EXCLUSIVE: An Interview with YOUR Favorite Renaissance Authors!
1. Describe Your Personality
“God doth not need / Either man's work or His own gifts. Who best / Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best” (9-11). When I first went blind I was a very bitter man. I felt useless without my sight. But I have since realized God loves those who bear their burdens best. Despite my blindness, I still strive to be diligent and persevering.
John Milton, author of “When I Consider How My Light is Spent”
2. Do you feel satisfied with your life?
“...and yet I live, grief and disdain to me, / left where that light I cherished never shows, /in fragile bark on the tempestuous sea” (9-11).
No. My life is nowhere near satisfaction. I’m in love with a married woman who has rejected me. She died recently and now I feel nothing but despair. Without her in my life, I don’t know what to do with my life. Her beauty and presences was all I cherished. There is no more purpose to my life. All I do now is cry. Petrarch, author of “Sonnet 292”
3. Do you have any regrets?
Indeed, though I am hesitant to admit it, I have left the love of my life, Lucasta, to pursue that which has supplanted her place in my heart--the excitement of battle in my duty to the King. “True, a new Mistress...I [chased]/The first Foe in the Field;/And with a stronger Faith embrace/A Sword, a Horse, a Shield” (5-8). Now, I am left anguished “That from the nunnery/ Of [her] chaste breast and quiet mind/To war and arms I [fled]” (1-4). Lovelace, author of “To Lucasta: Going to the Wars”
4. If you could change anything, what would it be and why?
In the finality of my tribulations pertaining to Romance, I’ve come to ponder upon a particular woman of my past. The woman of my utmost affection was “like to ice, and I to fire” (1). If I could change the course of our relationship--me attracted to her while she repulsed by me--I’d have it that her cold demeanor warm up to my passionate love because “Such is the pow'r of love in gentle mind/that it can alter all the course of kind” (13-14). My love for her continues to grow, but unless a miracle is to shine upon our love, she will continue to reject my affection. Spenser, author of “Sonnet 30”
5. What do you like to do when you're not writing?
I’m a romantic at heart. When I’m not wooing ladies with my words, I’m just wooing them. Once I promised a girl, “And I will make thee beds of roses / And a thousand fragrant posies” (9-10). She didn't take it too well, but I found someone else more worthy of my affections. Marlowe, author of “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”
6. What kind of music do you like?
There is no sweeter sound than that of a lute. In both times of happiness and times of despair music has always been there for me. The lute has helped me get over bad breakups and rejections. Women come and go but my lute will always be by my side. I have often said “My lute be still, for I have done,” but I can never stop playing. Wyatt, author of “My Lute Awake”
7. What do you attribute to your popularity?
“I grieve and dare not show my discontent” (1). I do not let my emotions get the best of me. I rule with my head and not my heart. Insetad of squandering national money on parties, I balance the budget. I rule with absolute authority but am still compassionate. Elizabeth I, author of “On Monseiur's Departure”
8. What are your feelings towards women?
I believe there is no such thing as a “perfect woman”. Everyone is flawed, and I hate when other people romanticize their lovers. That doesn’t mean I’m a misogynist, though. My mistress doesn’t fit the ideal form of beauty, “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare” (13-14). Shakespeare, author of “Sonnet 130”
9. What's on your facebook?
When I had to go on a trip to Germany, I posted “Our two souls therefore, which are one, / Though I must go, endure not yet / A breach, but an expansion, / Like gold to airy thinness beat” (21-24). I wanted to comfort my wife and show her that our temporary physical separation will not affect our love for each other. We will never be truly apart from each other because our souls are one. John Donne, author of "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"
10. Describe a teacher who influenced you most?
“[Mrs. Downes] is my shepherd; I shall not want” (1). I like to think I speak on behalf of every Renaissance man and woman when I say the Mrs. Downes has shown me the light. She is inspiring and I am left in awe every time I leave her class. I think I have learned more from one hour in her class alone than anyone has since the Bible was written. I have learned so much about poetry and poetry analysis. It’s a shame not everyone can experience her class. Author of the Bible
11. What advice would you give to the youth of today?
Time is transient. “Be not coy, but use your time, /And while ye may go marry :/For having lost but once your prime/You may for ever tarry” (13-16). You have but one lifetime, and that lifetime will not wait for you to finally pick up your sense to live it, especially when you reach the age of hoary-headedness. Live your life to the fullest while you’re still breathing and you’ll go far, kids. Herrick, author of “To the Virgins”
12. How do you feel about love?
What is love you ask? I sit here asking myself the same question everyday. I think to myself “If all the world and love were young, and truth in every shepherd’s tongue, these pretty pleasures might me move, to live with thee and be thy love” (1 - 4). If the world really did revolve around love, I would think that love is a very powerful thing. As long as we have that special person with us, love is all we need to survive. Raleigh, author of “The Nymph's Reply”
“God doth not need / Either man's work or His own gifts. Who best / Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best” (9-11). When I first went blind I was a very bitter man. I felt useless without my sight. But I have since realized God loves those who bear their burdens best. Despite my blindness, I still strive to be diligent and persevering.
John Milton, author of “When I Consider How My Light is Spent”
2. Do you feel satisfied with your life?
“...and yet I live, grief and disdain to me, / left where that light I cherished never shows, /in fragile bark on the tempestuous sea” (9-11).
No. My life is nowhere near satisfaction. I’m in love with a married woman who has rejected me. She died recently and now I feel nothing but despair. Without her in my life, I don’t know what to do with my life. Her beauty and presences was all I cherished. There is no more purpose to my life. All I do now is cry. Petrarch, author of “Sonnet 292”
3. Do you have any regrets?
Indeed, though I am hesitant to admit it, I have left the love of my life, Lucasta, to pursue that which has supplanted her place in my heart--the excitement of battle in my duty to the King. “True, a new Mistress...I [chased]/The first Foe in the Field;/And with a stronger Faith embrace/A Sword, a Horse, a Shield” (5-8). Now, I am left anguished “That from the nunnery/ Of [her] chaste breast and quiet mind/To war and arms I [fled]” (1-4). Lovelace, author of “To Lucasta: Going to the Wars”
4. If you could change anything, what would it be and why?
In the finality of my tribulations pertaining to Romance, I’ve come to ponder upon a particular woman of my past. The woman of my utmost affection was “like to ice, and I to fire” (1). If I could change the course of our relationship--me attracted to her while she repulsed by me--I’d have it that her cold demeanor warm up to my passionate love because “Such is the pow'r of love in gentle mind/that it can alter all the course of kind” (13-14). My love for her continues to grow, but unless a miracle is to shine upon our love, she will continue to reject my affection. Spenser, author of “Sonnet 30”
5. What do you like to do when you're not writing?
I’m a romantic at heart. When I’m not wooing ladies with my words, I’m just wooing them. Once I promised a girl, “And I will make thee beds of roses / And a thousand fragrant posies” (9-10). She didn't take it too well, but I found someone else more worthy of my affections. Marlowe, author of “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”
6. What kind of music do you like?
There is no sweeter sound than that of a lute. In both times of happiness and times of despair music has always been there for me. The lute has helped me get over bad breakups and rejections. Women come and go but my lute will always be by my side. I have often said “My lute be still, for I have done,” but I can never stop playing. Wyatt, author of “My Lute Awake”
7. What do you attribute to your popularity?
“I grieve and dare not show my discontent” (1). I do not let my emotions get the best of me. I rule with my head and not my heart. Insetad of squandering national money on parties, I balance the budget. I rule with absolute authority but am still compassionate. Elizabeth I, author of “On Monseiur's Departure”
8. What are your feelings towards women?
I believe there is no such thing as a “perfect woman”. Everyone is flawed, and I hate when other people romanticize their lovers. That doesn’t mean I’m a misogynist, though. My mistress doesn’t fit the ideal form of beauty, “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare” (13-14). Shakespeare, author of “Sonnet 130”
9. What's on your facebook?
When I had to go on a trip to Germany, I posted “Our two souls therefore, which are one, / Though I must go, endure not yet / A breach, but an expansion, / Like gold to airy thinness beat” (21-24). I wanted to comfort my wife and show her that our temporary physical separation will not affect our love for each other. We will never be truly apart from each other because our souls are one. John Donne, author of "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"
10. Describe a teacher who influenced you most?
“[Mrs. Downes] is my shepherd; I shall not want” (1). I like to think I speak on behalf of every Renaissance man and woman when I say the Mrs. Downes has shown me the light. She is inspiring and I am left in awe every time I leave her class. I think I have learned more from one hour in her class alone than anyone has since the Bible was written. I have learned so much about poetry and poetry analysis. It’s a shame not everyone can experience her class. Author of the Bible
11. What advice would you give to the youth of today?
Time is transient. “Be not coy, but use your time, /And while ye may go marry :/For having lost but once your prime/You may for ever tarry” (13-16). You have but one lifetime, and that lifetime will not wait for you to finally pick up your sense to live it, especially when you reach the age of hoary-headedness. Live your life to the fullest while you’re still breathing and you’ll go far, kids. Herrick, author of “To the Virgins”
12. How do you feel about love?
What is love you ask? I sit here asking myself the same question everyday. I think to myself “If all the world and love were young, and truth in every shepherd’s tongue, these pretty pleasures might me move, to live with thee and be thy love” (1 - 4). If the world really did revolve around love, I would think that love is a very powerful thing. As long as we have that special person with us, love is all we need to survive. Raleigh, author of “The Nymph's Reply”