Iambicum Trimetrum

Edmund SpenserFiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1580

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Summary

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Wings

The speaker, as though casting a spell, orders his verse to “[m]ake thy self flutt’ring wings of thy fast flying / Thought, and fly forth unto my love, wheresoever she be” (Lines 2-3). The wing metaphor speaks to the power of poetry to convey the speaker’s message, and it is an indirect reference to Hermes (Mercury, to the Romans), the swift Greek messenger god and protector of orators and poets. The speaker’s invocation is a call for divine intervention to find his former lover and to speak to her in his stead.

Repetition and Anaphora

Repetition in poetry has the effect of impressing on the reader whatever the speaker is thinking or feeling. In this instance, the impression is that the speaker is overwhelmed by his fantasies about a woman who is absent and unlikely to return. The word “unhappy” (Line 1) is repeated twice in the first line and again with synonyms in succeeding lines. The poet, for example, “can hear no mirth” (Line 9). His language is solipsistic. Repeatedly turning inward and weltering in his feelings, he cannot engage with the world.

Anaphora is a form of repetition in which words and phrases are repeated successively at the beginning of each line, though the speaker also repeats words at the ends of lines, such as “or else” (Lines 4-5).