   edmund spenser (; 1552/1553 â 13 january 1599) was an english poet best known for the faerie queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the tudor dynasty and elizabeth i. he is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of modern english verse in its infancy, and is often considered one of the greatest poets in the english language. ==life== edmund spenser was born in east smithfield, london, around the year 1552, though there is some ambiguity as to the exact date of his birth. as a young boy, he was educated in london at the merchant taylors' school and matriculated as a sizar at pembroke college, cambridge. while at cambridge he became a friend of gabriel harvey and later consulted him, despite their differing views on poetry. in 1578, he became for a short time secretary to john young, bishop of rochester.hadfield, andrew. edmund spenser: a life. oxford university press. 2012. p110 in 1579, he published the shepheardes calender and around the same time married his first wife, machabyas childe.hadfield pp 128 & 140 in july 1580, spenser went to ireland in service of the newly appointed lord deputy, arthur grey, 14th baron grey de wilton. spenser served under lord gray with walter raleigh at the siege of smerwick massacre. when lord grey was recalled to england, spenser stayed on in ireland, having acquired other official posts and lands in the munster plantation. raleigh acquired other nearby munster estates confiscated in the second desmond rebellion. some time between 1587 and 1589, spenser acquired his main estate at kilcolman, near doneraile in north cork.hadfield, pp200-01 he later bought a second holding to the south, at rennie, on a rock overlooking the river [[munster blackwater|bl
1550s_births 1599_deaths 16th-century_English_writers 16th-century_poets Alumni_of_Pembroke_College,_Cambridge Anti-Catholicism_in_Ireland British_Poets_Laureate Burials_at_Westminster_Abbey Critics_of_Catholicism English_poets People_educated_at_Merchant_Taylors\'_School,_Northwood People_of_Elizabethan_Ireland People_of_the_Tudor_period Sonneteers Writers_of_Arthurian_literature