Spenser, Edmund, c. 1552-1599

Edmund Spenser was born sometime in 1552/1553 in London, England. He was admitted as a "poor boy" at the Merchant Taylor's Grammar School as a youth and then later studied at Pembroke Hall (now Pembroke College) at the University of Cambridge. He received his Bachelor of Arts in 1573 and his Master of Arts in 1576. He was a poet who wrote epic poetry such as: The Shepheardes Calender, Epithalamion, and the sonnets: Amoretti. However, his most famous work draws upon myths, legends, and folklore and created a new type of poetic stanza named the Spenserian stanza: The Faerie Queene.