and complete opposite
feelings for one another.
Julia Huiras, pd. 9
Works Cited
"Famous Love Poems." Famous Love Poems. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.
"Sonnets & Essays - GGCA English." GGCA English. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.