Daphnaida: An Elegie

by Edmund Spenser — a poem card from Justes Mots

Spenser's *Daphnaida* elegizes Douglas Howard, daughter of Henry Howard, tracing the grief of her widowed husband Alcyon (Arthur Gorges). Composed in 1591, this formal Elizabethan elegy employs classical allusion and sustained lamentation to honor the deceased and console the bereaved. It serves those grieving profound loss.

DAPHNAIDA: AN ELEGIE

UPON THE DEATH OF THE NOBLE AND VERTUOUS DOUGLAS HOWARD, DAUGHTER AND HEIRE OF HENRY LORD HOWARD, VISCOUNT BYNDON, AND WIFE OF ARTHUR GORGES, ESQUIER.

DEDICATED TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE LADIE HELENA,

MARQUESSE OF NORTHAMPTON.
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Themes: sympathy · grief · reflection