Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser’s Biography

Table of Contents

Edmund Spenser, the son of John Spenser and Elizabeth Spenser was born in 1552 in London. He had various epithets to his credit like “the poet’s poet”, “The Prince of Poets”, “Mulla’s Bard”, “The Sunrise of English Poetry”, and “The Rubens of English Poetry”. His father was a dressmaker. He lived in East Smithfield, near the Tower of London. He had one brother and one sister named John and Elizabeth respectively. His father was not very rich. His brother and his sister could not get an education in a big institution. But he was a bright pupil of Mulcaster, a keen scholar. He received his degree of M.A. in 1576 from Cambridge University.

Gabriel Harvey, a scholar of eminence became his friend at Cambridge. After his life at Cambridge, he fell in love with a lady of higher social pretensions. He did not receive his love back from this lady. He kept on doing efforts to win the heart of this lady. He portrayed her as “Rosalind” in his various future works. It is also said that she belonged to a good family and appreciated greatly the imagination and calibre of the man who had fallen in love with her, but she got married to another person. On Gabriel Harvey’s advice, he left the Shire and went to London, where he met the Earl of Leicester and Sir Philip Sidney. These two people were prominent figures of the Queen’s court. With the help of Sir Philip Sidney, he was appointed Secretary to Lord Grey De Wilton. He went to Ireland with Lord Grey and lived there for the rest of his life. In Ireland, his talent was soon rewarded with the Kilcolman Castle with three hundred and two acres of land surrounding it. He got married to Elizabeth Boyle in 1594.

Amoretti is a sonnet a sequence that celebrates Spenser’s love for Elizabeth Boyle. During the period of revolt in Ireland his house was burnt. He escaped with his wife and children. It is believed that in this fire he lost his one child and some unfinished parts of The Faerie Queene.

On December 24, 1598, he reached London. After some time he died on 16th January 1599. His body got buried in Westminster Abbey, near Chaucer’s tomb. As per William J. Long, 

From the shock of this frightful experience Spenser never recovered. He returned to England heartbroken, and in the following year (1599) he died in an inn at Westminster….. He was buried beside his master Chaucer in Westminster Abbey, the poets of that age thronging to his funeral and, according to Camden, 

Casting their elegies and the pens that had written them into his tomb”. (pg. 104) 

Spenser’s Works 

Spenser’s fame rests on his great works. His first remarkable work was “The Shepherd’s Calendar” (1579). It contains twelve pastoral eclogues. Here the shepherd Colin Clout is the portrait of the poet himself. The other shepherd Hobbinol represents his friend Gabriel Harvey. In this work, we find five different forms of stanzas in heroic or deca-syllabic lines. Sir Philip Sidney in An Apology for Poetry writes: “The Shepherd’s calendar hath much Poetrie in his Aeglogues: indeed worthy of the reading, if I am not deceived.” 

The Complaints (1591) is a collection of small poems. The very first poem in this collection is “The Ruins of Time”. The pain of nine Muses is expressed in The Tears of the Muses. Mother “Hubberd’s Tale” (1591) satirizes Lord Burghley and the Duke of Anjou, in the form of a fable. 

Lord Burghley →Fox →becomes Prime Minister 

Duke of Anjou →Ape → becomes king 

In “Daphnaida” (1591) he invented a new form of stanza. It clearly shows the influence of Geoffrey Chaucer on Spenser. “Colin Clouts Come Home Again” (1595) is a pastoral poem with an autobiographical sketch of the poet himself. Here he expresses his dissatisfaction with the life of Queen Elizabeth’s court. “Astrophel” (1595) is a pastoral poem that presents an allegory of the life and death of Sir Philip Sidney. “Astrophel” was the title that Sidney chose for himself in his own sonnet – the sequence Astrophel and Stella. “Amoretti” (1595) is a collection of 88 love sonnets, written in the Petrarcan manner which had become very popular in those days under the influence of Italian literature. Here he expressed his love and strong feelings for Elizabeth Boyle whom he loved and married. “Epithalamion” contains 23 sonnets, which are the most beautiful marriage hymns in the English language. “Prothalamion” (1596) is written in honour of the wedding of the two daughters of the Earl of Worcester. The Four Hymns (1596) he writes in honour of love and beauty.

As a metrist, his greatest contribution to English poetry is the Spenserian stanza, which is admirably suited to descriptive or reflective poetry. The Spenserian sonnet is based on a fusion of elements of both the Petrarchan sonnet and the Shakespearean sonnet. It is similar to the Shakespearean sonnet in the sense that its set-up is based more on the 3 quatrains and a couplet, a system set up by Shakespeare; however, it is more like the Petrarchan tradition in the fact that the conclusion follows from the argument or issue set up in the earlier quatrains. It is used by Thomson in “The Castle of Indolence”, Keats in “The Eve of St.Agnes”, by Shelley in “The Revolt of Islam” and Byron in “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”.  

“The Faerie Queene” (1590, 1596) is Spenser’s masterpiece. In the words of Emile Legouis; 

He worked at it for twenty years and left it unfinished at his death. It was his own supreme ambition and the supreme pride of England, which confidently pitted his poem, as soon as its first three books appeared, against the most famous epics of ancient and modern times.

The Faerie Queene Sources and Influences 

Spenser was greatly influenced by foreign writers like Ariosto, Tasso, Homer, Virgil, Plato, Cicero, and Lucretius. Spenser’s Faerie Queene was modelled on Ariosto’s work Orlando Furioso. He was immensely fascinated by Ariosto’s romantic epic. John Hughes (1715) very aptly writes: 

The Bower of Bliss, in the Second Book of The Faerie Queene, is in like manner a copy from Tasso; but the ornaments of description, which Spenser has transplanted out of the Italian poem, are more proper in his work…” (pg. 27) 

He further compares Orlando Furioso with Faerie Queene and writes: 

In the Orlando Furioso, we everywhere meet with an exuberant invention joined with great liveliness and facility of description yet debased by frequent mixtures of comic genius as well as shocking indecorums…. On the other hand Spenser’s fable, though often wild, is, as I have observed always emblematical; … It is surprising to observe how much the strength of the painting is superior to the design.” (pg. 33) 

William Hazlitt has also tried to compare the works of these two great poets. He writes; 

If Ariosto transports us into the regions of romance, Spenser’s poetry is all fairyland. In Ariosto, we walk upon the ground, in a company, gay, fantastic, and adventurous enough. In Spenser, we wander into another world, among ideal beings…. He paints nature not as we find it, but as we expected to find it…. The worlds of reality and of fiction are poised on the wings of his imagination.

(Lectures on the English Poets)

As an Epic

The Faerie Queene belongs to the genre of the epic. Following the epic convention Spenser begins his book with the invocation of the Muse. Before trying his pen on the tales of war, chivalry, fierce battles and epical themes he invokes Clio, the goddess of poetry, Cupid, the son of Jove and Venus, and Venus goddess of beauty. 

Lo I the man, whose Muse whylome did maske, 

As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds, 

Am now enforst a far unfitter taske,

For trumpets to change mine Oaten reeds,

And sing of Knights and Ladies gentle deeds;

Whose praises having slept in silence long,

Me, all too meane, the sacred Muse areeds

To blazon broade emongst her learned throng:

Fierce warres and faithful loves shall moralize my song.

In stanzas 20-21 of Book I Canto I, the numerous progeny of the monster is compared to ten thousand kinds of creatures that breed in the mud left behind by retreating flood water in the Nile River. Here the monster is indubitably mythical but the image of the river Nile and retreating flood waters is very much realistic. 

As when old father Nilus gins to swell 

With timely pride above the Aegyptian vale, 

His fattie waves doe fertile slime outwell, 

And overflow each plaine and lowly dale: 

But, when his later spring gins to avale, 

Huge heapes of mudd he leaves, wherein there breed 

Ten thousand kindes of creatures, partly male 

And partly female, of this fruitful seed; 

Such ugly monstrous shapes elsewhere may no man reed.

He uses frequent long speeches in an elevated tone. He uses epithets frequently and renames them (particularly characters) by stock phrases. The Red–Cross Knight has been referred to as “the valiant Elfe”, “the Elfin Knight” and “The Champion”, and Una is referred to as “faithful Dame” and “that Lady Milde”. It also focuses on the adventures of the hero. The hero faces various problems in his quest and is rewarded finally. In the case of the Faerie Queene Book I Red Cross Knight is the hero, who goes on a quest with fair and faithful Una, and his Dwarf servant. This hero is the embodiment of goodness and virtues. Finally, he successfully kills the dragon making the parents of Una free from terror. As per Thomas Denys; 

A third epic convention concerning the setting of the story, and. Related to this, is the journey to the underworld (e.g. the descent into hell by Aeneis, in The Aeneid by Virgil). The setting covers are no different in the Faerie Queene: the story is set in Faerie Land and great distances are bridged like Duessa’s journey into hell with Knight to retrieve Sansjoy. 

The armour of the Red Cross Knight and Arthur has been described in the Faerie Queene. It is a long poem having as many as 12 Cantos. Forty to sixty stanzas are found in each Canto. These stanzas follow a regular pattern popularly known as the Spenserian stanza. It is a moral and didactic poem. Each book contains a message in itself. Various situations and events carry lofty moral values and ethical messages. 

Medievalism 

In Faerie Queene the characters are drawn from the Middle Ages. They are not ordinary people but the valiant knights and ladies, magicians, witches, hydra–headed monsters like foul Error and the giants like Orgoglio. Spenser’s use of magic, black arts, and witchcraft represents medieval superstition. A long chain of noble knights and ladies presents a vast picture of the Middle Ages. They represent various virtues such as King Arthur represents Magnificence and the Red – Cross Knight represents Holiness. 

He also makes use of Allegory. It was the favourite device of medieval times that made the abstract comprehensible and believable. He writes about Holiness, Temperance, Chastity, Friendship, Justice, Courtesy and Constancy in Faerie Queene. 

Allegory

He was greatly influenced by Plato. Plato interpreted Homer allegorically. Plato’s perspective inspired him to use this device of allegory in his Faerie Queene. He used symbols to explain abstract ideas and themes. There are four kinds of allegory in The Faerie Queene. 

1. Religious Allegory 

2. Moral Allegory 

3. Historical Allegory 

4. Allegory of Justice 

The Reformation was the major religious movement of the Elizabethan age. Although the religious allegory that represents reformed church, Papacy, Catholicism and Paganism is undercover. The Reformed Church of England is represented by the Red – Cross Knight, who raises his sword against corruption and evils. The Pope of Rome is represented by the foul Dragon who arrested Humanity in the form of the parents of Una. Monster Error swallows the papers and books that represent false teachings of the Catholic Church. Philip II of Spain is represented by Orgoglio. Philip II and Pope did their best to harm England. Just like the struggle of the Red – Cross Knight and the parents of Lady Una, innocent people of England also faced various problems in order to restore the piece of the Church of England. The most explicit type of allegory in Faerie Queene is the Moral Allegory. 

Good Characters →Virtues 

Bad Characters →Vices 

Red – Cross Knight →Holiness 

Lady Una → Truth 

Parents of Lady Una →Humanity 

Dragon →Evil 

Duessa →Falsehood 

Archimago →Hypocrisy 

Sans Loy →Lawlessness 

Corceca → Blind Faith 

Kirkrapine →Carnal passions 

Lucifera →Pride 

Orgoglio →Pride / Papal power 

Arthur → Magnificence 

In Faerie Queene good characters represent various virtues and bad characters represent various vices. Spenser teaches that the righteous man faces various threats and dangers in the course of his daily life and that he is guarded and protected by the grace of heaven and by his own unwavering belief in the truth. A righteous man also greatly gains from mercy, hope, faith and patience. 

Graham Hough very aptly writes that: 

The Red  Cross Knight is Holiness, fighting against the temptations and errors that must universally beset such a virtue. But he is also more intermittently and imprecisely, English religion (Why else should he bear St. George’s Cross?) struggling against the conspiracies and misdirection of the time, as Spenser saw them. 

But he is not Holiness as an achieved state: 

He is often the universal miles Christianus, the militant Christian who must struggle and learn and seek to perfect himself in his journey through the world.” (An extract from A Preface to “The Faerie Queene” London, 1962.).

Critics believe that Spenser used allegory as a device only to follow the vogue of the day because a work without this device was considered below standard or mean. He portrayed the figure of Gloriana which represents Queen Elizabeth. He glorifies her as an embodiment of ideal virtue and beauty. Spenser’s intention behind such glorification was to win some personal benefits and advantages from the Queene. Religious and political allegories seem to merge with each other. 

Pictorial Descriptions: 

Faerie Queene is rich in concrete details and words and pictures. Just like a skilled painter, he portrays the pictures dextrously through words. Emile Legouis very aptly writes: 

Many stanzas of The Faerie Queene are descriptions of tapestries and pictures, and the line colour of words competes in them with that on the canvases of the masters. When Spenser purports to draw a person or a scene from nature, he is still inspired by the painter’s method. He is unendingly enthralled by the human body, especially the woman’s body; one of its details wearies his patience or escapes his observation. His grotesque and monstrous descriptions are not inferior to those in which he aims for absolute beauty. The grotesque is but the reverse of the beautiful; the horrible Dragon who is slain by the Red–Cross Knight is as much a masterpiece of painting as the nymph Belphoebe.

In Book I, Canto I, Stanza 14 he gives a pictorial description of a monster in the following words. 

…his glistering armour made 

A little glooming light, much like a shade, 

By which he saw the ugly monster plaine, 

Halfe like a serpent horribly displaide, 

But the other halfe did woman’s shape retain, 

Most lothsom, filthie, foule, and full of vile disdaine. 

(Book I, Canto I, 14) 

The description of Prince Arthur is also one of the great pictures designed by Spenser: 

Upon the top of all his lofty crest, 

A bunch of heares discoloured diversely, 

With sprinded pearle, and gold full richly drest, 

Did shake, and seemed to dance for jollity, 

Like to an almond tree ymounted hye 

On top greene selinis all alone, 

Whose tender locks do tremble every one 

At everie little breath that under heaven is 

blowne.

Conclusion

Aristotle enumerated twelve moral virtues. Spenser was greatly influenced by Aristotle so he intended to write twelve books of The Faerie Queene. Each book was proposed to represent one virtue. Unfortunately, he could write only six books and a part of a seventh during his lifetime. His dream remained incomplete. Queene represents Queen Elizabeth and the word “fairy” denotes the fairyland that he uses for England. It contains almost all the major features of an epic. Various characters and events are used allegorically in this book. Being a dextrous word painter he painted marvelous word pictures without the help of any brush or paint. The landscapes and portraits in The Faerie Queene are very much life like. The Faerie Queene possesses intense aesthetic or artistic appeal and moral perspective.

Bibliography

     

Dixit, Dr. kalyani. "Edmund Spenser: The Faerie Queene." Edmund Spenser: The Faerie Queene (n.d.): 1-10.

Mullik, Dr. B.R. A Critical History of English Literature. Lahore: Kitab Mahal (PVT.) LTD, 2014-15.

Poemhunter.com- The World's Poetry Archive. 2012. <www.Poemhunter.com>.

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