One-sided love is common and acceptable, but it becomes troublesome when the lovelorn person crosses the Lakshmana Rekha of autonomy. We will address the unacceptable behavior of the lover in this blog post, keeping Sweet Warrior by Edmund Spenser as the primary source of discussion.

So, let us start with the summary of the sonnet.

Sweet Warrior Summary

“Sweet warrior! when shall I have peace with you?” is a Petrarchan sonnet by Edmund Spenser. The speaker has been trying to court a woman for a prolonged time, but she does not reciprocate his feelings. After encountering constant rejections, he pleads with her for its end.

Having experienced the constant pain of refusals, the speaker thinks he can no longer bear the painful rejections from the woman. He does not want to continue the seemingly endless pursuit. He is on the verge of losing his patience. He feels heartbroken and wonders how he will live, even for a little while.

His ladylove has hurt his heart many times with thousands of arrows. Despite his hope for her affection, the woman keeps wounding him with deadly arrows. Despite his requests, she is causing harm and remains merciless. He calls her cruel and questions the pointless glory of defeating him, who wants to surrender to her.

She cannot attain any glory by defeating someone who would be willingly hers. Therefore, the lover proposes making peace between them as soon as possible. It would make his wound heal in a short time.

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We will analyze “Sweet Warrior” line by line and discuss its tone, structure, and theme in this section.

“Sweet warrior! when shall I have peace with you
High time it is this war now ended were
Which I no longer can endure to sue,
Ne your incessant batt’ry more to bear:”

Modern Version:
Sweet warrior! When will we be at peace with each other?
It is about time for this war to come to an end now.
I can no longer endure the pursuit.
Nor can I tolerate your constant attacks.

The speaker addresses the woman as a sweet warrior and appeals to the warrior for peace.

Who is the Sweet Warrior?

The woman whom the speaker loves is the sweet warrior. He is awestruck by her beauty and expresses his desire for the woman, but she rejects him. Despite her denials, he keeps persuading her. Therefore, their exchange of opinions becomes a battleground of words, where their words become their weapons.

She is sweet, which denotes her beauty and charisma. She is also adamant in sticking to her stance on the decision. The words sweet and warrior are contradictory, and using them together makes the phrase an oxymoron.

The speaker represents the woman as strong and determined and himself as weak and helpless. The speaker has been trying to convince her for a long. As a result, he feels exhausted after the lengthy persuasion due to her stubbornness.

The question of when they can reconcile and have peace indicates the continuity of the conflict for a prolonged time. Therefore, the speaker wants to end the ongoing disagreement. The use of words like “endured,” “sue,” and “batt’ry” convey a sense of weariness and struggle.

He can no longer either persuade her or be able to hear her harsh remarks. He has lost the zeal he had once to continue the pursuit or battle. He expresses his sense of urgency and wishes that his endeavor should have ended long ago, but it is not yet over. It suggests she is still refusing the speaker.

As a result, he is tired and feels he can no longer bear his relentless rejection. The rejections or the words of refusal make him think of giving up.

The experience of unrequited love is a common theme in Petrarchan sonnets. The speaker presents himself as a victim of the charms of a woman. For instance, “Sonnet 19” by Petrarch narrates how the brightness of the Lady attracts the speaker and wounds him simultaneously.

“Sonnet 57” also follows the convention of unrequited love and tells the effects of one-sided love on the speaker. However, In “Amoretti LXVII: Like as a Huntsman”, there is a departure from tradition as we observe a change in the woman’s attitude towards the speaker.

“So weak my powers, so sore my wounds, appear,
That wonder is how I should live a jot,
Seeing my heart through-lanced everywhere,
With thousand arrows, which your eyes have shot:”

Modern Version:
My abilities seem feeble, my wounds so painful,
I am surprised how I will live, even for a short time.
Given that you have pierced my heart everywhere,
Your eyes have shot a thousand arrows into my heart.

The speaker expresses the effects of her refusals on him and the pathetic condition of the speaker in these lines. Her continuous rejections have weakened his spirit of continuing the pursuit. Her words of denial are, for him, like attacks from her. The words make him feel wounded.

He keeps experiencing rejection every time before the wounds from his previous rejection have fully healed. He does not leave enough time for proper healing. As a result, his exhaustion and emotional wounds become apparent to others.

She has shot him with her eyes. The woman has pierced his heart in multiple places with a thousand arrows. It is an example of hyperbole. It implies the numerous rejections and the severity of his wounds.

His injuries are so intense that it compels him to question how he can survive even for a short time with injuries. It suggests that her continuous attacks have taken a toll on the speaker.

Another difference between Rime Sparse and Amoretti is Petrarch shows it is not the woman, but Love is the cause of the speaker’s suffering. He is the victim of Love’s power rather than of the woman.

On the other hand, Spenser points out that the woman is solely responsible for the suffering of the lover. The emphasis of the word “your” in “With thousand arrows, which your eyes have shot:” emphasizes that the woman is the one who has inflicted the wounds on the speaker. It highlights that he sees the woman as being responsible for his injuries.

The speaker employs war-related terminology such as lanced, shot, warrior, and arrows to convey that the conflict arising from his romantic pursuit resembles a war. The eyes of the woman have become a weapon in the metaphorical battle; her disapproving glances injure the speaker like the wounds of arrows.

Similar to Sonnet 57, her guileful eyes have captured the lover in Sonnet 12 when he tries to make peace with her by looking into her eyes.

“Yet shoot ye sharply still, and spare me not,
But glory think to make these cruel stours,
Ye cruel one! what glory can be got,
In slaying him that would live gladly yours!”

Modern Version:
You keep shooting at me with full force, showing no mercy,
Thinking that you will gain glory through these brutal battles.
You cruel person! What glory can you hope to gain,
By killing someone who would happily live with you?

Despite suffering severe wounds, the speaker laments that the woman does not show mercy to him. He has been making pleas for peace several times, but her attack has not stopped.

He feels frustrated and addresses her as a cruel person. The change of tone from appealing to rude “Ye cruel one!” is apparent, and we can contrast this with the initial address sweet warrior. It implies his frustration and anger toward her actions.

The speaker questions the lady about the futility of her attacks. He argues there is nothing glorious in her ruthless strikes at him, who happily wants to submit himself to her.

The woman in both Petrarch and Daniel’s sonnets is unsympathetic and cruel to the feeling of the speaker as exemplified in “Rime 253” of Canzoniere.

The woman in Amoretti is also ruthless and does not care about the speaker’s pain and his appeal for peace. Furthermore, she enjoys remaining in a dominant position and exercising power over the vulnerable speaker.

“Make peace therefore, and grant me timely grace,
That all my wounds will heal in little space.”

Modern Version:
So please make peace and grant me grace,
So that all my wounds may heal in a short amount of time.

The lovelorn speaker makes his last request for peace between them and asks her to grant him grace. He argues that since he has been suffering because of her constant strikes, there is no point in fighting with him when he wants to be with her. It emphasizes his desperation and willingness to be with the woman.

He expects compassion from the beloved within a short time. If she grants it, the injuries will heal in a short time.

Tone 

The sonnet starts with an appealing tone. The speaker asks the woman for peace, stating that the conflict must end. The tone is desperate when the speaker expresses how weak and wounded he is from the constant battle. The phrase “how I should live a jot” expresses his despair.

The tone shifts from appealing to complaining when the speaker calls his beloved cruel, asking what kind of glory she can gain from causing him pain. However, he still maintains a pleading tone as he asks for mercy and an end to the conflict.

The final plea for peace contains a hopeful note that all wounds will heal in time. The tone is mixed with desperation with a glimmer of optimism as the speaker seeks relief from their suffering after a long time of discontent and agony.

Structure

The poem follows the structure of a Petrarchan sonnet. This traditional form consists of two parts: an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines), with a turn, or volta, between them.

As an Italian sonnet, the octave presents the problem that is the ongoing conflict between the speaker and the woman. He informs how the battle has weakened and wounded him. The sestet offers a solution in the form of a plea for peace.

A volta (Italian for a turn) refers to a significant change in thought or emotion in a sonnet. The volta appears in the eleventh line when the speaker says, “Ye cruel one!” to the woman. It marks a shift in the appealing tone of the octave to accusatory and assertive. It helps the speaker to offer a possible solution to the conflict.

The Petrarchan sonnet follows the rhyme scheme of abab bcbc cdcd ee.

Sweet Warrior Theme

The sonnet is about a persuasive plea for peace. The speaker asks the woman to stop the ongoing conflict between them and settle it. The very first line of the sonnet introduces the theme of peace.

The speaker wants to settle the conflict with the woman because the constant battle with the lady makes him feel hopeless. He is desperate to end the endeavor after pursuing it for a long. He has reached a point where he can no longer bear the constant refusals from the woman. His plea for peace is not just a simple request, but a desperate cry for resolution.

Upon careful examination, it becomes apparent that he is indirectly pressuring her to accept him despite her repeated rejections. If she has no interest in him, why would she agree? It is necessary to ask the question as the poem is a fictionalized version of the courtship of Spenser.

Through the fictional form, we discover the stereotypical view of gender roles in the Elizabethan age that a man can continue pursuing a woman even after she has refused him multiple times.

Courting someone is not unusual. In fact, like an arranged marriage, it was a formal process in Elizabethan England through which a suitor expresses his passion to a woman and can expect love to grow between them. But to what extent can one continue courting a woman?

The speaker in the sonnet sequence has been attempting to woo the woman for an extended period, but she indicates that she has no interest in him. He is weary of the constant pursuit and seeks a way to end it.

It is interesting to note if he is tired, the woman must have also felt tired after refusing him several times. Persistence after a clear rejection is not admirable; it is harassment. The speaker wants to win the heart of the woman. 

But while pursuing her affection, he may have caused her mental distress and overstepped the Lakshmana Rekha of autonomy.

The lover fails to recognize her freedom to make her own choices, and he should respect her individuality. Her eyes have pierced his heart with a thousand arrows which imply her refusals to his advances.

Despite several rejections, the speaker expresses his desire for peace and an end to the battle. Such pursuit disregards the agency and autonomy of a woman and perpetuates the idea that men have an inherent right to the attention and affection of women.

Like the sonnet, we can also read the Shakespearean comedy Much Ado About Nothing as an example of this stereotype. Claudio persistently pursues Hero despite her initial disinterest in him.

We see examples of teenagers or adults practicing gender stereotypes in real life. They often pursue a woman without considering her comfort and consent. Indian romantic drama film Raanjhanaa (2013) vividly projects such behavior of a mad lover where the protagonist follows the female protagonist despite her numerous rejections.

Cultural products such as books, movies, and songs play a significant role in reinforcing gender stereotypes. These products often reinforce societal attitudes and beliefs about gender roles. For instance, the line “Ishq me na ka matlab to haan hota hai” (In love, even no means yes) from the song “O Jaana” from the movie Tere Naam reflects the same sentiment.

The constant pleas of the speaker for peace also imply a gender stereotype that men should be persistent in their pursuit of women, regardless of their wishes or feelings. While “Sonnet LVII” does express the constant requests for peace of a lovelorn speaker on the surface, it also points out the hidden stereotypical view of the gender role in Elizabethan society.

References

1. “Courtship and Marriage in Elizabethan Times.” Deascuola, blog.deascuola.it/uploads/2016/04/03_LoveShakespeare.pdf. Accessed 18 Mar. 2023.
2. Aguilar, Sydne. “Courtship and Marriage in Elizabethan England.” Shakespeare Comes Alive!, https://shakespearecomesalivesdsufall2017.wordpress.com/1-group-themes/. Accessed 18 Mar. 2023.
3. Matějková, Julie. Femininity in Edmund Spenser’s Amoretti. 2018. Univerzita Karlova, B.A. thesis.
4. William A. Oram , “What Happens in the Amoretti,” Spenser Review 50.2.3 (Spring-Summer 2020). http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/spenseronline/review/item/50.2.3 Accessed April 9th, 2023.