Spenserian

[ spen-seer-ee-uhn ]

adjective

1. of or characteristic of Spenser or his work.

noun

1. an imitator of Spenser.
2. Spenserian stanza.
3. verse in Spenserian stanzas.

Spenserian

/ spɛnˈsɪərɪən /

adjective

1. relating to, in the style of, or characteristic of Edmund Spenser, the English poet (?1552–99), or his poetry

noun

1. a student or imitator of Edmund Spenser

Word History and Origins

Origin of Spenserian¹

First recorded in 1810–20; Spenser + -ian

Example Sentences

The Northumbrian poet Basil Bunting once observed that Whitman’s melding of words and music broke “the general Spenserian model of English poetry.” We have come to call it “free verse,” though that conceals more than it reveals about the intricate interleaving of form and content, sound and meaning.

From The New Yorker

She has been painted as the defiant Gloriana of Spenserian epic, uniting the land in religion and peace, and the mercurial crone lusting after her younger courtiers.

From Economist

They speak English, and they smile indulgently at my clumsy attempts to communicate in Fusha— which sounds to them the way a toddler attempting to declaim Spenserian English might sound to us. I do not blend.

From Salon

He didn’t espouse modernism or the avant garde, favoring instead American vernacular styles, Spenserian scripts and a sort of hybrid modernism.

From Salon

The person holding the position nominally superior feels himself in reality quite "over-crowed," to use a Spenserian expression, by the influence, importance, and dignity of the other.

From Project Gutenberg