182. An armed knight, Sir Trevisan, who symbolizes Fear.
189. Pegasus, the winged horse of the Muses. For note on the false possessive with his, see note on V, 44.
233. had not greater grace, etc., had not greater grace (than was granted my comrade) saved me from it, I should have been partaker (with him of his doom) in that place.
249. after faire areedes, afterwards graciously tells.
267. with dying feare, with fear of dying.
269. Whose like infirmitie, etc., i.e. if you are a victim of love, you may also fall into the hands of despair.
270. But God you never let, but may God never let you, etc.
272. to spoyle the Castle of his health, to take his own life. Cf. Eliot's Castell of Helthe, published in 1534.
273. I wote, etc. I, whom recent trial hath taught, and who would not (endure the) like for all the wealth of this world, know (how a man may be so gained over to destroy himself).
275. This simile is a very old one. See Homer's Iliad, i, 249; Odyssey, xviii, 283; Song of Solomon, iv, 11; and Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, ii, 51.
286. for gold nor glee. Cf. for love or money.
294-296. Imitated from Vergil's Æneid, vi, 462.
315. as, as if.
320. A drearie corse, Sir Terwin, mentioned in xxvii.
332. judge against thee right, give just judgment against thee.
333. to price, to pay the price of.
336. What justice, etc., what justice ever gave any other judgment but (this, that) he, who deserves, etc.
340. Is then unjust, etc., is it then unjust to give each man his due?
xxxix. Observe the subtle argument on suicide in this and st. xl.
xli. Spenser here puts into the mouth of the Knight Socrates' argument to Cebes in their dialogue on the immortality of the soul. Plato's Phædo, vi.
367. Quoth he, Despair.
403. thy date, the allotted measure or duration of thy life.
408. thy sinfull hire, thy service of sin.
431. As he were charmed, etc., as if he were under the spell of magic incantation.
438. in a table, in a picture. The horrors of the Last Judgment and the torments of the lost were favorite subjects of the mediæval Catholic painters.
468. fire-mouthed Dragon. The dragons of romance are all described as fire-breathing,
473. that chosen art, a reference to the doctrine of Election. Mark, xiii, 20.
476. accurst hand-writing. A reference to Paul's letter to the Colossians, ii, 14, in which he declares that the gospel of grace has superseded the law of Moses.
484. he so himselfe had drest, he had thus attempted (to take his life).
(Canto IX)
1. Give an account of Prince Arthur's vision of the Faerie Queene. 2. Interpret his search for her as an allegory of the young man's quest after his ideal. 3. Observe in xvii an allusion to Spenser's patron, Lord Leicester, who was a favored suitor for Elizabeth's hand. 4. What presents did the Knights exchange at parting? 5. Characterize Sir Trevisan by his appearance, speech, and actions. What does he symbolize? 6. Note the skill with which Spenser arouses interest before telling of the interview with Despair. 7. What was the fate of Sir Terwin? Its moral significance? 8. Describe the Cave of Despair, and show what effects are aimed at by the poet. 9. Compare with Despair Bunyan's Giant Despair and the Man in the Iron Cage. 10. Trace the sophistries by which Despair works in the mind of the Knight, e.g. the arguments from necessity (fatalism), humanity, cowardice, discouragement and disgust on account of his past failures, dread of the future, of God's justice, and the relief of death. 11. Does Despair show knowledge of the Knight's past? 12. With what powerful truths does Una meet the arguments of Despair? 13. Where do you find reference to mediæval art?
14. Find examples of Euphuism, metaphors, similes, Latinisms, and alliteration. 15. Explain the verb forms in ll. 154, 321, 336.
I. The Plot: The Redcross Knight is conducted by Una to the House of Holiness, where they are welcomed by Dame Cœlia and graciously entertained. The Knight is instructed by Fidelia, Speranza, and Charissa, the three daughters of Cœlia, in his relations to God and his fellow-men. He is healed in body, and undergoes discipline for his sins. Mercy conducts him through the Hospital of Good Works, where he sees her seven Beadsmen. He then with Una climbs the Hill of Contemplation and hears from a holy man the story of his past with a prophecy of his future, and obtains a view of the City of Heaven.
This must be pronounced the most beautiful canto of the first book.
II. The Allegory: 1. The Soul is brought by the Truth to a knowledge of the Heavenly Life (Cœlia), and is led, through repentance, to seek forgiveness and to desire a holier life. Having learned Faith and Hope, it acquires a zeal for Good Works (Charity), and is strengthened by exercising Patience and Repentance. At last it enjoys a mood of happy Contemplation of the past with bright prospects for the future. The whole canto sets forth the beauty in a life of faith combined with good deeds.
2. The religious allegory presents the doctrine, discipline, and spirit of Protestantism in the sixteenth century. A close parallel may be drawn between this canto and many things in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. For his House of Holiness and its management, Spenser has no doubt taken many suggestions from the great manor house of some Elizabethan gentleman.
19. an auntient house, the House of Holiness.
28. Dame Cœlia, i.e. the Heavenly Lady.
33. Fidelia and Speranza, Faith and Hope.
35. faire Charissa, Charity, or Love. Cf. I Corinthians, xiii, 13.
44. Hight Humiltà, named Humility.
59. And knew his good, etc., and knew how to conduct himself to all of every rank.
77. ever-dying dread, constant dread of death.
78. long a day, many a long day.
79. thy weary soles to lead, to guide thy weary feet (to rescue them).
xiii. The description of Fidelia is full of biblical allusions, viz.; her white robe (Revelation, vii, 9); the sacramental cup filled with wine and water according to the custom of the early Christians (John, xix, 34); the serpent symbolical of healing power (Numbers, xxi, and Mark, xiv, 24); the book sealed with the blood of the Lamb (Revelation, v, 1, and II Corinthians, v, 7).
144. encrease is in the optative subj. with God as subject.
172. And when she list, etc., and when it pleased her to manifest her higher spiritual power. These miracles of Faith are based on the following passages: Joshua, x, 12; II Kings, xx, 10; Judges, vii, 7; Exodus, xiv, 21; Joshua, iii, 17; Matthew, xxi, 21.
176. This line is given in the folio edition of 1609, but is wanting in the edition of 1590 and 1596.
209. hardly him intreat, scarcely prevail on him.
213. The absolutions granted by the clergy.
215. the passion of his plight, his suffering condition.
xxx. Percival points out the resemblance between Spenser's Charity and Andrea del Sarto's famous painting La Charité in the Louvre.
277. Whose passing price, etc., whose surpassing value it was difficult to calculate.
292. well to donne, well doing, right doing.
318. seven Bead-men, seven men of prayer, corresponding to the Seven Deadly Sins of the House of Pride. They represent good works: (1) entertainment of strangers; (2) food to the needy; (3) clothing to the naked; (4) relief to prisoners; (5) comfort to the sick; (6) burial of the dead, and (7) care of widows and orphans.
354. price of bras, ransom in money. Bras is a Latinism from æs.
355. From Turkes and Sarazins. In the sixteenth century thousands of Christians were held captive in Turkish and Saracen prisons, and many of these were ransomed by the charitable of Europe. Prescott tells us that Charles V found 10,000 Christians in Tunis at its capture in 1535.
359. he that harrowd hell. The Harrowing of Hell was the mediæval belief in the descent of Christ to hell to redeem the souls of Old Testament saints, and to despoil the powers of darkness. It is the subject of an old miracle play.
374. The reference is to the resurrection from the dead.
378. I dead be not defould, that I (when) dead be not defiled. This prayer was answered, for the poet received honorable burial in Westminster Abbey.
381. And widowes ayd, i.e. had charge (to) aid widows, etc.
382. In face of judgement, before the judgment-seat.
422-423. his ... her, Redcross Knight...mercy.
430. For nought he car'd, for he cared nought that his body had been long unfed.
470. that same mighty man of God, Moses. See Exodus, xiv, 16, xxiv, and xxxiv.
471. That blood-red billowes, of the Red Sea.
478. that sacred hill, the mount of Olives.
483. that pleasaunt Mount, mount Parnassus, the seat of the nine Muses (l. 485), the patronesses of the arts and of learning. Sacred and profane literature are beautifully blended in the thoughts of the contemplative man.
489. a goodly Citie, the Celestial City, Heaven. The description is suggested by that in Revelation, xxi, 10 seq.
515. That great Cleopolis, London, "the city of glory."
519. Panthea, probably Westminster Abbey, in which Elizabeth's ancestors were buried.
524. for earthly frame, for an earthly structure.
549. Saint George of mery England. St. George became the patron Saint of England in 1344, when Edward III consecrated to him the Order of the Garter. Church and Percival say that merry means pleasant and referred originally to the country, not the people. Cf. Mereweather.
lxii. Observe that lines 1, 2, 5, 6 are spoken by the Knight, the rest by Contemplation.
565. bequeathed care, the charge intrusted to thee (by Una).
579. and many bloody battailes, etc., and fought many bloody pitched battles.
585. Chaungelings. The belief in the power of fairies to substitute their elf-children for human babies is frequently referred to in writers of Spenser's time. In the Seven Champions the witch Kalyb steals away St. George, the son of Lord Albert of Coventry, soon after his birth.
591. Georgos, from the Greek γεωργός, an earth tiller, farmer. Spenser borrows the story in this stanza from that of Tages, son of Earth, who was similarly found and brought up. Ovid's Metamorphoses, xv, 553.
(Canto X)
1. Observe that stanza i contains the moral of Canto IX. 2. What was Una's purpose in bringing the Knight to the House of Holiness? 3. Why should Faith and Hope be represented as betrothed virgins, and Charity a matron? 4. Who were Zeal, Reverence, Obedience, Patience, and Mercy, with the symbolism of each? 5. Who was the door-keeper? Explain the allegory. 6. Find and explain the biblical allusions in this Canto, which shows the influence of the Bible to a remarkable extent. 7. In what was the Knight instructed by Faith (xix seq.)? 8. Compare the mood of the Knight in xxi with that in Canto IX, li. 9. How did the two situations affect Una? 10. Note the teachings in xxiii (prayer), xxiv (absolution), and xxv (mortification of the flesh). 11. Observe that Faith teaches the Knight his relations to God; Charity, those to his fellow-men. 12. Explain the lyric note in l. 378. 13. Give an account of the knight's visit to the Hill of Contemplation. Explain the allegory. 14. Find a stanza complimentary to Queen Elizabeth. 16. What prophecy was made of the Knight?
I. The Plot: The Redcross Knight reaches the Brazen Tower in which Una's parents, the King and Queen of Eden, are besieged by the Dragon. The monster is described. The first day's fight is described, in which the Knight is borne through the air in the Dragon's claws, wounds him under the wing with his lance, but is scorched by the flames from the monster's mouth. The Knight is healed by a bath in the Well of Life. On the second day the Knight gives the Dragon several sword-wounds, but is stung by the monster's tail and forced to retreat by the flames. That night he is refreshed and healed by the balm from the Tree of Life. On the third day he slays the Dragon by a thrust into his vitals.
II. The Allegory: 1. Mankind has been deprived of Eden by Sin or Satan (Dragon). The Christian overcomes the devil by means of the whole armor of God (shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of the Spirit, etc.). The soul is strengthened by the ordinances of religion: baptism, regeneration, etc.
2. There is a hint of the long and desperate struggle between Reformed England (St. George) and the Church of Rome, in which the power of the Pope and the King of Spain was broken in England, the Netherlands, and other parts of Europe. Some may see a remoter allusion to the delivery of Ireland from the same tyranny.
13. be at your keeping well, be well on your guard.
iii. This stanza is not found in the edition of 1590.
30. And seemd uneath, etc., and seemed to shake the steadfast ground (so that it became) unstable. Church and Nares take uneath to mean "beneath" or "underneath"; Kitchin conjectures "almost."
31. that dreadful Dragon, symbolical of Satan. Spenser here imitates the combat between St. George and the Dragon in the Seven Champions of Christendom, i.
32. This description of the dragon watching the tower from the sunny hillside is justly admired for its picturesqueness, power, and suggestiveness. The language is extremely simple, but the effect is awe-inspiring. It has been compared with Turner's great painting of the Dragon of the Hesperides.
42. O thou sacred muse, Clio, the Muse of History, whom Spenser calls the daughter of Phœbus (Apollo) and Mnemosyne (Memory).
56. till I of warres, etc. Spenser is here supposed to refer to his plan to continue the Faerie Queene and treat of the wars of the English with Philip II ("Paynim King") and the Spanish ("Sarazin").
61. let downe that haughtie string, etc., cease that high-pitched strain and sing a second (or tenor) to my (lower) tune.
120. As two broad Beacons. Kitchin thinks this passage is a reminiscence of the beacon-fires of July 29, 1588, which signaled the arrival of the Armada off the Cornish coast.
158. Her flitting parts, her shifting parts; referring to the instability of the air.
161. low stouping, swooping low (to the ground); a term in falconry.
167. hagard hauke, a wild, untamed falcon.
168. above his hable might, beyond the strength of which he is capable.
172. He so disseized, etc., i.e. the dragon being thus dispossessed of his rough grip. The construction is nominative absolute.
185. And greedy gulfe does gape, etc., i.e. the greedy waters gape as if they would devour the land.
187. the blustring brethren, the winds.
228. his wide devouring oven, the furnace of his maw, or belly.
235. that great Champion, Hercules. The charmed garment steeped in the blood of the Centaur Nessus, whom Hercules had slain, was given him by his wife Dejanira in order to win back his love. Instead of acting as a philter, the poison-robe burned the flesh from his body. Ovid's Metamorphoses, ix, 105.
xxviii. Observe the correspondence between the adjectives in l. 244 and the nouns in l. 245. The sense is: "He was so faint," etc.
261. The well of life. This incident is borrowed from Bevis of Hampton. The allegory is based on John, iv, 14, and Revelation, xxii, 1.
267. Silo, the healing Pool of Siloam, John, ix, 7. Jordan, by bathing in which Naaman was healed of leprosy, II Kings, v, 10.
268. Bath, in Somersetshire, a town famous from the earliest times for its medicinal baths. Spau, a town in Belgium noted for its healthful waters, now a generic name for German watering-places.
269. Cephise, the river Cephissus in Bœotia whose waters possessed the power of bleaching the fleece of sheep. Cf. Isaiah, i, 18. Hebrus, a river in Thrace, here mentioned because it awaked to music the head and lyre of the dead Orpheus, as he floated down its stream. Ovid's Metamorphoses, xi, 50.
295. to move, moving. This is a French idiom.
300. As Eagle fresh out of the Ocean wave, etc. There was an ancient belief, that once in ten years the eagle would soar into the empyrean, and plunging thence into the sea, would molt his plumage and renew his youth with a fresh supply of feathers.
312. his bright deaw-burning blade, his bright blade flashing with the "holy water dew" in which it had been hardened (l. 317).
322. Ne molten mettall in his blood embrew, i.e. nor sword bathe itself in his (the dragon's) blood.
335. With sharpe intended sting, with sharp, outstretched sting.
366. the griped gage, the pledge (shield) seized (by the dragon).
386. missed not his minisht might, felt not the loss of its diminished strength; i.e. though cut off, the paw still held to the shield.
xliv. In comparing the fire-spewing dragon to a volcano, Spenser follows Vergil's Æneid, iii, 571, and Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, iv, 8.
406. a goodly tree. Cf. Genesis, ii, 9, and Revelation, xxii, 2.
409. over all were red, everywhere were spoken of.
414. Cf. Genesis, iii, 2. Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden lest they should eat and live forever.
434. deadly made, a creature of death, i.e. hell-born.
469. An imitation of an incident in the Seven Champions in which a winged serpent attempts to swallow St. George; i, 1.
477. And back retyrd, and as it was withdrawn. A Gallicism.
490. which she misdeem'd, in which she was mistaken. Una feared that the dragon was not dead.
(Canto XI)
1. Describe the three days' fight between the Knight and the Dragon. 2. What advantages does each gain? 3. Study the Dragon as a type of the conventional monster of romance, contrasting his brutal nature with the intellectuality and strategy of the Knight. 4. Study the battle as an allegory of the victory of mind over matter, of virtue over vice, of Protestantism over Romanism. 5. By what devices does Spenser obtain the effects of terror? Mystery and terror are prime elements in romance. 6. Find examples of another romantic characteristic, exaggeration. 7. Do you think that in his use of hyperbole and impossibilities Spenser shows that he was deficient in a sense of humor? 8. Observe the lyric note in iii and liv. 9. How does the poet impress the reader with the size of the Dragon? 10. Which Muse does he invoke? 11. Spenser's poetry is richly sensuous: find passages in which he appeals to the sense of sight (iv, viii, xiv), of sound (iv, ix), of touch (x, xi, vii), of smell (xiii), of taste (xiii), of pain (xxxvii, xxvi, xxii), of motion (x, xv, xviii). 12. Where do you find an allegory of baptism? Of regeneration? Of the resurrection of Christ (the three days)? 13. Analyze the descriptions of the coming of darkness and of dawn.
I. The Plot: The death of the dragon is announced by the watchman on the tower of the city, and Una's parents, the King and Queen, accompanied by a great throng, come forth rejoicing at their deliverance. The Knight and Una are conducted with great honors into the palace. On the eve of their betrothal, Archimago suddenly appears as Duessa's messenger and claims the Knight. Their wicked attempt is frustrated, and the pair are happily betrothed. After a long time spent in Una's society, the Knight sets out to engage in the further service of the Faerie Queene.
II. The Allegory: Holiness, by conquering the devil, frees the whole human race from the tyranny of sin. It is embarrassed by the unexpected appearance of the consequences of its past sins, but makes a manly confession. In spite of hypocritical intrigues (Archimago) and false slanders (Duessa), Holiness is united to Truth, thus forming a perfect character. The champion of the church militant responds cheerfully to the calls of duty and honor.
2. Reformed England, having destroyed the brutal power of Rome, is firmly united to the truth in spite of the intrigues of the Pope to win it back to allegiance. It then goes forth against the King of Spain in obedience to the command of Queen Elizabeth.
3. vere the maine shete, shift the mainsail, beare up with the land, direct the ship toward land.
25. out of hond, at once.
43. Of tall young men. An allusion to Queen Elizabeth's Pensioners, a band of the tallest and handsomest young men, of the best families and fortunes, that could be found (Warton). All hable armes to sownd, all proper to wield armes.
57. to the Maydens, to the accompaniment of the maidens' timbrels.
71. in her self-resemblance well beseene, looking well in her resemblance to her proper self, i.e. a king's daughter.
73. the raskall many, the crowd of common people.
116. of great name, of great celebrity, i.e. value.
117. fitting purpose frame, held fitting conversation.
xiv. Kitchin and Percival think this whole passage a clever compliment to the parsimony of the Queen's court.
161. that proud Paynim king, probably a reference to Philip of Spain.
168. Nor doen undo, nor undo what has been done.
173. In sort as, even as.
205. all were she, although she had been. In place, in various places.
313. bait. In Spenser's time bear-baiting was a favorite pastime of the people and received royal patronage.
328. The housling fire, the sacramental fire. Spenser seems here to have in mind, not the Christian housel or Eucharist, but the Roman marriage rites with their symbolic fire and water.
347. trinall triplicities, the threefold three orders of the celestial hierarchy according to the scholastic theologians. They were as follows: (1) Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones; (2) Dominations, Virtues, Powers; (3) Princedoms, Archangels, and Angels. Cf. Dante's Paradiso, xxviii, Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, xviii, 96, and Milton's Paradise Lost, v, 748.
375. her tackles spent, her worn-out rigging.
1. Contrast the tone of this canto with the preceding two. 2. When does Spenser drop into a lighter, humorous vein? 3. Find allusions to sixteenth century customs, e.g. that of sitting on rush-strewn floors. 4. How was the Redcross Knight received by the King? 5. Compare Una's costume with that described in the first canto. Why this change? 6. What hint of the significance of her name in xxi? 7. What is the effect of Archimago's appearance? (For dramatic surprise.) 8. What is the effect of Duessa's letter? (Suspense of fear.) 9. Observe the confusion of Christian and Pagan rites in this canto. 10. Where does Spenser make happy use of maritime figures? 11. Explain the allegory of this canto.