Spenserian

[spen-seer-ee-uh n]

adjective

of or characteristic of Spenser or his work.

noun

an imitator of Spenser.

Spenserian stanza.

verse in Spenserian stanzas.

Origin of Spenserian

First recorded in 1810–20; Spenser + -ian

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for spenserian

Historical Examples of spenserian

The poem, in a gentle Spenserian vein, has no connection with the ‘Sonnets.’
A Life of William Shakespeare
Sidney Lee
The Spenserian sonnet, however, has found no favor with later poets.
The Principles of English Versification
Paull Franklin Baum
On leaving England I began to write a poem in the Spenserian measure.
The Life of Lord Byron
John Galt
His brother Giles made a better attempt at the Spenserian manner.
English Literature: Modern
G. H. Mair
The Castle of Indolence, an allegorical poem in the Spenserian stanza, generally considered to be his masterpiece.
A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature
John W. Cousin

British Dictionary definitions for spenserian

Spenserian

adjective

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

noun

a student or imitator of Edmund Spenser

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for spenserian

Spenserian

adj.

1817, from Edmund Spenser (c.1552-1599), Elizabethan poet. Spenserian stanza, which he employed in the "Faerie Queen," consists of eight decasyllabic lines and a final Alexandrine, with rhyme scheme ab ab bc bcc. For the origin of the surname, see Spencer.

"The measure soon ceases to be Spenser's except in its mere anatomy of rhyme-arrangement" [Elton, "Survey of English Literature 1770-1880," 1920]; it is the meter in Butler's "Hudibras," Scott's "Lady of the Lake," and notably the "Childe Harold" of Byron, who found (quoting Beattie) that it allowed him to be "either droll or pathetic, descriptive or sentimental, tender or satirical, as the humour strikes me; for, if I mistake not, the measure which I have adopted admits equally of all these kinds of composition."