Amoretti III: The Sovereign Beauty

Edmund Spencer

The sovereign beauty which I do admire,
Witness the world how worthy to be praised:
The light whereof hath kindled heavenly fire
In my frail spirit, by her from baseness raised;
That being now with her huge brightness dazed,
Base thing I can no more endure to view;
But looking still on her, I stand amazed
At wondrous sight of so celestial hue.
So when my tongue would speak her praises due,
It stopped is with thought’s astonishment:
And when my pen would write her titles true,
It ravish‘d is with fancy’s wonderment.
Yet in my heart I then both speak and write
The wonder that my wit cannot endite.

Credits and Copyright

Together with the editors, the Department of English (University of Toronto), and the University of Toronto Press, the following individuals share copyright for the work that went into this edition:
Screen Design (Electronic Edition): Sian Meikle (University of Toronto Library)
Scanning: Sharine Leung (Centre for Computing in the Humanities)