The Shepheardes Calendar was Edmund Spenser's first attempt at poetry. In the attempt to be like his role models Virgil and Chaucer, he wrote this pastoral lyric to begin his career. The poem introduces Colin Clout, a character borrowed from John Skelton, and depicts his life as a shepherd through the twelve months of the year. Soon after his publication of The Shepheardes Calendar, Spenser began writing his epic, The Faerie Queene. Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (c. ... A sculpture of Virgil, probably from the 1st century AD. Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC–19 BC), known in English as Virgil or Vergil, is a Latin poet, the author of the Eclogues, the Georgics and the Aeneid, the last being an epic poem of twelve books that... Chaucer: Illustration from Cassells History of England, circa 1902 Chanticleer the rooster from an outdoor production of Chanticleer and the Fox at Ashby_de_la_Zouch castle Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. ... Titians The Pastoral Concert Pastoral refers to the lifestyle of shepherds. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Una and the Lion by Briton Rivière The Faerie Queene is an epic poem by Edmund Spenser, first published in 1590 (the first half) with the more or less complete version being published in 1596. ...