I chose to write my first literary post on Spenser's Sonnet 67 from The Fairy Queen:
Like as a huntsman after weary chase,
Seeing the game from him escaped away,
sits down to rest him in some shady place,
with panting hounds, beguiled of their prey:
So, after long pursuit and vain assay,
when I all weary had the chase forsook,
the gentle deer returned the self-same way,
thinking to quench her thirst at the next brooke.
There she, beholding me with milder look,
sought not to fly, but fearless still did bide,
till I in hand her yet half trembling took,
and with her own good will her firmly tied.
Strange thing, me seemed, to see a beast so wild,
so goodly won, with her own will beguiled.
I feel that the poet uses the simile of a hunter chasing deer to describe a desperate lover's efforts in getting his lady. After an endless and tiring chase to make his lady accept his love, he becomes hopeless and gives up "Seeing the game from him escaped away, sits down to rest him in some shady place". The beloved as well settles down to take a break after having to continuously escape and resist the man that loves her "the gentle deer returned the self-same way, thinking to quench her thirst at the next brooke". I am not sure of the last half of the poem but I will tell you what I think it means. Seeing that the man has stopped chasing her and that he is very tired, she doesn't fear to come close to him. I noticed that this is present in everyday life. Sometimes we want something so bad that the more we chase it the faster it runs away. So sometimes (not always) the best way to get closer to it is to calm down and not think about it. The deer didn't continue to run away once the hunter had stopped. In fact, she came closer. I still don't understand the last four lines but I think this is the general meaning of the sonnet!
:)
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