My love is like to ice, and I to fire; 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? Or how comes it that my exceeding heat Is not delay’d by her heart-frozen cold; But that I burn much more in boiling sweat, And feel my flames augmented manifold! What more miraculous thing may be told, That fire, which all things melts, should harden ice; And ice, which is congeal’d with senseless cold, Should kindle fire by wonderful device! Such is the power of love in gentle mind, That it can alter all the course of kind.

Although it has been highly regarded as a polemical piece of prose and valued as a historical source on 16th century Ireland the View is seen today as genocidal in intent. Influences and influenced
Though Spenser was well read in classical literature scholars have noted that his poetry does not rehash tradition but rather is distinctly his. His castle at Kilcolman was burned and Ben Jonson (who may have had private information) asserted that one of his infant children died in the blaze.

Edmund Spenser (c. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy and is considered one of the greatest poets in the English language. 1552 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I.