Spenser's The Faerie Queene Part 24

325 His owne two hands the holy knots did knit, That none but death for ever can devide; His owne two hands, for such a turne most fit, The housling fire did kindle and provide, And holy water thereon sprinckled wide; 330 At which the bushy Teade a groome did light, And sacred lamp in secret chamber hide, Where it should not be quenched day nor night, For feare of evill fates, but burnen ever bright.

x.x.xVIII

Then gan they sprinckle all the posts with wine, 335 And made great feast to solemnize that day; They all perfumde with frankencense divine, And precious odours fetcht from far away, That all the house did sweat with great aray: And all the while sweete Musicke did apply 340 Her curious skill, the warbling notes to play, To drive away the dull Melancholy; The whiles one sung a song of love and jollity.

x.x.xIX

During the which there was an heavenly noise Heard sound through all the Pallace pleasantly, 345 Like as it had bene many an Angels voice Singing before th' eternall Majesty, In their trinall triplicities on hye; Yet wist no creature whence that heavenly sweet Proceeded, yet eachone felt secretly 350 Himselfe thereby reft of his sences meet, And ravished with rare impression in his sprite.

XL

Great joy was made that day of young and old, And solemne feast proclaimd throughout the land, That their exceeding merth may not be told: 355 Suffice it heare by signes to understand The usuall joyes at knitting of loves band.

Thrise happy man the knight himselfe did hold, Possessed of his Ladies hart and hand, And ever, when his eye did her behold, 360 His heart did seeme to melt in pleasures manifold.

XLI

Her joyous presence, and sweet company In full content he there did long enjoy; Ne wicked envie, ne vile gealosy, His deare delights were able to annoy: 365 Yet swimming in that sea of blissfull joy, He nought forgot how he whilome had sworne, In case he could that monstrous beast destroy, Unto his Faerie Queene backe to returne; The which he shortly did, and Una left to mourne.

XLII

370 Now strike your sailes ye jolly Mariners, For we be come unto a quiet rode, Where we must land some of our pa.s.sengers, And light this wearie vessell of her lode.

Here she a while may make her safe abode, 375 Till she repaired have her tackles spent, And wants supplide. And then againe abroad On the long voyage whereto she is bent: Well may she speede and fairely finish her intent.

NOTES

Line 1. Lo I the man.... An imitation of the opening lines of Vergil's Aeneid:-

"Ille ego, qui quondam gracili modulatus avena Carmen,...

Gratum opus agricolis, at nunc horrentia Martis."

Referring to his Shepheards Calender (1579) Spenser thus gracefully indicates his change from pastoral to epic poetry.

5-9. Knights and Ladies. The poet here imitates the opening of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso.

10. O holy virgin chiefe of nine, refers to Clio, the muse of history. Spenser should have invoked Calliope, the muse of poetry.

14. Of Faerie knights, the the champions of Gloriana, the queen of Faerieland. fairest Tanaquill, a British princess, daughter of Oberon, king of Faerieland. In the allegory she is Queen Elizabeth.

15. that most n.o.ble briton prince is Prince Arthur, the perfect knight, who is in love with Gloriana. In the allegory the Earl of Leicester is probably meant, though by one tradition Sir Philip Sidney is identified with Prince Arthur.

19. impe of highest jove, Cupid, the G.o.d of love, and son of Jupiter and Venus. He is represented as armed with an ebony bow (l. 23).

25. triumphant mart, Mars, the G.o.d of war. The spelling is that of the Italians and Chaucer.

28. O G.o.ddesse heavenly bright, Queen Elizabeth (aged 56), who was fond of such extravagant flattery, and expected it of all her courtiers.

31. Phoebus lampe, Apollo, the sun-G.o.d.

34. glorious type of thine, the Lady Una, who stands for Truth in the allegory.

35. The argument of mine afflicted stile, the subject of my humble pen. "Afflicted" has the original Latin sense of "cast down."

36. O dearest dred, O beloved object of reverence; a common salutation of royalty.

CANTO I

I. The Plot: At the bidding of Gloriana, the Redcross Knight undertakes to deliver Una's parents from a dragon who holds them captive. He sets out upon his quest attended by a dwarf and guided by Una, mounted on an a.s.s and leading a lamb. They are driven by a storm into a forest, where they discover the cave of Error, who is slain by the Knight. They are then beguiled into the house of Archimago, an old enchanter. By his magic he leads the Knight in a dream to believe that Una is false to him, and thus separates them.

II. The Allegory: 1. Holiness, the love of G.o.d, united with Truth, the knowledge of G.o.d, is to deliver man from the thraldom of the Devil. Together they are able to overthrow Error; but Hypocrisy deceitfully alienates Holiness from Truth by making the latter appear unworthy of love.

2. There is a hint of the intrigues of the false Roman church and the treacherous Spanish king, Philip II, to undermine the religious and political freedom of the English people. The English nation, following the Reformed church, overthrows the Catholic faith, but is deceived by the machinations of Spanish diplomacy.

Line 1. A gentle knight, the Redcross Knight, representing the church militant, and Reformed England. He is the young, untried champion of the old cause whose struggles before the Reformation are referred to in ll. 3, 4. His shield bore "a cross gules upon a field argent," a red cross on a silver ground. See The Birth of St. George in Percy's Reliques, iii, 3, and Malory's Morte d'Arthur, iii, 65.

15. For soveraine hope, as a sign of the supreme hope.

20. Greatest Gloriana, Queen Elizabeth. In other books of The Faerie Queene she is called Belphoebe, the patroness of chast.i.ty, and Britomart, the military genius of Britain.

27. A Dragon, "the great dragon, that old serpent, called the devil," Revelation, xii, 9, also Rome and Spain. Cf. legend of St. George and the dragon, and Fletcher's Purple Island, vii seq.

28. a lovely Ladie, Una, the personification of truth and true religion. Her lamb symbolizes innocence.

46. a Dwarfe, representing prudence, or common sense; according to Morley, the flesh.

56. A shadie grove, the wood of Error. "By it Spenser shadows forth the danger surrounding the mind that escapes from the bondage of Roman authority and thinks for itself."-Kitchin. The description of the wood is an imitation of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, i, 37, Chaucer's a.s.sembly of Foules, 176, and Ta.s.so's Jerusalem Delivered, iii, 75. Morley sees in this grove an allegory of man's life, the trees symbolizing trade, pleasure, youth, etc.

69. The sayling Pine. Ships were built of pine.

70. the Loplar never dry, because it grows best in moist soil.

71. The builder Oake. In the Middle Ages most manor houses and churches were built of oak.

72. the Cypresse funerall, an emblem of death among the ancients, and sacred to Pluto. Sidney says that they were wont to dress graves with cypress branches in old times.

73. The Laurell. Victors at the Pythian games and triumphing Roman generals were crowned with laurel. It was also sacred to Apollo, the G.o.d of poetry, hence "meed of poets sage."

74. the Firre that weepeth still. The fir exudes resinous substance.

75. The Willow. "Willows: a sad tree, whereof such who have lost their love make their mourning garlands."-Fuller's Worthies, i, 153. Cf. Heywood's Song of the Green Willow, and Desdemona's song in Oth.e.l.lo, IV, iii, 39.

76. The Eugh. Ascham in his Toxophilus tells us that the best bows were made of yew.

78. the Mirrhe, the Arabian myrtle, which exudes a bitter but fragrant gum. The allusion is to the wounding of Myrrha by her father and her metamorphosis into this tree.

79. The warlike Beech, because lances and other arms were made of it. the Ash for nothing ill. "The uses of the ash is one of the most universal: it serves the souldier, the carpenter, the wheelwright, cartwright, cooper, turner, and thatcher."-Evelyn's Sylva. The great tree Igdrasil in the northern mythology was an ash.

81. The carver Holme, or evergreen oak, was good for carving.

106. shame were to revoke, etc., it would be cowardly not to go forward for fear of some suspected unseen danger.

114. the wandring wood, i.e. which causes men to go astray.

123. monster. The description of the monster Error, or Falsehood, is based on Hesiod's Echidna, Theog. 301, and the locusts in Revelation, ix, 7-10. She is half human, half serpent, because error is partly true and partly false. Dante's Fraud and Milton's Sin are similar monsters.

126. full of vile disdaine, full of vileness that bred disgust in the beholder.