Edmund Spenser Quotes
There learned arts do flourish in great honour
And poets's wits are had in peerless price;
Religion hath lay power, to rest upon her,
Advancing virtue, and suppressing vice.
For end all good, all grace there freely grows,
Had people grace it gratefully to use:
For God His gifts there plenteously bestows,
But graceless men them greatly do abuse.
Spenser, Edmund. Colin Clouts Come Home Againe. William Ponsonby, 1595.
In his view, the ethical ideal could, but need not be a religion, but could include idealistic aspects of secular humanism or political ideal.
Fifty years later, the Taliban of Afghanistan make the fundamentalist prohibition against music the law. See {620308}. Where he got his ‘facts’ about music is unknown, but it does not even comport with Islamic history. The Muslim Ottoman Turks invented the military band and the playing of music to increase men’s courage. It was so effective that virtually every other military on earth adopted the use of a military band playing music. Yet this Ayatiollah claimed music stifled courage and valor.
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of nascent Modern English verse, and is often considered one of the greatest poets in the English language.
