A Spenserian Sonnet

Here is a sonnet by Edmund Spenser, which was first published in 1595. It is part of a cycle of sonnets called Amoretti, which tells the story of the poet's courtship of a very headstrong woman. This is Number 6 in the cycle (which totals 89). The poet is trying to cheer himself up in the face of his failure (thus far) to win his love. He argues to himself that the very difficulty he has in winning her proves her worthiness. I have kept Spenser's old-fashioned spelling:

Amoretti: Sonnet 6

Be nought dismayd that her unmoved mind,
Doth still persist in her rebellious pride:
Such love not lyke to lusts of baser kynd,
The harder wonne, the firmer will abide.

The durefull Oake, whose sap is not yet dride,
Is long ere it conceive the kindling fyre:
But when it once doth burne, it doth divide
Great heat, and makes his flames to heaven aspire.

So hard it is to kindle new desire,
In gentle brest that shall endure for ever:
Deepe is the wound, that dints the parts entire
With chast affects, that naught but death can sever.

Then thinke not long in taking litle paine,
To knit the knot, that ever shall remaine.