Find and study carefully the following poems: "Blest be the day, and blest the month and year"; "Whoso list to hunt"; "Like as a ship that through the Ocean wide"; "Like as a huntsman after weary chase"; "Holy Sonnet 14." 

Then, write an interesting and orderly paper in which you discuss the poems. What do they have in common? How do they differ in structure, content, imagery or tone? Finally, according to your understanding of their excellence, discuss in some depth what you consider to be the three very best poems in the group. Rank the top three and defend your choices. 

just in case you need the poems....

::Blessed be the day::

Blessed be the day, the month, the year,
the season, the hour, the moment, the lovely scene,
the spot when I was put in thrall
by two lovely eyes which bind me fast.

And blessed be the first sweet pang
I suffered when love overwhelmed me,
the bows and arrows which stung me,
and the wounds which pierce to my heart.

Blessed be the many voices which have echoed
when I have called Laura's name,
the sighs and tears, the longing;

and blessed be all those writings
in which I have spread her fame, and my thoughts,
which stem from her and centre on her alone.


::Whoso list to hunt::

Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
But as for me, hélas, I may no more.
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that farthest cometh behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain
There is written, her fair neck round about:
Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.
-- Thomas Wyatt


::Like as a ship that through the Ocean wide::

Like as a ship, that through the ocean wide,
By conduct of some star, doth make her way,
Whenas a storm hath dimm'd her trusty guide,
Out of her course doth wander far astray;
So I, whose star, that wont with her bright ray
Me to direct, with clouds is overcast,
Do wander now, in darkness and dismay,
Through hidden perils round about me plast:
Yet hope I well that, when this storm is past,
My Helice, the lodestar of my life,
Will shine again, and look on me at last,
With lovely light to clear my cloudy grief.
Till then I wander careful, comfortless,
In secret sorrow, and sad pensiveness.


::Like as a huntsman after weary chase::

Like as a huntsman after weary chase,
Seeing the game from him escap'd away,
Sits down to rest him in some shady place,
With panting hounds beguiled of their prey:
So after long pursuit and vain assay,
When I all weary had the chase forsook,
The gentle deer return'd the self-same way,
Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brook.
There she beholding me with milder look,
Sought not to fly, but fearless still did bide:
Till I in hand her yet half trembling took,
And with her own goodwill her firmly tied.
Strange thing, me seem'd, to see a beast so wild,
So goodly won, with her own will beguil'd. 

Edmund Spenser


::HOLY SONNETS.::

XIV.

Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.