Spenser's grammar, in spite of its obvious archaisms and occasional eccentricities of inflection and syntax, conforms in general to the standard and usage of Elizabethan writers. Spenser differs grammatically frorn his contemporaries only in his emphasis upon certain elements of style and in the direction in which his poetic temperament and literary principles took him; in all its essential aspects, however, his grammar is as representative of the 16th century as Shakespeare's is. Differences between the grammar of Spenser and that of Shakespeare are for the most part unimportant. Compared with Shakespeare, Spenser is careful of his grammar; he rarely makes errors of case and agreement. His grammar is more formal, more learned, more self-conscious than Shakespeare's. Shakespeare's free and unregulated grammar more nearly approaches that of ordinary spoken English: Shakespeare was not constrained or influenced by any theories of diction; he had no linguistic program to carry out, no mission to perform, no mannerisms to indulge in. Spenser's form and syntax, however, are conditioned by his theories of diction, by his eagerness to enrich the language of poetry, by the limitations of his subject matter, and by the requirements of his stanza and rime scheme.