B.A. (Hons.) Programme, English II Year

PAPER Ill: English Literature - IEdmund Spenser

Study Material : 2C

oUN

o.ifla

SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING(Campus of Open Learning)

University of Delhi

Department of English

Graduate CoursePAPER III : ENGLISH LITERATURE I

[CONTENTJEdmund Spenser

Section I1.0 Introducing Edmund Spenser2.0 Edmund Spenser and the Renaissance3.0 Cultural and Scientific Background4.0 Amoretti0 Epitlia/amion

Section II1.0 Orphism in Amoretti and Epitha/amion

2.0 Verse forms in Amoretti and Epitha/amion3.0 Spenser's Poetic Device4.0 The Triumph over Hasty Accidents

A Note on the Symbolic Mode of the Epitha/amion.

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EDMUND SPENSER AND HIS POEMS

SECTION I

1. Introducing Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser was born in 1552 in London. He had his early education in theMerchant Taylor's School in London. Mulcaster was the master of the school. Spenserwas greatly influenced by Mulcaster and the atmosphere of the school. In his poems wehave glimpses of his school days. Mulcaster encouraged his pupils not only to studyGreek and Latin, but also the English language.

Poetry had a place in the scheme of studies, and for those boys with an aptitudefor creative writing Mulcaster prescribed, wider and fuller reading of it, 'the whole booksand arguments of poets were laid before them . ...... Spenser ...... was in debt to Mulcasterfor many attitudes, and qualities we find in his character and writing enthusiasm for thewidely educated and finely trained individuals, respect for discipline and self-discipline,faith in the English tongue in all its variety, and a desire to extend and enrich thelanguage in which English poetry was written (especially by drawing on native sources),an eager ambition to produce illustrious works in English, and a zealous patriotism.' (APreface to Spenser: Helena Shire)

In 1569, Spenser, after completing his school studies went to a college atCambridge. By that time seventeen verses of his had appeared in print. He was alsogreatly familiar with - the religious controversies waging in Europe. Queen Elizabeth ofEngland was not opposed to Protestantism and she gave refuge to the Protestant Dutchand Flemings who were being ruthlessly suppressed by Catholic Spain. These refugeesbelonged to all walks of life, many of them were men of talent and skill; intellectuals,writers, poets, and master-craftsmen such as painters and engravers. "Jan Van der Noot's(A Dutch poet and propagandist) A Theatre ... became very popular in England becausethe book exhorted against worldliness and attacked the shortcomings of the RomanCatholic Church. It had both pictures and poetry and the pictures were matched to thepoetry in style. Such a printed book was known as the Emblem Book. The Theatre wastranslated into English and Spenser also translated a few verses." We see the impact ofthe style of the book on Spenser's The Faerie Queene, The Shepheardes Calendar, etc.

At Cambridge Spenser continued to write verses and was involved in the religiouscontroversies now invading England. But the 'fight was mainly intellectual'. Here Spensercultivated friendship with Gabriel Harvey, a young don of Pembroke Hall, and EdwardKirke. Harvey was devoted to the study of Latin and Greek literatures and interested inEnglish and Italian writers. Spenser describes Harvey as Hobbinol in The ShepheardesCalendar. Spenser himself is Cohn Clout. Edward Kirke perhaps wrote the commentaryof The Shepheardes Calendar. In 1576 Spenser graduated Master of Arts. Perhaps duringthe last years of his stay at Cambridge he fell in love with a young woman who featuresas Rosalind in his verses. In one of the verses of The Shepheardes Calendar Cohn Cloutlaments the loss of Rosalind.

To succeed in life and in his career as a poet Spenser needed a powerful patron.Spenser got acquainted with the Earl of Leicester, who was then a favourite of QueenElizabeth but Leicester lost favour with the Queen when his secret love affair with a lady,who he later married, was known. The Earl of Leicester could not be of much help. EvenSir Philip Sidney and Sir Edward Dyer (a friend of the Sidneys) could not be of muchhelp. Spenser found himself in financial difficulties. He was constrained to become thesecretary to Lord Deputy, Arthur Lord Grey, who was sent to Ireland by the Queen.Spenser continued to write poetry in Ireland. His The Shepheardes Calendar,Prosopopoia or Mother Hubbard's Tales were already printed. He was busy writing TheFaerie Queene.

Ireland was a source of trouble to England. The Irish rebelled against the Britishauthority and Grey tried to suppress the revolt. Queen Elizabeth was annoyed with hishandling of the situation, and so he was recalled. Spenser did not go back with him toEngland. He stayed in Ireland and became deputy to Ludowick Bryskettclerk in Dublinto the Council of Munster. Spenser came in close contact with Sir John Norris (thePresident of Munster) and his brother Thomas. Sir John Norris is celebrated in a sonnetprefacing The Faerie Queene The Queen encouraged the English to settle in Ireland andSpenser also became a land-owner there. But he had to face many difficulties because ofhis Irish neighbour. Spenser published a volume of Complaints and a short pastoral elegy,Daphnaida. The Queen was pleased to know that he was engaged in writing anepicThe Faerie Queene and in the poem he had praised her, so he was rewarded for hisheroic poem-The Faerie Queene Books Ito III - with a pension of 50 a year as long ashe lived.

"Dazzlqd by the presence of Elizabeth, his monarch and the 'Gloriana' of hispoetry, delighted to pay tribute to the poets who served her and the gracious ladies, whoattended her, he yet was not blind to what was false or vicious in court life, flattery,conspiracy, backbiting and long suing for favour by merit that went unrewarded. Thiswhole experience was deeply moving and disturbing and he transmuted it into poetry inCohn Clouts Come Home Again. The particular and the personal experience becomesideal as he searches out the essential meaning and expresses this in moral and spiritualvalues. Pastoral tradition offered him the perfect vehicle: two favourite themes of thepastoral are intertwinedthe shepherd's journey from 'shepherd-land' to sophisticatedsociety and back (with meditation on the experience), and the singing match whereshepherds sing in contest on the theme of love. The stay in England had included timespent in wooing Rosalind and the wooing had not won acknowledgement of his devotionin love returned, but his faith in love is unshaken, his devotion undying. This poem is anexploration of love on earth in all aspectsabuse of love in incestuous lust punished byoblivion, love-service of sweetheart and love-service of Queen-monarch, love conceived'philosophically' in myth of classical antiquity as a cosmic force creating and holdingcreatures in harmony, behind this last is glimpsed the working of love divine, God's lovein Christian terms. Co/in Clouts Come Home Again was written after his return to Irelandthat spring and the dedicatory letter that stands at the head of the printed poem is

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subscribed, 'From my house of Kilcolman the 27 of December, 1591 (Which is the homefor the poet now-England or Ireland ?)" (A Preface to Spenser).

Spenser's first wife (whom he had married in 1580) had died by now. He marriedElizabeth Boyle in 1594 on St. Barnabas 'tide' mid-summer, propitious as the summer 'thesolstice, the Zenith of vital energy in the universe.'

The courtship and its course of love with joys, rebuffs, delays, absence, anddelight in beauty, laughter and gracious company is written into a sonnet sequence

entitled the Amorerti. 'It is Spenser's story, but it traces for everyman a deepeningexperience of love as a discipline of the soul. And when it was printed it culminated inthe splendid celebration of love fulfilled in marriage in the Epithalamion .. . The poem is a

paean of cosmic joy in sexual vigour and fulfilment, the universal superbly at one withthe particular and personal' (A Preface to Spenser). Amoretti and Epithalamion wereprinted in 1595 and in 1595/96 the revised edition of The Faerie Queene Books I to IIIand new edition of Books IV to VI appeared in print.

By this time Ireland was in a state of turmoil. The Irish rebels and the Spaniardsjoined hands to fight the English. Queen Elizabeth sent an expedition under Raleigh and.the Earl of Essex to defeat Spain's plans and to dismantle the possible second SpanishArmada. They returned in triumph but the Queen was not pleased with the expedition.Meanwhile Spenser ever loyal to the house of Leicester and Essex, praised 'the heroicparts' of Essex in the Prothalamion, which was written in honour of a betrothal that washeld in Essex House. Spenser wrote a political treatise A Vue of the Present State ofIreland in which he criticised the crown-policy and thus created a great furore. Thetreatise was entered for printing in 1598 and was not printed eventually.

In Ireland the authorities were at cross purposes. The Lord Deputy SirWilliamRussell and Sir John Norris, the Vice-President of Munster, did not see eye to eye. SirRussell followed a policy of appeasement to befriend the rebellious Irish people but SirNorris concentrated his whole attention on

raising an army to crush the rebellion. InOctober 1597, Spanish Armada was scattered by autumn gales. The Irish rebels underTyrone defeated the English army at the Battle of Yellow Ford. This encouraged the Irisharmy to fight the English, who were not well prepared for this eventuality. The Englishhad to flee and Spenser's house and estate were stormed and looted by the IrishpeopleSpenser and his family had to go back to England. Two weeks after Christmas

of 1598 Spenser died at Westminster.

2. Edmund Spenser and the Renaissance

Edmund Spenser is considered by many critics as a poet of his age. 'His life spannedthe crucial decades from 1552 to 1599, during which the process of assimilating theachievements of the continental Renaissance rapidly intensified, and radically altered -English culture.. .Spenser did not simply swallow his sources and influences; likeChaucer and Wyatt before him, though in a different manner, he took a critical stance

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toward the more idealistic and Neo-Platonic manifestations of the Renaissance in Franceand Italy' (from Introduction to Spenser, a Collection of Critical Essays edited by HarryBerger, Jr.)

According to Berger there are four aspects of the Renaissance imagination. Thefirst aspect is "the new dignity of fiction and make-believe, the new interest in the abilityof poet or artist to create a relatively autonomous yet explicitly artificial and imaginaryworld, the second world or second nature." This second world- the imaginary world- wasenvisaged by Leonardo da Vinci and Sir Philip Sidney and others. Why second ? Godcreated the first world, in this world man found himself. It was the world of reality, theworld of actuality. It included angels, stars, planets, men, kingdoms, trees, elements etc.But the second world could be created imaginatively. This world need not be bound byactuality- it could be independent of all actual boundaries, it could be an idealised placeor space' where 'the mind may project its revised and corrected images of experienceand where the soul may test and enlarge itself- such a notion lies at the roots of a varietyof phenomena identified with the renaissance enterprise.' In a way imagination wasgiven free hand to choose its material from various sources to assimilate them and createsomething new and 'ideal'. The sources included 'the theory of perspective in art, thegradual return to an Aristotelian emphasis on the plot as the center offiction and to theNeo-platonic enhancement of this idea in various descriptions of the diversified unity ofthe godlike poet's creation, the development ofpastoral as a simplified and experimentalplay world, and the corresponding development in scientific thought of the idea ofexperimental method in connection with the idea of a closed world, that is, a speciallycontrolled environment into which the experimenter temporarily haswithdrawn., (Introduction H. Berger, Jr.)

This second world provided opportunities to many artists to escape the harshrealities of life- despair and disappointments- and also 'to indulge fully and legitimatelythe mind's absolute impulses towards total knowledge and power, utopian visions, anduniversal harmony' (H. Berger. Jr.) The artists were aware of the fact that this making-believe could provide a limiting frame within which they could 'abandon themselves topleasures or seriousness with all the more intensity.' They were also conscious of thetensions and interrelations between fiction and actuality. The artist stressed 'the reality ofillusion, the self-sufficiency of artice' and thus the reader or spectator could be involvedin his experience- the reader/spectator was either involved or detached. The artist couldtake him to his second world and make him part of the world if he so liked, and thereader/the spectator was always aware of the co-relation between the artists' second-world of make-believe and the actual-world. He was conscious of the boundaries betweenart and life. 'The artist and the reader then cross and re-cross the boundaries of the firstworld and the imaginary world time and again.'

Closely connected with the imaginative creation of a world of make-believe is thesecond aspect of the Renaissance imagination. This is "an interest in experimenting withthe stylistics and semantics of visual and verbal presentation, communication andsymbolism." The poets and artists experimented with various kinds of imageslogical,rhetorical, pictorial, theatrical, allegorical, emblematical, symbolical, typographical and

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so on. We discern in their works skilful interplay of various image-genres like similitude,metaphor, symbol, allegory, emblem, and personification and also a continual flux fromone to another.

The third aspect of the renaissance imagination is 'a concern for precise definitionof the spirit of the age- a concern for the culture's self-image. The second world is self-sufficient and romantically unreal- it is different from the actual or first world Thus itmay frequently be used as a reflecting or refracting surface 'to beam back the image ofthe first world ' The Renaissance thinkers tried to create this rich and significant newworld-second world- to identify 'the quality of their age with their image of its quality'-the ideal image of the world could be thus preserved from 'the depredations of chance,change and ignorance and thus it could be presented to the future untainted:

The fourth is an outcome or rather a development of the third one. It may bedefined as 'the development of historical consciousness, the self-generated ideas ofcultural renaissance as a blueprint for action. It included the revival of learning. Theinteraction between the past and the present-between the self-then-and there and self-here-and-now- is the central issue of the Renaissance imagination. The classical 'other'and the Renaissance 'self are brought together- the other is presented as an exemplaryideal and then this ideal is superseded by the Renaissance present. As there is a crossingand re-crossing of boundaries of the actual world and the make-believe second world inwritings, there is an encountering of the world of the medieval and classical and theRenaissance- the three worlds have distinctive characteristics of their own, and yet theydo interplay and intermingle in the Renaissance period The Renaissance artist is awareof the distinctness of different periods of history and this awareness is exhibited in hisworks where we note that these periods with their universes of cultures encounter eachother in dialectical play.

In Spenser's poems we discern all the aspects skilfully blended. Broadly we may putthese aspects into two groups. (a) The first and second aspects concern the creation of anew world- an imaginary world with the help of various poetic devices. (b) The other twoare concerned with the historical presentation of the world- the second world vis-a-visthe actual world, the past vis-a-vis the present.

As critics of literature we often use the term 'world' to denote the world of a poet,a novelist or a dramatist. The term 'world' then implies the world created by the poet, thedramatist or the novelist. It means the fictional world. 'Now this fictional world need notbe an unreal world- it may be the real/actual world transformed into a fictional world bythe imagination of the writer. This fictional world is also known as the 'second world'. InSpenser's time the second world was given cognisance. Let us look at Spenser'sEpithalamion. The poem is autobiographical and historical in the sense that Spenser iswriting about his beloved- the woman- he is going to marry. But it is not a meredescription of a real incident it is something more. The world of the poem is bothimaginary and fictional.

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The poet describes his wedding and while describing it he transcends the presentand the real and presents to us an idealised picture of beauty (physical and spiritual), love(worldly and heavenly), and happiness (physical and spiritual). Consequently, toappreciate the poem we (the readers) have to forget the real world and go along the poetto the world which he is unfolding in the poem. Then only we are able to share hisexperiences and enjoy the music, the images he is deploying to create the fictional world"The fictional world expects us to give ourselves wholly to the presented experience andto respond as if the work before us is all there is. And since the word fiction connotessomething made as well as something made up, we may expect fictional experiments to bemore completely articulated, more vivid and coherent, than any counterpart in actual4Th" (Introduction H. Berger Jr.)

The world of the poet varies from poem to poem. It depends on what sort of poemhe is writing. Spenser's minor poems the Amoretti, the Prothalamion and theEpithalamion are subjective- in the sense they are personal or quasi-autobiographical.They are lyrical, they are less fictional and imaginary. In them the speaker is his owncharacter. The narrative experience happens mainly to himself But his major works likeThe Shepherdes Calendar, The Teares of the Muses and Mother Hubbard's Tale arenarrative poems. In these poems the poet 'impersonates or tries out various kinds ofconventional attitudes in order to present through first-person enactment their strengthsand (more often) their limitations'. Other minor poems Virgils' Gnat, Muiopotmos, CohnClouts Come Home Again, and Fowre Hymnes, embody various combinations of thesetwo forms of subjectivity- the personal and the impersonal. Spenser, in various ways,deals with the relation between life and poetry. He also shows "the dilemma of a mantorn between the urge to write poems and demands imposed by love, mutability,vicissitude, society and sheer survival in a world dominated by knaves, fools and ficklepatrons.' The poems portray both the actual and the fictional. worlds- the brazen worldsurrounding the poet and the imaginary Faerie world. In lyrical poems the poet gives ventto his personal feelings and experiences which he has had in the first world- these poemsperform various functions of poetry - re-creative, plaintive and normal. But to create thesecond world- the idealised dream world - the poet takes recourse to epic mode 'thenbreaks free of the limits of actuality and translates his concerns into the narrative thatunfolds his model universe. 'In the Faerie Queene 'the voice and the problems of the lyricspeaker- as Spenser (personal) and Cohn (impersonal)- penetrate the second world ofFaerie and make increasing demands upon our attention.'

(Based on Berger's Introduction.).

3.0 Cultural and Scientific Background

To understand the poetry of Spenser it is necessary to know his poetic,philosophic and scientific background. You may get a detailed description of thebackground in A Preface to Spenser by Helena Shire published by Longman London andNew York. Since it may not be possible for all of you to get hold of a copy of the book,we have summarised some of the things.

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3.1 The Concept of Space and Place in Spenser's time

It was believed that God created the universe to a grand design, harmoniouslyordered. The earth was the centre of the great cosmos (macrocosm) and man was made toa pattern that corresponded to the greater one. Man was the culmination of creation.Man's place could be gauged in terms of his relationship with the universal order, hisdistance from or nearness to God.

The universe was spherical- the figure of perfection- it was a great round framehanging on two immovable hooks (the poles) and contained eleven heavens and spheres.Each sphere and heaven had its own intelligence or activating force. From the centreoutwards they were arranged thus- the earth, the moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars,Jupiter, Saturn. The eighth sphere was of the fixed stars- the firmament of Genesis. Thecrystal heaven was the ninth and the tenth, the first moveable, and the eleventh theheaven where God and his angels dwelt.

The ethereal region formed the higher and upper part. It enclosed the elementaryregion. The elementary region was actually below the moon's sphere (sublunary) 'inwhich are all corruptible bodies and things harmed by diverse alternations- except the'mind of man'. Man was the chief of the order of creation, below him in order rankedbirds, beasts, fish, trees or plants and stones. Each rank had its own peculiar excellencies-the plant had growth, the beast had senses and man reason. Man's soul had three powers:vegetable life he shared with plants, the life of the senses he shared with beasts and thereasonable soul made him akin to the angels above.

Man was born to use all the created things. It depended on his reason how to divinethat use and put it into action. Each created thing had its peculiar property, which mancould know through the implanted clues in the properties. (for instance the shape of thewalnut resembled the brain, so it could be used as a medicine to cure brain disorders).

The 'elementary' region consisted of four elements- fire, water, earth and air. Theseelements were always in motion- fire and air moved upwards, but earth and water moveddownwards. These elements were present even in man, in the form of choler, phlegm,blood and melancholy. Their proportion varied from individual to individual,consequently people's temperaments were different. Man's fate and temperament weredetermined by the elements, which were in turn determined by the disposition of powerin the heavenly bodies at the moment of his birth. But this did not mean that man wascompletely a puppet of fate or stars. He was endowed with reason that enabled him tochange and govern his behaviour and action. The disposition of power in the heavenlybodies was calculated in the terms of the day of the week. Each day had its guardian orruling planet. 1. Sunday-Sun, (the Lord's day) 2, Monday-Moon 3. Tuesday-Mars. 4.Wednesday-Mersury. 5. Thursday-Jove (Jupiter) 6. Friday-Venus. 7. Saturday-Saturn.Even the 24 hours of the day belonged to the sun. The cycle was repeated. The day wasdivided into two halves - from the sunrise to the sunset 12 hours, from the sunset to thesunrise 12 hours. In those days 'clock hours' of time was not numerically measured.

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The good or bad influence of each planet on human beings etc was determined bythe nature of the lord of the planet, enumerated by the antiquity writers of Greece, Rome,Egypt, India etc. Saturn and Mars were malignant planets, Jupiter and Venus benignant.The Sun and the Moon were half good and half evil while -Mercury was good in thecompany of good planets, bad in the company of malignant ones. Each planet had itsspecial relationship with other planets- so man's personality, temperament, profession andbehaviour to a large extent depended on the planetary combinations at the time of hisbirth. Each planet had its own weapon, insignia, emblem. Spenser was aware of all theseaspects of astrology and astronomy and has used his knowledge in his poetry, particularlyin The Shepheardes Calendar, and The Facrie Queene.

It is interesting to remember that Copernicus had already (1536-1543) refuted theage-old concept that the earth was the center of the universe, and a fixed planet. He hadshown that cosmos was self-centered and the earth moved round the sun. But this newconcept was not accepted by the thinkers and writers of those days because they had greatfaith in Ptolemy, Aristotle and other ancient writers who maintained that the Earth was inthe middle of all the planets and was immovable. Even the Holy Scriptures affirmed thefixedness of the foundations of the earth. 'Men's minds were not yet ready to relinquishthe old philosophy.'

Since the Middle Ages, the sense of the space and place on the surface of theearth had changed vastly. New lands and continents with varied cultures and civilisationshad been explored. India, the USA and Africa were discovered. The discoveries broughtrichness and wealth to Europe and there was vigorous interest in mathematics as an aid tonavigation, in geometry as an aid to cartography. The Englishmen knew about oceans andlands and savages also.

In Book IV of the Faerie Queene Spenser scans the known world from theGanges, to rich Oranochy, though but known late.' Queen Elizabeth is depicted not onlyas the Queen of England, France and Ireland but also the Queen of Virginia.

3.2 Time

In the old philosophy space, place and time were God-created and God-given. Butnew dimensions were given to the ancient time-concept in the Renaissance period. In thedynamics of the sacral universe time had two aspects - the cyclic and the sacral. It wasput into motion at the creation, consequently it had cyclic pattern, day and night, the lunarweek, the solar year with its months and Zodiac signs were accepted by all. The cyclicmotion of time was a manifestation of God's law and on its proper motion dependedman's survival. The agricultural crops got associated with the cycle of season-consequently months, seasons were also assigned their characteristics corresponding tofour elements. Thus 'Man was in touch with cosmic rhythm and visualised his life-span asoffour seasons with the year, seven ages with the planets or twelve phases correspondingto the months.'

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Not only the Greeks, the Romans and the others believed in the course of the yearas ordained by God, but also the Christian church had (has) its own concept of the yearwith its seasons such as Advent, its great days of Christmas and Easter, many a festival ofoccasions, Saints Day etc. In February fell the old pre-Christian feast of the returning sun.Then the Purification of the Blessed Mary - the Feast of Candle-mass was celebrated.What is important to remember is that both Christians and non-Christians believed in thegrand universal plan.

In Spenser's The Shepheardes Calendar and the Faerie Queene (Book VI) theseconcepts of time and space have been beautifully blended. In the Faerie Queene theChristian concept of the course of year has been enriched by linking it with an apt mythof antiquity. For example for April the Zodiac steed is the bull of Jove's Love for Europa.

If the cyclic time is measured by calendar, the second aspect (the sacral aspect) oftime is measured from creation to Doomsday. Cosmic time began 'at the creation andtime on earth began for man with his fall from grace. Then it moved from the dark periodof Old Testament to the Flood, with a second chance for man in Noah and the promisegiven, then onwards and downwards through the ancient world of the old law, but withvoices of prophets foretelling the coming of Christ and with His early pedigree tracedthrough chosen figures to culminate in His earthly mother, Mary.'

Time began anew with Christ's birth, Anne Down, and the epoch of the NewTestament it initiated. The thirty years of his life on earth had special significance andevents in his life were envisaged as prefigured in earlier time: the imperfect pattern ofAbraham's sacrifice of Isaac was fulfilled in God's sacrifice of his son at the Crucifixion.This was the true type; the near sacrifice of Isaac the anti type, the forerunner. Fromcrucifixion onwards the new pattern of redemption promised to the sinners held good forall Christians, and saints and martyrs bore witness to that.

According to this time scheme man in Elizabethan Christendom was still fallenman but there was still a hope for his redemption. He was endowed with wit or reasonWhich had its portion of the divine and reason could help him to know good and todiscern virtueGod's purpose for him. Man's life span was ordained but his course ofaction was his own-and so he had the advantage of working and living for his salvation.The salvation he could attain, partly through his work and mainly through his acceptanceof the gift of God's grace.

This scheme is used in Spenser's poetry-particularly in the Faerie Queene Book I,in Spenser's days time began to be measured with clocks and astrological calculation oftime-pattern was not given much importance. Consequently people were more concernedwith the passage of time, the span of time and life than with astrology. Spenser could notignore this. In The Shepheardes Calendar he celebrated the twenty-first year ofElizabeth's reign and Epithalamion celebrated his marriage which was solemnised in hisforty-second year.

The passage of time according to Renaissance thinking could be stopped bycreating a worlda second world imaginativelydifferent from the mutable first worldof actually. In this second worldin the world of the poet and the artisttime cannotdestroy everything, Poetry could immortalize what seemed to be mortal by using certaindevices, linguistic, semantic, metaphorical, allegorical etc.the reader could be easilymade to forget the 'present' and be transported to the world--a new-world.

Poetry could itself transcend time and confer 'deathless name'. "It could celebrateheroic endeavour in heroic poem, the most important kind of poetry as theRenaissance. It could celebrate the noble line, as Spenser did the line of Dudley,Earl of Leicester... Poetry could satisfy the need to feel the present moment inrelation to time, which has been claimed as a key characteristic of Renaissanceman: Spenser, gave 'durance perpetuate' to year 1579 in his Calendar, to the dayof his own wedding in Epithalamion." (A Preface to Spenser)

3.3 Concept of Number in Spenser's poetry

The study of numbers or Numerology was a popular fashion of the intellectuals ofthe Renaissance and the Middle Ages. 'Derived from the wisdom of the antiqueworld-Greek, Egyptian, Jewish and Arabic, and developed ,

and elaborated through theDark and Middle Ages, numerology had become imbued with Christian doctrine'.Edmund Spenser, like other great thinkers, was not only interested in numerology as 'artmathematical' but also employed numbers in his verse.

Numbers had two main aspects (1) philosophical or Pythagorean (2) astronomical.They were inter-related. Number was created by God and was fundamental to universalorder as all numbers emanate from 'Unity which is God and Mind.'

Unity or number one 'is associated with truth, the light, the guiding principle ofthe cosmic mind and of the individual mind.' One is a single number from whichproceeds more-than-oneness or diversity. Double implies duplicity or multiplicity orfalsehood. One is thus no number and in the planetary week one stands for the sun.

Two is a female number, is related to body 'the order of nature, of earthlyexistence and values: it is the number of the moon and sublunary regions.'

Three unifies one and twounity and diversitythus it is a number of harmony.It is a magical number, is associated with Trinity-Christian Trinity. Number three was amale number and had a generative power. "The threeness of the triad is widely used bySpenser as a pattern of composition both in the form in his heroic poem and within itsnarrative as a pattern of 1. Unfolding into three aspects, for instance the three sons ofNight, Sans Foy, Sans Loy and San Joy.' Its planet is Mars.

Four is a cosmic number of concord-(2+2 or 2x2), the world order was created outof four elements, then there were 4 quarters of the world, four rivers of paradise, It is anumber of stability. It is associated with Mercury.

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Five comprises 3+2 (odd numbers are male numbers Sand even ones are female).So it is a mixture of like and unlike, a number of wedlock, a just relation of man andwoman. Mans number (3) is higher than woman's (2). It is a number of Justice and of asovereign power. Jupiter is its planet.

Number Six is a multiple of 20, associated with sexual love and procreation. Itbelongs to planet Venus. It is a number of love, procreative power, of peace and plenty.

Number Seven is a prime number, is 'the key to the universe' in ancient love. It isthe number of days in the lunar week and is the number of days of creation preceding 8 inChristendom. It is a figure of change. Saturn is its planet.

Number Eight--a number of regeneration and of resurrection, of eternityis the8th day of creation and of the Holy Sunday when Christ rose again.

Number Nine is the perfect form of the perfect 3, the number of spheres, and ofthe sphere of the angelic hierarchy.

Number ten is the number of completion, of toes and fingers, of the TenCommandments.

Eleven stood for sin, it transgressed the ten of the Decalogue. Judas was thenumber eleven disciple of Christ.

Twelve is the multiple of 2, 3, 4 and 6 so it was considered a number ofcompletion, order and stability. Aristotle wrote about 12 cardinal virtues and there weretwelve apostles.

Numbers also stood for metrical composition in Elizabethan period. Poetic lineswere measured by counting feet or syllablesmeasuring implied proportion andharmony. A poetic device underlined the processi of bringing words into a scheme ofproportion and harmonyan order.

Number was closely linked with the form.of a poem, and could contribute towardstotal meaning. For instance "the central line (Line 478) of Cohn Clouts Come HomeAgaine voices the heart of the poemwhile other lines pivot on it. The central line ofMilton's Paradise Lost shows 'Sons of Man.' In Prothalamion the number of stanzas andof lines in its stanza belong to the poem's subject and purpose. In Epithalamion Spenseruses number as an ordering and activating principle in poetry. The number of st.;:nzs areclosely linked with the hours of the day and as:ronomy. Spensermarried in southernIreland at St Barnabas tide. June II, midsummer in the old Julian calendar. Hecelebrated in poetry his own wedding, making for his bride a song in lieu of manyornaments. It is not only a lovely and moving account of the wedding-day and night thatmade the marriage timeless in poetry, it is also 'the thing that may the mind delight.' The

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ceremony, the 'doing' of the day is, through the poet's devising, keyed into the rhythms ofthe universe."

"The course of Epithalamion corresponds symbolically in one way to the passageof a day and in another to that of a year, beyond that it is made to belong to the greatermotions and conformations of the cosmosThe poem has twenty-four stanzas for thehours of a day and night, but the houi; attendant on the bride are also the hours of theclassical myth; the sidereal hours as the term is still used in modem astronomy. EachStanza is an arrangement of long lines and short and the long lines number 365 for theyear's days; the short lines, Hieatt suggests, are of a number and distribution to rendertimes divisions.

"In the course of the poem hours run from sunrise onwards. The change from dayto night is marked at a key point by a change in the refrain from positive to negative. Thewoods shall to me answer and my Echo ring' becomes at stanza 17 'The woods shall nomore answer nor your echo ring' This division at the proportion of 16+17+ correspondsto the actual proportion of day light hours to hours of darkness obtaining on midsummerday at the latitude of southern Ireland. Date and place have been rendered in universalterms through the form and the wording of the poetry; the mediating power is numberthis act and ceremony of love and marriage looking to procreation, was performed at themid summer solstice, which is the Zenith of the Sun's power of transmitting cosmicenergy.. The poem made to celebrate the act and ceremony is itself an energy system ofnumbers(poetry) in which number of the cosmos is an activating principle. Act, date andplace of actuality are through the operation of 'numbers' and number in activecommunion with cosmic rhythm. What was individual and personal, unique andtransitory, is now organically related to 'endless time, and is auspiciously in touch withcosmic power. "(A Preface to Spenser).

3.4 Concept of Man

Although Christian doctrine that man was a 'fallen being' was accepted bySpenser, he combined this concept, like other thinkers of the Renaissance and Classicalage, with that of the antiquity, "Man was created in the image of God. The beauty ofman, the microcosm, the wonder of his proportions, had been revealed in the world of artthrough contact with the values of the classical sculpture... The new weight on humanvalues-humanism-was linked with scholarship of classical languages, literature andphilosophy... The ideal of the man of active virtue was derived from the ethics ofAristotle. Man as an image of God became more important than the man fallen or man tobe redeemed."

To attain perfection man must imbibe in virtues-divine virtues. These virtuescould be acquired if we begin to love the universe. It was accepted that "God created outof love and all embracing love provided the dynathic of the universe ... Man aspiredtowards union with the divine.,,." The doctrine of love as a dynamic of the sacral universegave a new meaning to physical love. Earlier the physical love was considered anobstacle to the course of divine love. But now "physical love, response to the beauty of

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the senses, was seen as a possible first step in aspiration to love of the highest. Beautywas a divine Idea in the material object; and love was the perception of the Idealovefor the fair human beloved was for the lover a stair, to climb up to another far higherlovethus love for a particular beauty or one woman becomes universalit is no morephysical but it becomes spiritual, sacred and holy. Thus the Christian concept of love andNeo-Platonic concept of lov& are merged,in the poetry of Spenser, Consequently the endof loving is the union with the beloved in Christian marriage and procreation ofchildren-beauty's print of form on matter." (Source-A Preface to Spenser by HelenaShire)

4. AMORETTI

Amoretti is a collection of 89 sonnets and forms a unit of Epithalamion. Amorettiand_Epithalamion were published in 1595. Amoretti sonnets are inspired by FrancescoPetracas (Petrarch's) 366 Rime Sparse (Canzoniere), completed by the mid 1350 andDante's Vita Nuova. Petrarch's Rime deals with the theme of love, and is believed to beaddressed to the poet's or the speaker's beloved, Laura. Whether Laura was an imaginaryor real character is a controversial issue, but there is no doubt that the Rime is a collectionof "precisely focussed statements about the poet's relationship with God, beauty,intellect, appetite and so on."

In Amoretti, like silver poets of England and French soimeteers, Spenser dealswith the theme of.Love, rather with the theme of courtship. Following the traditionalcourtly love, the lover poet woos his beloved with humility, courtesy, adultery andworship. Spenser's Amoretti attracted earlier, critics to its autobiographical details,because in this sonnet sequence, the poet lover is not wooing an imaginary character nora courtly Lady, but a lady, Elizabeth Boyle, whom he later married. The beloved isglorified, idolised, idealised and is presented as a symbol of physical and spiritualperfection, an ideal woman, an angel, a sovereign, a celestial being, the lover under herinfluence changes into an ideal man, a perfect man.

Apart from personal notes, the critics have also found in this sonnet-sequence theimpact of Platonism and neo-Platonism- the idealising of love, raising it to divinity andunifying the whole universe within this 'love' make the work a unique poem a poemwhich presents a model courtship to be initiated and followed by generations of lovers.2

Some critics later read the work "as a Neo-Platonic structure Lhe iover'sattainment of, and failure to attain recognition of his beloved as a manifestation of divinebeauty." (Douglas Brooks - Davies's Edmund Spenser: selected shorter poems). Theyfound that Spenser's Neo-Platonism was influenced by Baldassare Castiglione'sCortergiano (The Courtier, 1528 translated into English in 1561) and the Italiansonneteer Tasso (1544-95), himself. a Platonist writer.

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According to Douglas Brooks- Davies Amoretti 's sonnet nos. 1, 3, 7, 10, 11, 26,35, 39, 40,45, 61, 72, 79, 81 and 88 are excellent illustrations of the impact of neo-Platonic doctrines of love. But the sonnet sequence is much more than a love poem. Hewrites:

As a way of explaining the world, and its relation meditated by the humanintellect to the deity neo-Platonism was a complete symbolic system that saw theeffects of the divine percolating through angels, constellations, planets, plants andmusic (to..... but a few.)......' Amoretti 's numerology belongs to that systemand so does much of its imaginary....

For example, in sonnet 64, line 6, Spenser mentions the flower rose, whichsymbolises transience and the fragility of love, but it has other meanings also. As theflower of Venus it also signifies "love as the manifestation of the procreative urge(Plato's and neo-Platonism's earthly Venus or Aphrodite Pendemos) and/or as themanifestation of our loving to be at one with the divine (Plato's Aphrodite Ourania orHeavenly Venus)". We discern the impact not only of the contemporary emblematists butalso of Agrippa 1651 (the English translation of the work of a celebratedevennotoriousearly sixteenth century 'Occult philosopher who combined numerological,astrological, medical, animal and plant lore, together with the Jewish mysticalinterpretative tradition known as cabbala, and angelology, into what is in many ways atypical neo-Platonic mix.) on the usage of imageries in these sonnets.

Amoretti 's very fabric is neo-Platonic partly because neo-Plafonism fashioned thelearned contemporary thought and partly because Spenser belongs to the Sidney groupfor sometime and as we know "Sidney combined firm Protestantism with a considerable.interest in Platonism". (Brooks-Davies).

Brooks-Davies argues "Spenser reveals himself in Amoretti as Sidney andShakaspeare do in their sonnets- to be a l'udic pragmatist. If he echoes Petrarach with aneye on the Neo-Platonising commentators, he can also deconstruct Neo-Platonicattitudinising with considerable glee; the reader is never fully sure how serious Spenser isbecause his narrating persona is so aware of the essential ludicrousness of the rituals ofcourtship and the contemporary vocabulary that the Petrarchan Neo-Platonic voguedemanded for it" (Refer to sonnets 88, 76 and 77. Is the poet idolising 'love' or thebeloved (her body) or he desires to manhandle it?)

During the post Reformation period the institution of marriage had perhaps lost itssacramental importance, but it did gain importance because of the rigidity of Roman.Catholicism's commitment to monasticism and a celibate priesthood: Protestantismprovides another magic component of Amoretti thinking. We are reminded that the lover(the bridegroom) and the beloved (the bride) are not merely the representative of Adamand Eve (in paradise) but they also symbolise Christ and the Churchmarriage "signifiesunto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church". The lover's craving forhis mistress's love echoes the Calvinistic assurance that one cannot earn divine graceitis either bestowed or not. (Am. 10, 38, 41, 46, 48, 69, 84.)

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Amoretti sonnets celebrate courtship (sonnets 1-67) then betrothal (68-69) butdoes not end in marriage. The lovers are separated for sometime the theMe of 'love'culminates in marriage in Epithalmion. Courtship, betrothal and marriage (Arnortti andEpithalamion) form "a triad that emulates, like the dance of the three Graces, liumanity'relationship through love, with god." Spenser also points out that marriage has anoth&rdimension also it involves compromises of individuality, liberty and captivity (sonnEt67) as well as misogyny (sonnet 2, 53). Breaking away from the chventiOhallove/courtly love poetry. Spenser addresses his sonnets to, his bride, Sidney and Petrarchand other poets presented the beloved as an unattainable beingby being alreadymarried.

Another factor that makes Amoretti and Epithalamion a unique unit is its spatialstructure. Dunlop and his followers (1969, 1970) have shown how like Petrarch's Rima,Amoretti is structured "in accordance with numerological principles derived from thechurch calendar for the period from Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent) to EasterSunday." According to Dunlop Anioretli follows a scheme derived from the liturgicalcalendar for 1594. Amoretti sonnet 62 marks the new year beginning on March 25, eachsonnet following stands for a day leading to the Easter Day sonnet, 68.(31 March 1594).Counting backward we reach sonnet 22 ('This holy season, fit to, fast and pray),signifying Feb 13, (Ash Wednesday in 1594). Thus the symmetrical scheme is - 21sonnets (1-21), 47 sonnets (22 to 68 - the Lent-Easter sequence) 21 sonnets (69-89). Thisis the way Dunlop explains the Amoretti scheme. But later critics have included theanarcreontic verses and Epithalamion into the scheme. Fowler discovered that sonnets 35and 83 were identical. He modified Dunlop's scheme thus 34+1 (Am. sonnet 35) + 47(36-82) + 1 (Am 83) + 34 (6 sonnets - 84-89) + 4 anacreontics +24 (the total stanzas ofEpithalamion.). Following Renaissance authorities, Fowler argues that 89 sonnetsrepresent 89 days-(the winter quarter of the year), added to 89, 4 anaoreontics make thetotal 93 (the number of days in spring quarter) and Epithalamion encodes summer (itsstanzas are subdivided by short lines into a total of 92 long-lines section 92 being thenumber of days in the summer quarter.).

It is interesting to note that the Amoretti charts courtship pattered according to anumerological-calendar schemeand it relates courtship and betrothal to the winter,spring and together with Epithalamion summer seasons and also to the liturgical calenderthat refers to fasting, penitence and rebirth.

Brooks-Davies writes "Interwoven throughout are myths, allusions and echoesrelating the lover and his beloved to the bride and the bride groom of the Songs ofSolomon, to such avatars of love and self-love as Orpheus and Narcissus; and to thecertainties and fragilities of Protestant humanism (the belief that god is good andapproachable and his love manifests in our earthly power to love; all of which, is undercutby the Calvinist certainty that he is forbidding and unknowable and that we can nevermerit grace. Hence, when ones beloved froSvns and rejects, this is an emblem of one'svulnerability to damnation)"

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Spenser had started writing The Faerie Qucene before he wrote Amoretti andEpithalanon. He had to discontinue writing the epic for sometime in order to producehis sequence thus permitting private love to supersede the affirmation of his public loveto his monarch. It was a coincidence that his beloved's name was Elizabeth (Boyle) also,we do find echoes of his relationship with his queen, when he describes his distance fromand he expresses his desire to win his beloved's favour. "He compensates by creatingcontrolling, vituperating, adoring and textually mastering his beloved fantasing as hedoes so about both Elizabeths. In Sonnet 75 the waves wash away the inscribed nameElizabeth. Is the poet referring to the monarch when he talks about the baser thingsdestined to 'die in dust' and to Elizabeth Boyle the woman who is destined to liveeternally in her lover's verse? Here is an illustration of Spenser's skill he undermines'convention with egotistical and politically barbed wit'.

The Anioretti is thus a wonderful masterpiece of Spenser. It celebrates courtshipand betrothal, idealises 'love' and relates it to divinity. Spenser uses variousdevisesreferences, allusions and imageries skilfully and has structured the sonnetsequence on numerological calendar.

4.1 A Study of the prescribed Sonnets

Sonnet 34

Lyke as a ship that through the Ocean wyde,By conduct of some star doth make her way,Whenas a storme hath her trusty guyde,Out of her course doth wander far astray:So I whose star, that wont with her bright ray 5Me to direct, with clouds is overcast,Doe wander now in darkness and dismay,Through hidden peri )s round about me plast.Yet hope I well, thai when this storme is pastMS' Helice the lodstar Of my life

10Will shine again, and looke on me at last,With lovely light to cleare my cloudy grief.Till then I wander careftill comfortlesse,In secret sorrow and sad pensivenesse.

Explanation and Comments

In this sonnet Spenser exploits the common Petrarchan simile of a ship rocked bystorms. The simile is based on Rime 189 and 235. The lover is compared to a ship thathas lost its direction and destination because of cloudy sky and stormy weather. The pole-star which guides the ship has disappeared behind the clouds and the ship is being tossedabout in the stormy sea-waves. It has wandered far away from its destination. Thecomparison of the lover to a storm-tossed ship or its sailor who can not see the guiding

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stars ('the pole star with its group of seven stars') of his beloved eyes is commonly usedby Renaissance poets.

The poet-lover has been separated from his guiding star the beloved (whosebrilliant starry eyes have always been his guide.) Clouds of doubts, indecision andindifference have dimmed her sight she is no more interested in him or perhaps she isindifferent to him. His ship of life is unable to get out of the turbulent waters of lust andgreed. He is surrounded by darkness and disappointment darkness because she isindifferent to his feelings and disappointment because she has not reciprocated hiswishes.

Spenser through the images of the sea and the storm attempts to present sensualtemptations that separate the lover from his beloved and destroy the bodily ship. Spenserhere exploits the traditional allegory of the tempted ship of the body. There is an indirectreference to Odyssey's Scylla and Charbydis in this sonnet (line 8, 'hidden perils'). Thebeloved is a bright star. God-figure or Christ who guides the lover, ennobles him so thathe can attain divinity, reach his gcal, be united with his beloved, with his God.

There are many teiiipiations that do not allow the ship (the lover) to see itsguiding star clearly and reach its goal (destination-the beloved). The lover, like a stormridden ship, is surrounded by doubts, despair and dismay and has lost sight of the guidingstar (the beloved) that used to direct his life (the ship) with its bright rays. He has driftedaway from her and is in a precarious situation. Here Spenser mingles the Platonic conceptof an ideal woman, (the belief of the courtly lovers that the beloved is an angel, a god, asovereign) and the Christian concept of the union of the Christ and the Church. In orderto attend divinity the lover must control his passions and desires and become pure andvirtuous. The hidden perils have been troubling him and he has lost sight of God-theguiding star. Inspite of all these problems, the lover does not lose hope forever. He stillbelieves that the starry eyes of the beloved will once again smile on him. She willrespond to his love and the storm of doubts will blow over. The Storm will abate and onceagain Helice will shine brightly.

In lines 9 to 12 the lover refers to his beloved as Helice (name given to UrsaMajor and by extension to Ursa Minor which contains the pole star). Helice, byimplication, points to the circling motion of the Ursa Major and Ursa Minor around theNorth Pole. The beloved is his Helice (the Pole star) his guide. The constellation of starshelped the navigators to steer their ships to the right direction. The beloved is the Polestar (the lodestar) the northern star which is always constant. The lover's only guide anddestination is his beloved. With the reappearance of Helice, his lodestar, all his worriesand anxieties will be annihilated. Once again his star will shine on him and his cloudygrief will be over, he hopes.

With this optimism the lover consoles himself. Till the pole star shines on him hemust patiently bear the cares and worries of life. His ship will continue to wanderaimlessly, full of cares, devoid of any contact. He will be sorrowful (sad and

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disappointed) but will bear the sorrows silently and secretly, will remain melancholic butwill not complain. -

The allusion to Helice (Ursa Major and Ursa Minor) is significant as well as witty- because (i) "Ursa Major is the stellified nymph Callisto, raped by Jupiter, metamorphosed

into a bear by Juno, elevated to Heaven by Jupiter (Refer to Ovid's Metamorphoses 2,409-530) (ii) in Dante's Purgatorio, 25, 130-2) Diana banishes Callisto/Helice for herunchastity (3) Helice recalls Helicon (Amoretti Sonnet 1,10) and (4) Helice sounds likeElise/Elisa (Refer to sonnets 74, 13 n Amoretti).

Observe the use of "carefull comfortless" and secret sorrow" repetition of 'C'and 'B' (examples of alliteration) carefull implies full of cares and worries while secretsorrow refer to the silent sufferings, without any complaints and show of sad feelings.

The sonnet has religious connotations also. The sea stands for sensual pleasuresSo long as the lover is engrossed in worldly pleasures and is goaded by stormy passions,he cannot be united with God. He must patiently bear sufferings, should not complain orgrieve. The guiding light will shine on him one day.

Once he is purified his soul is purified he will be united with his belovedhis God. Love for his beloved symbolically means love for God union with the belovedis really the union of the Church and Christ. One who patiently suffers pangs of life andcontinuously seeks his polar star Godultimately enjoys divine grace is united withhis celestial beloved.

Sonnet 67

Lyke as a huntsman after weary chace,Seeing the game from him escapt away,Sits downe to rest him in some shady place,With panting hounds beguiled of their pray:So after long pursuit and vaine assay, 5When I all weary had the chace forsooke,The gentle deare returnd the selfe-same way,Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brooke.There she beholding me with mylder looke,Sought not to fly, but fearelesse still did bide: 10Till I in hand her yet halfe trembling tooke,And with her owne goodwill hir fyrrnely tyde.Strange thing me seemd to see a beast so wyld,So goodly wonne with her owne will beguyld.

Explanation and Comments:

Sonnet 67 is "influenced in part by Petrarch's Rime 190 via Psalm 42 ('As thehart brayeth for the rivers of water, so panted my soul after thee, 0 God.") which was

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sung by newly converted as they proceeded to baptism on Easter Eve (along withWhitsun, the traditional time for baptism from the early Christian period on, as thePrayer Book 1559, 107 recalled)" (Brooks- Davies). It is also influenced by Tasso'sRime, Horace's Odes 3.23, Marguerite de Navarres Chansons Spiritelles (1547)..

In this sonnet Spenser uses a simile - the lover is compared with a hunter. Thereference to the huntsman recalls the myth of Actaeon, "the hunter who spies on Dianabathing in her sacred grove and is punished for his vision of the divine mystery by beingmetamorphoses into a deer and devoured by his Own hounds." (Ovid's Metamorphoses 3,155-252)

The weary lover compares himself with a huntsman who has been in pursuit of hisprey for a long time, but now he is weary because his game has escaped away. His chasehas been a futile one. The poet describes 'chase' as heavy chasean example oftransferred epithet it is the huntsman who is tired or exhausted for his chase of thegame has proved a vain attempt. The huntsman, seeing the prey escape, feels desperateand tired and sits down in a shady place to rest, along with him sit his hounds, who arepanting because of the 'wild goose chase' They had been relentlessly chasing theirprey in vain they have been cheated of their prey.

Similarly the lover who has been pursuing the beloved to win her over, to captureher, to make her love him, sat down, after a long pursuit and vain assay, to rest. Hepursued her for a long time and made various attempts to catch her - but failed in hismission. The dear beloved would not surrender to his wishes. He ultimately gave up thechase realising the futility of his assay. Here 'assay' has an implied meaning. He hadtried to drink or taste prematurely and unsatisfactorily and did not realise the fitness forhunting and killing 'the dear'. He tried to achieve something without comprehending itssignificance and value.

Like a greedy huntsman the lover wishes to capture his beloved forcefully. But hedoes not succeed in his aim. The beloved can not be won by passion, greed and force.The 'gentle dear' here refers both to the beloved and Christ. "In Song of Solomon 2:9 thebridegroom (allegorically Christ) is a deer and in proverbs 5, 19 the bride is referred to asthe loving hind and pleasant roe".

Realising his foolishness the deer, the huntsman (the bridegroom or the lover) satdown to rest. He observed the gentle deer returning the 'self same way'withOut anyfear and looking for the next brook where she could quench her thirst. The lines 7 and 8refer to the divine quality of love. The deer intends to quench her thirst. The deer2sdrinking is an indication of longing for God Water is emblematic of godliness and purity.Love implies purity and godliness. The lover often forgets these when he chases his goallike a hunter, like Actaeon.

There is a perceptible change in the attitude and mood of the beloved. When herealises his folly, she returns she is a gentle deer forgiving and lovinga Christfigure pure and godly. She pities the lover she looks at him gently, mildly without

IN

any sign of hatred or fear. The lover held her trembling hand and she gently yielded orsurrendered to him. "God, the beloved, the deer returns to the lover once he has realisedhis folly and repented over his unethical, immoral activity.

Reference to Christ continues in lines 9 to 12. Spenser's deer submits perhaps likeChrist, willingly incarnate and sacrificed. As Christ forgives his worshipper and yields tohis self less love, the deer (the beloved) surrenders to the lover.

"The submission of the deer is more like the submission of a woman forced toadmit her lover's .fantasy of Caesar-like greatness" The lover took her hand in histhusaccepted his responsibility to protect and discipline her. He did not force her to accept

him rather she herself voluntarily yielded to his love and nuptial knot was thus tied. Herethe submission of the (the beloved) to her lover refers to Prayer-Book, 1559, 127-8.Where it is mentioned "Ye wives, submit yourself unto your own husbands."

Spenser thus moves from the classical myth of hunting to the Christian marriage-concept. -

The poem ends on a surprise note. The lover realises the futility of hunting. Thebeast (the deer-wild and cavely) becomes docile and submissive, if she desires to do so.The beloved willingly and easily submits. The lover concludes that one need not force hiswish on his beloved. The lines echo the Prayer Book and the Calvinistic belief youcannot force God to shower love or grace on you. You have to wait patiently.

Spenser perhaps ridicules the conventional belief (the classical or mythical belief)that the lover has to be Caesar like powerful and aggressive. He exposes the futility ofaggressiveness in love. The hunter and his hounds fail to capture their prey. The lover isunable to captivate his beloved. When he realises the futility of his assay he sits downand repents. His patience and perseverance are rewarded. The beloved surrenders herselfChurch and Christ are united only when Church becomes an abode of patience. The loverrepents his action and god who had forsaken him ultimately forgives him and surrendersto him.

5.0

5.1 Introduction

Epithalarnion is a wedding song which celebrates Spenser's marriage withElizabeth Boyle. Spenser wrote it with a purpose.

Song made in lieu of many ornaments,With which my love should duly have been dect,Which cutting off through hasty accidents,Ye would not stay your dew time to expect,

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But promist both to recompens,Be unto her a goodly ornament,And for short time an endless moniment

It is evident then the poem not only celebrates his wedding but also acts as aprecious ornament for his bride. The poem is written in the Greek and Latin tradition of

Epithalamia, a literary genre. It is actually a wedding song, which describes the marriageceremony in detail. What is remarkable about Spenser's Epithalamion is that the belovedladythe brideis not merely Elizabeth Boyle but she is also a representative of real

and ideal womanhoodshe is beautiful and her physical beauty is matched with theangelic and holy beauty of heart and soul. She symbolises both perfect physical beautyand ideal spiritual, intellectual beauty. The poet's marriage with her is also a marriage ofthe two holy souls--joined together to perform the sacred duty of producing issues whoare expected to be noble and pure in temperament and action. The personal experiencebecomes impersonal, the subjective approach becomes universal. Critics have traced theimpact of the works of Greek and Roman poets and the French Neo-PlatonistS on the

Epithalamion. It seems the poet was greatly influenced by Marc-Claude de Buttet'spoems, particularly his Epithalarne, Catullus's Manlius and Vinia, Du Bellay's

Epithalame.

Like Catullus' poem and Senaca's Epithalamion Medea, Spenser's Epithalamionbegins with an invocation to the Muses and an invitation to the virgins to sing the songsof wedding. The bride is taken to the Church and then to her home with great rejoicingand the bridegroom is accompanied by boys shouting 'Hymen/0 Hymen!' Inspite of these

similarities, Spenser's Epithalamion is not an imitation of other poetic works.. The poemis autobiographical also, and it is this which distinguishes it from other wedding songs."Spenser's Epithalamion achieves a certain independence and reality by his allusions tohis earlier works in the opening passage, by his adoption of an Irish setting and by his

introduction of native folk-fore."

"It was customary for Elizabethan poets to write marriage songs and the greatest

among them, Shakespeare in A Mid-Summer Nights Dream, Ben Jonson in Hymenaei and

Donne in the Epithalamion made at Lincoln's Inn responded to the occasion with inspiredhumanity. Spenser shares this human quality in Epithalamion published in 1595. Itcelebrates his own wedding and concludes the sonnet sequence Amoretti... Its mood gainswarmth and eloquence from the personal experience underlying it, and the whole poemmakes an extraordinary rich emotional impact."

5.2 A Detailed Summary

The poem is divided into 24 stanzas. The last two lines of each stanza (exept:theconcluding one) are refrains of the wedding song.

In the first s,tanza the poet invokes the nine Muses which have come to his aidwhenever he desired to write poetry. It is the Muses who inspired him to write, aboutheroic deeds of great personalities including Queen Elizabeth, and it is because of them

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his works were acclaimed by both common men and the great personalities whose liveswere commemorated in them. Here the poet indirectly refers to his epic poem-The FaerieQueene, The Muses have extraordinary power of imagination, and talent for music.Whenever they desire to describe some tragedy, some death, or disappointment in love,or loss of fortune, they change the tune of their song and their accompanying music isthen so pathetic and heart-rendering that even the woods and the water begin to shedtears. What actually Spenser implies here is that he has not only written songs of chivalryand heroism but also songs of melancholy. He is referring to his Complaints and TheTears of Muses.

The poet in this poem does not desire to sing praises of great personalities norshed tears of sorrows. Here he requests the Muses to forget their doleful music andchivalric tunes, rather he wants them to wear garlands and wreaths of flowers round theirheads, they, have to sing songs for himthe poethe wants them to enable him tocompose, love poems which none will envy or grudge and- will surpass even the song ofOrpheus in intensity and musicality. Orpheus sang heart rendering songs (for hisbeloved's release) but the poet will sing heart warming songs (for his beloved) because heis soon going to get married. His song will be so powerful and heartfelt that even thewoods would be induced to join him and his song will be echoed all around by thewoods. Here Spenser compares himself with Orpheus, Like Orpheus's music his songshould be extremely moving and enthralling. Orpheus sang songs to win back his belovedfrom the clutches of death. But the poet will sing for his beloved. He seeks the aid of theMuses for 'thine owne loves prayes to resound.'

- The poet then appeals to the Muses to wake up very early in the morning beforeThe sun rises and spreads his bright golden light on the hill tops, thus dispersing thenights', gloomy darkness and cheerless dampness. The Muses should then wash theirfaces, be tidy and fresh, and with freshly decked head they may enter the bower of hisbeloved. He affectionately calls her 'my truest turtle lo*'. The beloved to him symbolisesconjugal fidelity and true love. The Muses may gently wake her up. 'She must get upearlyto dress herself for the wedding. The Hymenthe God of marriageis alreadyawake and is ready to begin merrymaking with masked young men who are waitingtrimly dressed to sing and dance in the torch light. Many young unmarried men havecome in their gorgeous and smart dresses to join in the merriment. The poet appeals tothe Muses to wake up his beloved so that she is dressed quickly for the happy day hasarrived, and all the pains, anxieties, worries of the past are going to be over. The lovershad to face difficulties and uncertainties during the courtship. Now their pains are goingto be rewarded with bliss and happiness. While his beloved gets dressed up, the Musesmay sing songs ofjoy, happiness and consolation. Why consolation ? They must consoleher for her earlier pains. Their song will resound in the woods.

Who else are the invitees to the wedding ?

The Muses should bring along with them nymphs of the'rivers and the greenforests, even of the sea which flows close by her home. All the nymphs should bringpleasant garlandsgarlands made of fresh blooming flowers. All the nymphs and the

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Muses will be wearing flowers and garlands round their heads and necks, and will alsobring fresh garlands for his fair love. The garlands will be made of lilies, and roses, andwill be tied with blue ribbonthe knot of love will be tied on each garland. The knot oflove symbolises great fidelity and purity. They should also bring plenty of posies andother flowers to decorate the bridal chamber. Even the ground (the floor) should becompletely covered with flowers so that her tender feet are not hurt by stones. Theflower-covered ground (floor) will appear to be meadows of various colours. Afterspreading flowers on the floor of the bridal chamber, they (the nymphs and the Muses)sing songs of love and joy, which would be echoed by the surrounding woods.

Now the poet invites the Nymphs of river Mulla, flowing by the house of hisbeloved. The river teems with silver scaled trouts and greedy pikes (species of fish). Healso invites the Nymphs of Kilcolman Lake that is known for its fresh water and fishes.(it is evident here that Spenser was in Ireland for his wedding). The nymphs must tie theirlocks of hair and make up their faces. They may do so by seeing their reflection in thecrystal clear water of the lake. They should be so well decked that his beloved is not ableto see any trace of ugliness, tiredness and weakness. The nymphs should bring along withthem the light-footed maids who tend the deer on the snow-covered mountains and chaseasay the wolves which try to prey on the deer. All the nymphs and maids then shoulddecorate his bride and sing to her songs that may echo and resound in the woods.

In the fifth stanza the poet tells us how the time is moving. It is high time thebride wakes up. Rosy Morning has already left the bed of Tithonusher lover and is readyto ride her silver coach. The Dawn is gone and the sun is shining brightly. Phoebus (theSun) has begun to show his glorious head. They must listen to the cheerful songs ofbirdsthey (birds) are the first to celebrate the joyful wedding day. They are singingsongs of love and joy, in praise of Love (cupid).

Even the happy lark is singing matin aloud, the thrush responds, the Mavis singsher song the ouzell shrills, the Ruddock warbles softly. All the birds are celebrating thewedding day through their cheerful songs.

The poet is anxious to know why his beloved is still sleeping. It is the mostsuitable time for her to wake up and wait for her bridegroom. Till then she should listento the songs of birds which are singing of joy and pleasure not only for her but also forothers-their songs echo and resound in the woods.

You must have noted that in the first stanza the poet wishes his song to beresounded and echoed. In the second and third the songs of the nymphs are echoed and inthe fifth the birds songs are resounded. Birds wake up with the early light of dawn andbegin to sing cheerfully. We can easily note how the hours are changing and how Natureand all the surroundings are participating in his joy.

In the sixth stanza the bride is awake. The poet is relieved. She is awakened out ofher dreams. The bride is not an ordinary human being. Her bright fair eyes arecomparable to the brilliant stars. In one of the sonnets in Amoreni he refers to her strong

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light, her starry eyes, A few seconds ago those star-like bright eyes were dimmed withdark-some clouds (perhaps worries and anxieties are referred to here) but now they areshining brilliantly.. Their brilliance surprises the brightness of the Hesperus (the eveningstar). That is her eyes are brighter than the beams emanating from Hesperus head.

The poet is extremely happy. He invites the young maidens, the daughters ofhappiness and joy to decorate and dress the bride. But before the maidens begin theirtask, he wishes the Hours to do their work. Here Spenser uses the phrase 'daughter ofdelight' for young maids attending upon bride when actually it is generally applied to theGraces mentioned in Line 103. Why does the poet wish the Hours to attend to his bride ?Perhaps Spenser has derived the idea from Homer's Hymn to Aphrodite where the flows,who are daughters of Zeus, welcome and receive the newly risen Venus in Cyprus,decorate her, and take her to the house of Gods. Since the poet has compared his belovedto Hesperus he intends that the Hours, the daughters of Jupiter and Night (Day and Night)should receive and deck his bride before any human being does. In fact Spenser is usingHours and Graces for the bride-maids. If the bride is an ethereal being, then the maidswaiting on her are bound to be extraordinary ones. It was customary to describe Hours,Grates and Venus in wedding songs. They are said to control seasons and have the powerto make and preserve all that is fair in the world. The Graces and Hours will sing to thebride as they did sing to Venus and their song will be echoed and resounded.

The poet is excited and delighted to see that his bride is well decorated for theoccasion and suggests to the maids to wait upon her. Now he addresses the young boysand men, who are attending on her bridegroom (the poet himself) to get ready to receivethe groom who will be coming soon. They must arrange everything in a proper way onthe cheerful day for the happy occasion. It is the happiest day for the lovers primarily butthe poet imagines that it is so for all the beings, even for the sun. The poet then appeals tothe sun to be considerate and favourablehe should not shine brightly and warmly (thelife-full heat) rather should shine gently so that the bright sun-shining face of the bride isnot burnt. Her beauty may not be disgraced. He requests the sun, the fairest and brightestsun, the father of the Muse, to show mercy to him. He argues that if he (the poet) haspraised the sun and worshipped the Muse rightly in his works and if the sun is pleasedwith him, then he (the sun) should grant him his wisha boon. He is a servant of the sunand as a servant he must be paid for his service. What is the poet's desire ? He requeststhe sun that he should allow this day, only one day, to be his (the poet's) and let otherdays belong to the sun. Why is the poet appealing earnestly to the Sun ? Read the line116 The Joy fuist ... did see. Here Spenser perhaps is referring to a superstition that a wetday is an unlucky day, and a fair one brings fortune. It is because the Sun not only givesus light but also heat to grow and generate life.. Hence its heat is 'life-full'. But the poetdoes not want the sun to shine 'fervently' it wants him to shine rightly. The sun shouldprotect his beloved, save her beauty.

In the concluding lines of the stanza the poet reassures the sun that if his wish isgranted for the day, he (the poet) would sing loudly the praise of King Sun to theworldhis song will be responded to by the woods. The sun also refers to QueenElizabeth. The poet has been writing the Faerie Queene. He tells the Queen to let him

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have the wedding day exclusively for himself and his beloved. He will complete theFaerie Queene later.

The poet wants us to listen to the loud music of the minstrels. They are singing inaccompaniment of musical instrumentsthe croud, the timbrels, and the pipeand thebridegroom is accompanied by the minstrels and young men. But, the poet observes, themusic played on timbrels by the bride's maids is more sonorous and delightful. They aredancing and singing as they play on their instrument. The boys run up and down thestreets shouting aloud "Hymen io Hymen", they are shouting so loudly that even the skyis reverberated. Such is the loudness of merry making and the tone of songs that all thepeople around approve of it and happily participate in their joy and happiness. Even thewoods are resounded by their happiness. Here in fact Spenser is emphasising the greathappiness enveloping the whole surrounding on the occasion of his marriage. The wholeuniversethe sky, the heaven and the earth, that is the firmamentis filled with joy andecstasy. Such is the happiness of the lover that he feels that the whole world, the world ofhuman beings, animals and birds, nature, is echoing his joy. Here he has universalised hisjoy.

Both the ..bridegroom and the bride are all set for the ceremony. He addresses thespectators and invitees to look at the bride who is coming out of her chamber gracefully.He compares her to Phoebe, coming out of the chamber of the East. Why does hecompare the bride to Phoebe ? Phoebethe Moon Goddesswears pure white dress andhas a youthful appearance. The young bride in her white shining dress with crowned headresembles the Moon Goddess. The poet says that the dress fits her so well and such is thegrace, charm and beauty of the bride that you (the spectators) would take her to be anangel, not a human being. Now he describes her physical appearance. Her long yellowlocks are untied and look like golden wires, they are sprinkled with pearls, and pearl-likesmall white flowers in between the pearls are to be seen. The pearls and the flowers areso well interwoven that you get the impression that she is covering her head with agolden dress. The bride is crowned with a green garland. She appears to be a Queen.

Her eyes and face express her shyness when she sees so many beholders, who arestaring at her amazing Angelic beauty and grace. She is feeling so shy that she is lookingat the ground below. Here the poet is stressing the bride's modesty, shyness and virginity.She does not lift her eyes to see around, and she blushes to hear people praising her. Sheis not proud at all. Her praise is echoed by the woods even.

In the next stanza the poet describes the physical beauty of the bride. He asks thedaughters of the merchants who have been watching the marriage procession and thebride whether they have ever seen such a beautiful, lovely, modest, meek and sweet brideas his bride is. Then he describes each organ of the bodythe eyes, the forehead, thecheeks, the lips, the breast, the neck etcin detail. He employs various images likesapphires, ivory, apples, cherries, bowl of creame, budded lilies, marble tower tohighlight her perfect beauty. The stanza is remarkable for its pictorial beauty. In thetradition of the sonneteers of Italy, France and England Spenser catalogues the beautiesof his lady. Here is true Spensarian stanza, "in which the abundant and voluptuous

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description of the brides beauty is finally interpreted as the mere outward sign of herperfect virtue. In the lines 177-80 we find perhaps the most admirable expression ofSpenser's Platonic conception of outward beauty which, he says 'heads the mind' withmany a stately stair to the seat of perfect divine virtue," The bride epitomises the perfectphysical beauty which is also an abode of honour and chastity. The maids are spell-boundby the bride's beauty and they forget to sing the wedding songs. The poet gives a jolt tothem in the concluding lines of the stanza to awaken them and reminds them to singloudly so that their songs are echoed by the woods.

He continues to talk to the daughters of the merchants. He tells them that if theywould see the heart of the brideThe inward beauty of her lively heartwhich is('garnished') well decorated with heavenly gifts, they would not be surprised at hercelestial beauty, they would not have stared at her like 'Medusaes mazeful hed.' (Medusawas a Gorgon. Minervathe Goddess, was angry at Medusa's desecration of her templewith Neptune and she cursed her with the petrifying power. It allegorically means theparalysing power of desire at the sight of great beauty.) The maidens were amazed likeMedusa at the sight of the bride.

In the heart of the bride dwells sweet love, constant chastity, unspotted faith, andcomely womanhood, the regard of honour and mild modesty, (virtues of an idealwoman). Like a Queen, Virtue reigns her heart. She is guided by virtue. Virtue is the lawto her and all her feelings and actions are controlled by virtueevil or vice can neverencroach upon her heart and tempt her mind, If they (the maidens) know her celestialtreasures and unrevealed pleasures, then they would not wonder at her matchless beautyand would constantly praise her in their songs which would be echoed by the woods.

After describing her physical beauty and her chaste and noble heart, the poetcarries the bride through the gates to the holy church where the marriage ceremony willbe performed. The holy chaste woman is to enter the churchthe gates may be openedwide to welcome her, all posts and pillars shall be decked with garlands for the sacredritualto receive and welcome the honourable saintthe bride. How does she enter theChurch ? With trembling steps and humble reverence she enters and stands before Godand Jesus. Other maidens must emulate the bride and learn from her obedience andhumility when they themselves come there to get married. He asks the maids to take thebride to the high altar where the marriage will be solemnised. Now let the organs playloudly accompanied by loud hymns in praise of the Lord. The choristers then will singloudly the Anthem, so that the woods are able to repeat them. The whole atmosphere willthus be made holy.

Now, before the altar the bride stands listening to the holy priest who blesses him(the poet) with her two hands. The bride and the bridegroom's hands are put together bythe priest. At the touch of the hand the bride blushes and her whiteness is for a fewminutes coloured with redness. Such is her excitement that the Angels rush up to her toprotect her and to peep into her pure white head and heart which they consider to be purerthan they themselves are. The bride does not lift her eyes to behold her husbands shecontinues to look at the ground because of modesty and shyness. She does not glance at

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anything lest an evil thought should enter her heart and mind. The bridegroom desires toknow why she should blush to give her hand to him, for he is going to be her husband.There is no sin in touching the husband's hand. The poet requests the angels to sing songsof praise to God, so that the woods may answer them.

You must have observed that the two stanzas discussed above are the ones inwhich there is no reference to mythology and antiquity and classical literature. AChristian ceremony is described with all its piety. The description is so vivid that weseem to see the poet and his bride standing in the holy church with pillars adorned withflowers and where the organs play loudly.

The tone of the poem changes the moment they are out of the Church. We note acontrast here. The pagan mood of the festivity breaks out. 'in a lively Bacchic stanza wehave the banquet full of true rustic profusion of meat and wine, and boundlesshospitality.'

The marriage ceremony is followed by a wedding feast. The bride is broughthome with triumph. The 'poet has been successful in his courting. Now he has married hisbeloved so he has been victorious. She is to be brought home with joy and merriment.Once again the poet expresses his great joy and happiness. It is the most blissful day forhim. It is a holy day and he wants the feast to last the whole day. They must eat and drinkand be merry. Even the door posts and walls of the house should be anointed with wine.Here is a reference to the Roman custom of anointing the house where the bride wasbrought. Both the god of wine and the god of marriage are to be crowned with garlandsand wreaths of wines and even the Graces are invited to join in the festivity-they maydance and sing. Even the house and the feast have become sacred. All the invitees mustenjoy the occasion to the full, with lots of wine and meat, songs and merriment. As thefeast continues the maidens go on singing carols which are resounded by the woods.

The poet invites the young-men of the town to participate in the merriment andthe feast. Let the bells ring and proclaim to the townsmen that it is a holiday. The young-men need not attend to their routine work. They may note down, so that the)' don't forgetthat this day the sun is at its highest, and the Barnaby is close bythe day is the longestoneafter this day the sun will begin to lose his heat and light gradually, by degrees,when once the crab is gone. The marriage took place on June 11. Here we have a glimpseof Spenser's knowledge of astronomy, astrology and geography. The poet is not veryhappy to observe that the longest day has been chosen to celebrate his marriage for thefestivity will continue all through the day. He would rather like the day to end soon.When the bells ring, time will pass fast and the day will be over, all work will stop andpeople will return home to rest. Let the bonfires be made all day. Let dance a :o': goon and the whole atmosphere be filled with joy and gaiety.

cThe poet is restless. He wants the day to end soon so that he may meet his wife.

He regrets that the time flies slowly. Now he requests the bright sun to hasten to hiswestern home. His horses are tired. They need rest. The poet sights the evening star andis glad to observe that the night is not far off it is evening now.

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He pays tribute to the evening star. She is the fairy child of beauty, she is theharbinger of joy to the lovers. The twinkling star seems to be laughing at the agony of thehusband (who is anxiously waiting for the night) and is smiling at the cheerful singers.

The night has arrived. The poet bids the maids to stop singing and dancing. Theyshould bring the bride to the bridal chamber and lay her in bed covered with linen andflowers and surrounded by silken curlains. He admires his bride who is lying in humblepride like Maia who waited for Jove in Temple. The maidens are asked to leave the brideand go to rest. They need no more sing.

The poet welcomes the night. He has been long waiting for this night. The days ofanxiety, worry and dismay in love are now-over. The lover's miseries and sufferings arehere described in the mathematical terms. The sum total of his sufferings has beencancelled forever by the events of the auspicious day. The night is requested to enwrapthem in his black robes so that none is able to see them and they are protected from perilsand honors, traps of treason and noise. Let the night be quiet and peaceful, without strongwinds and tempests and without any fights. Perhaps here Spenser is referring to thedisturbed political situation in Ireland. He wants to enjoy the peace and quiet which Jovehad with Alcmena when Hercules was born, and when he (Jove) slept with Night andMajesty was born. Now the maids and maidens must stop singing.

It was believed in ancient times that evil spirits and malignant forces influence thelives of people more at the time of marriage than at any other period of their lives. Thisbelief is assimilated in the next stanzalamenting cries, dolefull teares, false whispers,deluding dreams, dreadful sights, house fires, lightnings, mischievous witches refer toevil spirits and forces. They may torture and trouble the newly married people. The nightis requested to keep them off. Even the Puck, the Stork, the ghosts (hobglobins), the owl,the night Raven, and bewitched vultures may not be allowed to disturb them. The Puck isa genial spirit who enjoys playing tricks with lovers; the stork, the owl, the Raven, thevultures are birds of ill omen and death. They bring misfortune.

The poet appeals to Silence to keep a watch over them all through-the night bymaking the world sleep in peace. While others are fast asleep little winged cupids busythemselves in playing and snaring little birds, but the poet and his bride are not disturbedby their presence. The poet is considerate to them, he allows them to frolic about till theday dawns.

In the next stanza Cynthia (Moon Goddess) seems to peep into his room. Cynthiais busy watching people and things at night. The poet appeals to her that she need not feeljealous. Was she not in love with Endymion (the Latamian shepherd) and met himsecretly in the dark valley? Cynthia here is used deliberately perhaps. Cynthia stands notonly for the Moon but also for Queen Elizabeth. The poet is reminded of his sovereignand asks for her forgiveness, for once she herself was in love and so she need not bejealous now. Let Cynthia (Moon Goddess) bless the two with children. Let his wife bepregnant and bear children later.

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In stanza 22 Greek gods and goddesses are referred to and the poet seeks theirblessings. In the next stanza the Christian faith is wedded to the Mythological.

"The end of the Hymns links together, rather profanely, as we should thinknow-a-days, the deities of Olympus, in whom Spenser had only poetic faith, with theChristian God and the saints whom he rea