Brink's provocative biography shows that Spenser was not the would-be
court poet whom Karl Marx's described as 'Elizabeth's arse-kissing
poet'. In this readable and informative account, Spenser is depicted as
the protégé of a circle of London clergymen, who expected him to take
holy orders. Brink shows that the young Spenser was known to Alexander
Nowell, author of Nowell's Catechism and Dean of St. Paul's.
Significantly revising the received biography, Brink argues that that it
was Harvey alone who orchestrated Familiar Letters (1580). He used this
correspondence to further his career and invented the portrait of
Spenser as his admiring disciple.
Contextualising Spenser's life by comparisons with Shakespeare and Sir
Walter Ralegh, Brink shows that Spenser shared with Sir Philip Sidney an
allegiance to the early modern chivalric code. His departure for Ireland
was a high point, not an exile.