The Shorter Poems

by Edmund Spenser

  Protracted discussion of the identity of E. K. has tended to distract attention from the far more important issue of his function. While it is certainly possible, as has sometimes been suggested, that E. K. is to be identified with someone such as Edmund Kirke, Spenser’s Cambridge contemporary, it is far more likely, particularly in view of the comparably elaborate subterfuge surrounding the publication of the Spenser-Harvey correspondence (1580), that the initials fabricate yet another persona under which the new poet ‘secretly shadoweth himself’, possibly with scholarly assistance from Gabriel Harvey upon whose work E. K. lavishes such unqualified praise. E. K.’s epistle to Harvey constitutes a manifesto both for the new poet and for a new poetics. Like Joachim Du Bellay’s La Defence et Illustration de la Langue Francoyse (1549), it signals the inauguration of a poetic craft more linguistically refined and generically sophisticated than that of ‘the rakehellye route of our ragged rymers’ who ‘hunt the letter’ to the point of extinction. The very fact of protracted annotation serves to elevate the new poet’s work to classical status. E. K. is to him what the ancient commentators Donatus and Servius were to Virgil, but he is also something more: not even Virgil enjoyed the services of a commentator for his first edition. The commentary interacts with the text in such a manner as to become an integral part of it. Its gratuitous disclaimers of covert intention, for example, hint at the ambiguous connotations of apparently straightforward vocabulary. At times the ‘voice’ of E. K. seems to engage in dialogue with the text, qualifying, contradicting and arguing as though participating in the pastoral debates. At other times it serves to distance the reader from the fiction by calling prosaic attention to the conventions and limitations of the genre and, as a result, to the increasingly problematic relationship between image and reality whether it be political, religious or aesthetic [cf. Schleiner (1990); Tribble (1993); Waldman (1988). A checklist of archaisms glossed by E. K. is provided in McElderry (1932), 151–2].

  The complexity of the Calender’s presentation is greatly increased by the presence of the twelve woodcuts because the interaction of word and picture is seldom straightforward. Indeed, as the headnotes to the relevant eclogues indicate, many of the woodcuts are subtly nuanced to qualify, or even to contradict, the emphases of the verse. Considered as a sequence they lend visual urgency to the passage of time while the allegorical associations of their respective astrological signs frequently correspond to, or ironically contextualize, the themes of the verse. The positioning of particular eclogues under specific signs of the Zodiac was clearly a matter of considerable significance. The structural presentation of the Calender forms part of its meaning [cf. Eade (1972); Heninger (1988); Luborsky (1981); Richardson (1989)]. Cf. Berger (1988); Bernard (1989); Cullen (1970); Ettin (1984); Hamilton (1956); Hoffmann (1977); L. S. Johnson (1990); Lerner (1972); Mallette (1981); Norbrook (1984); D. M. Rosenberg (1981); Rosenmeyer (1969); Shepherd (1989); Shore (1985).

  Envoy TO HIS BOOKE

  1 Goe… booke: a formal ‘envoy’ to launch the work. Cf. Chaucer, ‘Go, litel bok, go, litel myn tragedye’ (Troilus, 5. 1786).

  3 president: combining connotations of president (patron) and precedent (exemplar), to represent Sidney as Castiglione’s ideal courtier.

  5 barke: envy is traditionally figured as canine. Cf. FQ, 6. 12. 40.

  7 Vnder… wing: cf. ‘under the shadow of thy wings’ (Psalms 36: 7).

  10 All as: while.

  13–14 Referring to the work’s anonymous publication.

  15 For thy thereof: on which account.

  16 ieopardee: alluding to the political danger of publication.

  19 Immeritô: unworthy or possibly blameless, but deliberately enigmatic either way. Cf. D. Cheney (1989), 144–6.

  Epistle To the most excellent…

  1 VNCOVTHE VNKISTE: cf. ‘Unknowne, unkist’, from Pandarus’ salacious address to Troilus in Chaucer, Troilus, 1. 809.

  3 Lidgate: cf. John Lydgate, The Fall of Princes, 1. 252.

  Loadestarre: guiding star (often the pole star).

  5 Tityrus: Virgil’s persona in Eclogues, 1. Cf. October, 55–60, [55]. For Chaucer as the English Tityrus cf. June, 81–96, [81].

  8 Ma. Haruey: Gabriel Harvey, MA, fellow of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge during Spenser’s residence, and his correspondent in Letters (1580). Harvey (c. 1550–1631) is principally remembered for his marginalia and his controversy with Thomas Nashe. Cf. September, [176]; Stern (1979).

  9 brocage: brokering, in the sexual sense of pimping.

  14 tromp: trumpet, an emblem of fame, cf. FQ, 2. 3. 10.

  20 Decorum: theory of generic and stylistic propriety. Cf. Puttenham, Arte of English Poesie, ECE, 2. 173–81.

  24 auncient: archaic, cf. headnote.

  32 Oratour: Marcus Tullius Cicero in De Oratore, 2. 14. 60.

  44 Valla: Lorenzo Valla (1407–57), Italian humanist, commented on the Roman historian Livy in Emendationes in Livium de Bello Punico.

  45 Saluste: Caius Sallustius Crispus (86–34 BC), Roman historian, whose style was attacked in Roger Ascham’s The Scholemaster (1570).

  52 Tullie: Cicero in De Oratore, 3. 38. 153, and Orator, 23. 80.

  57 age. yet: here, as elsewhere, the text reproduces the punctuation of the first quarto. Var notes that ‘the period varied in force with some printers… it seems to have served as a somewhat variable, or even casual, substitute for comma, semicolon, or colon’ (Minor Poems, 1. 715).

  60 all as in: just as in.

  61 blaze and portraict: depict and portray.

  70 dischorde: for this sentiment cf. FQ, 3. 2. 15.

  concordaunce: concord, harmony.

  71 Alceus: ancient Geek poet. Cf. Cicero, De Natura Deorum, 1. 28. 79.

  75 hardiness: boldness, audacity.

  76–7 marking… cast: misjudging his aim, they complain of the length of the shot. In archery the ‘compass’ is the curved path described by an arrow.

  90 gallimaufray: jumble.

  hodgepodge: confused medley.

  95 Euanders mother: Evander led a colony of Arcadians who settled on Mount Palatine (Virgil, Aeneid, 8. 51–4). For his mother’s archaic diction cf. Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae, 1. 10. 2, but E. K.’s reference derives from Macrobius, Saturnalia, 1. 5. 1.

  104 Nources milk: ‘the Childe that suckethe the milke of the nurse muste of necessitye learne his firste speache of her’ (Prose, 119).

  110 conne… thanke: thank them (to ‘con thanks’ is to express gratitude).

  120 spue out: a biblical formula, cf. Leviticus 18: 28.

  rakehellye: debauched. Cf. ‘rakehell bands’ at FQ, 5. 11. 44.

  121 hunt the letter: affect excessive alliteration.

  122 iangle: jabber, chatter.

  129 Pythia: prophetess of Apollo at Delphi, but here alluding to the Cumaean Sybil, who foretells Aeneas’ victory in Virgil, Aeneid, 6. 77–97.

  130 Os… domans: ‘mastering her foaming mouth and fierce heart’ (Aeneid, 6. 80).

  136–7 Of… vnrest: cf. June, 65, 79.

  140 couertly: it was expected that pastoral should ‘under the vaile of homely persons and in rude speeches… insinuate and glaunce at greater matters, and such as perchance had not bene safe to have beene disclosed in any other sort’. Cf. Puttenham, Arte of English Poesie, ECE, 2. 40.

  149 Theocritus: ancient Greek poet of the third century BC whose Idylls were commonly held to have established the pastoral genre.

  151 Mantuane: Baptista Spagnuoli of Mantua (1448–1516), some of whose Latin eclogues were imitated in English by Alexander Barclay (1515–21).

  152 full somd: fully ‘summed’ or grown, fully fledged.

  Petrarque: Francesco Petrarch (1304–74), author of the Rime Sparse, produced twelve influential Latin eclogues.

  Boccace: Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–75), author of The Decameron, wrote sixteen Latin eclogues and a pastoral romance, L’Ameto, in Italian.

  Marot: Clément Marot (1496–1544), French poet celebrated for his translati
ons of the Psalms; two of his eclogues are imitated by Spenser in November and December.

  Sanazarus: Jacobo Sannazzaro (1456–1530), author of Arcadia (1504), wrote a series of piscatory eclogues substituting fishermen for shepherds.

  156 principals: principal or main feathers.

  164 .s.: here, as elsewhere throughout E. K.’s commentary, an abbreviation for the Latin scilicet, ‘namely’.

  168 olde name: The Kalender of Shepherdes, an English version of Guy de Marchant’s almanac, Le Compost et Calendrier des Bergers (1493), frequently updated and reprinted throughout the sixteenth century.

  169 scholion: learned commentary.

  184–5 Dreames… Cupide: not extant. For ‘Dreames’ cf. November, [195].

  212 Quidams: certain persons.

  221 Latine Poemes: cf. September, [176].

  General argument

  7–8 Æglogaj… tales: reflecting a popular, but false, etymology. Eclogue means ‘selection’ and derives from the Greek for choice or choosing.

  19 νλυσις: analysis.

  20 sentence: opinion.

  48 Andalo: Andalo de Negro, who instructed Boccaccio in astronomy.

  48–9 Macrobius… Saturne: Macrobius’ Convivia Saturnalia to which E. K.’s discussion of the ancient calendar is heavily indebted.

  51 coumpting: reckoning.

  63 Iulius Cœsar: the matter was highly topical. Proposals for reform of the Julian calendar were already circulating. The Gregorian calendar (named after Pope Gregory XIII) was widely adopted in 1582, but not in England until 1752 because of its papal associations. Cf. Parmenter (1936).

  66 Abib: containing part of March and April. Cf. Exodus 13: 3–4.

  72–4 Bissextilem… intercalares: the Julian calendar introduced in 45 BC established the convention of the leap year in order to regularize the practice of compensating for the discrepancy between the solar year and the calendar year by the irregular introduction of extra or ‘intercalary’ days or months. The leap year was known as the ‘bissextile year’ ( year of two sixes) owing to the insertion of an intercalary day six days prior to the Calends of March. Cf. Macrobius, Saturnalia, 1. 12–14 passim.

  79 Numa Pompilius: second king of Rome credited with the establishment of much religious ceremonial and observance.

  86 Ianus: the two-faced Italian god of entrances and beginnings who gives his name to the month of January.

  92 Rabbins: rabbis.

  94 Tisri: ‘the Babylonian name for the first month of the Jewish civil year, or the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year, corresponding to parts of September and October’ (OED).

  95 Pauilions: tabernacles. Cf. Leviticus 23: 34.

  102 seene: knowledgeable, well versed.

  Januarye

  The first eclogue serves to introduce the figure of Colin Clout and to establish the mood of dejected alienation that characterizes him throughout the work. Although E. K. maintains that the poet ‘secretly shadoweth himself’ under this persona, the careful introduction at the opening and close of the eclogue of a distinct third-person narrator functions to distance the two. Similarly, although the ostensible theme of the eclogue is that of unrequited love, the choice of vocabulary insinuates the presence of other forms of discontent covertly articulated through the diction of amorous complaint [cf. Marotti (1982)]. Colin’s Petrarchan malaise is responsible for the ‘ill gouernement’ (45) of his flock at a time when Queen Elizabeth’s proposed marriage to the Catholic Duc d’Alençon threatened the ruin of Protestant government. As E. K. points out, Colin Clout’s name evokes reminiscences of Skelton’s anti-court satires and the elegiac complaints of the French Protestant exile, Clément Marot. E. K.’s allusions to Sir Thomas Smith’s treatise of good government and to the exiled poet Ovid (in a work avowedly inspired by the politically approved poet Virgil) adumbrate the Calender’s political agenda. Comparison with Virgil’s first eclogue strongly suggests that Colin’s political and emotional kinship is with the disaffected shepherd Meliboeus rather than the secure and contented Tityrus.

  A further complication is the effect of Colin’s infatuation with Rosalind upon his relationship with Hobbinol (55–60), a subject central to June. The lady has supplanted Colin’s friend, although the speaker’s complaint echoes that of Virgil’s homoerotic shepherd, Corydon (Eclogues, 2). An ironic tension between form and content is hereby engineered, suggestive of the potentially destructive ambivalence of youthful emotions. Denying the possibility of ‘pæderastice’, E. K. interprets the relationship between Colin and Hobbinol as Platonic, asserting the superiority of such intellectual associations over those of the body [cf. Goldberg (1992)]. The resulting conflict between friendship (amicitia) and love (eros) deepens the isolation of the central figure whose obsessive self-absorption is conveyed through pathetic fallacy: although himself in the spring-time of youth he finds in the barren winter landscape a ‘myrrhour’ of his emotional state (20) [cf. Berger (1983a)]. His journey to the ‘neighbour towne’ (50) has disabled his capacity both for pastoral life and pastoral song and he therefore breaks his ‘pype’ (67–72). As the woodcut effectively illustrates, he has fallen out of harmony with seasonal change, but into ‘pensife’ complicity with seasonal decay [cf. Luborsky (1981)]. His December monologue therefore reprises his opening complaint in the same form and style (six-line stanzas rhyming ababcc), but without any notable sense of emotional progress. Appropriately, the temporal movement of the first eclogue is from ‘sunneshine day’ (3) to ‘frosty Night’ (74) and the weary weight of its concluding alexandrine marks Colin as the Calender’s principal casualty of time. Cf. D. Cheney (1989); Moore (1975); A. Patterson (1986); Prescott (1978); B. R. Smith (1991); Vink (1986).

  Argument

  Pipe: oaten or reed pipes, panpipes. The woodcut, however, illustrates bagpipes.

  Januarye

  17 Pan: amorous Arcadian god of woodlands, song and shepherds, hence the presiding deity of pastoral verse. Often identified allegorically with Nature, the universe or Christ. Cf. Aprill, [50]; Maye, [54].

  27 stoures: distresses, turmoils, emotional crises. Cf. FQ, 4. 9. 39.

  44 knees… fare: cf. Psalms 109: 24.

  55 Hobbinol: Gabriel Harvey. Cf. September, [176].

  58 cracknelles: light, crisp biscuits. Cf. November, 96.

  67–72 Colin’s abandonment of music recalls that of Virgil’s disaffected Meliboeus who vows to ‘sing no more’ (Eclogues, 1. 77).

  71 shall… abye: shall meanwhile pay the penalty.

  73 Phœbus: Apollo, the sun god.

  74 waine: waggon, an appropriately pastoral term for Apollo’s chariot.

  76 pensife: sad, brooding.

  78 Whose… weepe: an alexandrine (i.e. a line of six metrical feet).

  80 Anchôra speme: Italian for ‘still [there is] hope’, with a pun on the Latin anchora spei, the ‘anchor of hope’, a common Christian emblem which appears on the title-page of FQ (1596).

  Gloss

  [1] COLIN Cloute: in imitation of the satiric persona employed by John Skelton in Colyn Cloute (1529), an attack upon ecclesiastical abuse and, in particular, Cardinal Wolsey. Spenser’s plaintive note, however, owes more to the persona of Colin from Clément Marot’s Eglogue sur le Trépas de ma Dame Loyse de Savoye (1531) imitated in November.

  vnlikelyhoode: dissimilarity, discrepancy.

  [10] Cf. Sir Thomas Smith, De Republica Anglorum (1. 9). As the work was not published until 1583 Harvey must have had access to a manuscript copy. Smith (1513–77) was the first Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge and Queen Elizabeth’s ambassador to France.

  [57] Rusticus… Alexis: ‘You are a bumkin, Corydon, and Alexis does not care for your gifts’ (Virgil, Eclogues, 2. 56).

  [59] pœderastice: love of boys, pederasty.

  Alcybiades: cf. the pseudo-Platonic Alcibiades, 1. 131c.

  Xenophon: cf. Symposium, 8.

  Maximus Tyrius: cf. Dissertationes, 21. 8.

  gynerastice: love of women.
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  Lucian: ribald Greek satirist (c. AD 115–200), author of Dialogues of the Gods and Dialogues of the Dead.

  Vnico Aretino: Pietro Aretino (1492–1556), notorious, and highly popular, for his pornographic verses.

  Perionius: Joachim Perion, author of In Petrum Aretinum Oratio (1551). [60] Ouide… Corynna: cf. Ovid, Tristia, 4. 10. 60.

  Iulia: Ovid’s association with Julia was commonly supposed to have contributed to his exile from Rome.

  Aruntius Stella… Statius: cf. Statius’ Epithalamion in Stellam et Violentillam in Silvae, 1. 2. 197–8 where Stella’s wife is called Asteris. Martial calls her Ianthis at Epigrams, 6. 21; 7. 14.

  Madonna Cœlia: cf. Lettre Amorose di Madonna Coeli Gentildonna Romana. Scritte al suo Amante (1562).

  Petrona: unidentified.

  [61] Epanorthosis: rhetorical figure involving correction and often entailing the repetition of a key word.

  Februarie

  The second eclogue introduces the element of pastoral dialogue that is crucial to the complex, dialectical ethos of the Calender. The dispute between Thenot and Cuddie reflects the traditional antagonism between youth and age, and is often held to illustrate the contrast between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ versions of pastoral in that the young man resents the suffering inherent in seasonal change (1–8) whereas the old man accepts it as a necessary part of the natural order (9–24). So far as the participants are concerned such attitudes remain polarized and the debate breaks off, as the emblems indicate, in rancorous disagreement, yet the speeches are designed to betray the multiple ironies underlying both viewpoints [cf. Alpers (1972)]. The voice of experience is also that of sexual envy (57–68, 80–84), the voice of complaint is ‘greene’ in judgement as well as in ‘yeares’ (85–90) [cf. L. S. Johnson (1990), 63–71]. The setting of the dispute in February, commonly regarded as the last month of the year [cf. FQ, 7. 7. 43], serves to remind us that youth and age are not polar opposites but form part of a continuum: Thenot has once been young, as Cuddie will one day be old. Age is in dispute with its own past, youth with its own future [cf. Berger (1988), 416–41].