Spenserian

American  

[spen-seer-ee-uhn] / spɛnˈsɪər i ən /

adjective

1. of or characteristic of Spenser or his work.

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noun

1. an imitator of Spenser.

2. Spenserian stanza.

3. verse in Spenserian stanzas.

Spenserian British  

/ spɛnˈsɪərɪən /

adjective

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

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noun

1. a student or imitator of Edmund Spenser

Etymology

Origin of Spenserian

First recorded in 1810–20; Spenser + -ian

Example Sentences

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 • Apr. 28, 2016

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

From Salon • Jun. 25, 2012

As with a Spenserian sonnet, there's a uniformity to the open letters to Lucas.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was a product of the Spenserian school, and emphasized the fact that the representative literature of the land had abandoned the Scottish dialect for English forms.

From Library of the World's Best literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 12 by Various

How I hated the great Joseph G. and the Spenserian metre, with its exacting demands upon the rhyming faculty!

From My First Book: the experiences of Walter Besant, James Payn, W. Clark Russell, Grant Allen, Hall Caine, George R. Sims, Rudyard Kipling, A. Conan Doyle, M.E. Braddon, F.W. Robinson, H. Rider Haggard, R.M. Ballantyne, I. Zangwill, Morley Roberts, David Christie Murray, Marie Corelli, Jerome K. Jerome, John Strange Winter, Bret Harte, "Q.", Robert Buchanan, Robert Louis Stevenson, with an introduction by Jerome K. Jerome. by Various