Seccombe and Arber, comps. Elizabethan Sonnets. 1904. | | Amoretti and Epithalamion | Sonnet XVII. The glorious portrait of that Angels face | Edmund Spenser (1552?1599) |
| THE GLORIOUS portrait of that Angels face, | |
Made to amaze weak mens confused skill, | |
And this worlds worthless glory to embase, | |
What pen, what pencil, can express her fill? | |
For, though he colours could devise at will, | 5 |
And eke his learned hand at pleasure guide, | |
Lest, trembling, it his workmanship should spill; | |
Yet many wondrous things there are beside: | |
The sweet eye-glances, that like arrows glide; | |
The charming smiles, that rob sense from the heart; | 10 |
The lovely pleasance; and the lofty pride; | |
Cannot expressed be by any art. | |
A greater craftsmans hand thereto doth need, | |
That can express the life of things indeed. | | | |
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