This 14-line sonnet by Edmund Spenser compares his love to fire and his lover to ice. Over the first 12 lines, the speaker questions how their differing natures have not prevented them from falling in love. He poses whether his fiery desire has melted her icy coldness or if her cold has diminished his flames. The final couplet resolves that their love has miraculously altered their natures, with love possessing the power to overcome all kinds within a gentle mind.