In his sonnet Amoretti, Edmund Spenser uses imagery and singular actions to depict both the difficulty of building up a relationship and the simplicity of setting it back. The speaker, much like Penelope’s suitors in Homer’s The Odyssey, spends years wooing his lover and attempting to further their relationship. The main contrast between him and Penelope, however, lies in his role as the “active lover.” In this case, it is the speaker, and not the “Damzell,” who laboriously weaves together the different aspects - or web - of their relationship. He consistently makes the effort to build up the trust and care between them, having to “begin and never bring to end” the constant cycle of wooing, only to be spurned. Though the speaker does so relentlessly, the Damzell does not share the same feelings for him, is not ready to deepen their relationship, and instead uses any means to stall and set back his progress. Spenser uses the phrases “one short houre,” “one looke,” and “one word” to show just how easy it is for the Damzell to break down all the progress the speaker has made. However, this then raises the question: what one word has the power to spurn the speaker’s “whole years work?” In the context of the sonnet, the speaker may have proposed to the Damzell, in which case the word “no” would undoubtedly bring them both to square one of the relationship. The difficulty of nurturing love is astounding (though worthwhile?) and yet, ironically, it is frustratingly simple to break down the hard work and growth involved, putting a person through the same cycle and “web” repeatedly.
I like the implications of inferring that the speaker has proposed to the woman in his poem only to be denied. Given your evidence, it certainly seems plausible. The speaker's comparison to Penelope is more poignant then, as Penelope weaves and unravels a shroud in a labor of love for a man with whom she is already married; Spenser's weaving brings about uncertain results and he lacks the comfort of having been betrothed to the one he loves. Penelope is uncertain, even doubtful, that Odysseus will return, but knows that he loves her. Spenser lacks even the most basic comforts of an even relationship but toils endlessly without sense.
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