The Shorter Poems

by Edmund Spenser

  251 Wickets: little door’s.

  254 double eyed: because deceit is two faced.

  258 carrion: putrefying, rotting.

  264 lack of: short of.

  266 donne: dun, dark.

  267 traueile: combining the senses of travel and travail.

  277 nought… iewell: he thought nothing too dear to pay for the jewel.

  281 descried… trayne: recognized by what trailed behind him.

  284 after… chere: either in accordance with his (now cheerful) mood or following his kindly reception.

  can: did.

  286 knack: knick-knack, trinket.

  288 saue: except.

  294 doubtfull: apprehensive (entertaining doubts about the kid’s safety).

  hyde: hied, hurried.

  298 merchandise: a stock term of denigration for what Protestants regarded as the worthless ceremonial trappings of Roman Catholicism.

  304 does… remayne: does await them all.

  306 beside… wit: mistaken.

  309 sir Iohn: a common term of opprobrium for an unlearned priest. Puritans complained of the ignorance of the non-preaching clergy, ‘dumb-mouth’ hirelings such as those deplored by Piers. If ‘our sir Iohn’ implies that the priest is Roman Catholic, or inclined towards that cause, Palinode’s remark lends an ironic twist to the conclusion of the dialogue.

  312 But… if: but if.

  319 Palinodes Embleme: ‘everyone without faith is suspicious’.

  321 Piers… Embleme: ‘What faith then is in the faithless?’

  Gloss

  [6] redoundeth: is superfluous. Cf. Aprill, [155].

  [9] straunge: because of the use of ‘where’ as a noun.

  [39] Faytours: more properly understood as impostors or cheats.

  [54] good shepherd: cf. ‘I am the good shepherd’ (John 10: 11, 14).

  Eusebius: cf. Praeparatio Evangelica, 5. 17.

  Plutarch: cf. De Defectu Oraculorum, 17.

  Lauetere: cf. Ludwig Lavater, De Spectris, translated by Robert Harrison as Of Ghostes and Spirites Walking by Nyght (1572), 1. 19. E. K.’s allusions to Eusebius and Plutarch derive from Lavater.

  [57] Malim… miserescere: ‘I would prefer everyone to envy me rather than to pity me’. The source remains untraced but cf. Pindar, Pythian Odes, 1. 85; Herodotus, History, 3. 52.

  [61] syncope: deletion of letters or syllables from a word.

  [69] Sardanapalus: Assyrian monarch notorious for sensuality.

  Tullie: Cicero. Cf. Tusculan Disputations, 5. 35. 101.

  All… others: these lines recur with minor variations in Letters where Spenser claims to have translated them extempore (cf. Prose, 16). This is sometimes regarded as providing evidence for his identification with E. K. Cf. notes to Letters, ‘That which I eate’.

  Erie of Deuonshire: Edward de Courtenay, Earl of Devon (c. 1357–1419). The verses are thought to derive from his monument at Tiverton. Cf. Complete Peerage, 4. 325–6.

  smacke: trace, touch.

  [92] Chaucer: cf. The Shipman’s Tale, 1519, 1581.

  [111] Deuteronomie: cf. Deuteronomy 10: 9.

  [121] fatherly… gouernaunce: the gloss tactfully diverts Piers’s criticism from Anglicanism to Rome, but Puritan polemicists emphasized the similarity between the English and Roman episcopates. Despite E. K.’s disclaimer, Piers’s complaints are dangerously reminiscent of those which caused ‘vnrest and hinderaunce’ to the Church.

  [142] Atlas… shoulders: for the Euhemeristic interpretation of this myth cf. Boccaccio, Genealogia, 4. 31; Comes, Mythologiae, 4. 7.

  [160] Chaucer: cf. The Complaint of Mars, 52.

  [174] Æsops fables: cf. the fable of the wolf and the goat, Fables, no. 220.

  Catastrophe: denouement.

  [189] πθος: pathetic expression.

  [193] Hyperbaton: a rhetorical figure involving the separation of words normally belonging together. The parenthesis interrupts the goat’s speech and emphasizes the pathos of her reminiscence.

  [205] Sic… ferebat: ‘Such were his eyes, his very hand, and face’ (Virgil, Aeneid, 3. 490).

  [232] Lorde Hastingues: cf. Holinshed, Chronicles, 3. 381–2.

  [240] Paxes: small golden or silver tablets bearing sacred images kissed by the celebrant at mass and circulated to the congregation.

  [251] Chaucer: cf. The Merchant’s Tale, 2046, 2117.

  [304] Epiphonema: sententious summary.

  Charles… nynth: alluding to the massacre of Huguenots on St Bartholomew’s Day, 24 August 1572, ordered by Charles IX, allegedly at the instigation of his mother, Catherine de Medici.

  Emblem

  Theognis: not in Theognis and otherwise unidentified.

  June

  The relationship between Colin and Hobbinol, touched upon briefly in Januarye and Aprill, now moves centre stage in a dialogue which explores the tension between the ‘recreatiue’ and ‘plaintiue’ modes of Spenserian pastoral [cf. Bernard (1989), 54–61]. Ideally, as E. K.’s ‘Generall argument’ informs us, ‘matter of loue’ should fall into the ‘recreatiue’ category, but Colin’s disaffection is such that the traditional lover’s complaint threatens to develop into a solipsistic love of complaint. He has grown increasingly isolated from pastoral society: ‘I play to please my selfe’ (72), he asserts, yet he ironically admits that ‘I am not, as I wish I were’ (105). He is, therefore, the one person wholly excluded from the recreative effects of his verse. Whereas in Januarye his mood might be said to reflect the season, he is now out of harmony with the annual cycle, although in bygone years his music is said to have surpassed the ‘larke in Sommer dayes’ (51). His January emblem held out the possibility of hope but his current emblem denies it. He speaks morbidly of his advancing years (33–40) in marked contrast to Palinode, the elderly but young-at-heart protagonist of the preceding eclogue. His outlook precludes entrance to the recreative space (or state) of Hobbinol’s ‘paradise’, a ‘locus amoenus’ of personal contentment in which the ‘wandring mynde’ finds repose (2) – at least for the moment, for the Calender as a whole denies the possibility of recreating Eden on earth [cf. Hoffman (1977), 61–9]. It is clear, however, that Colin can no longer find even temporary satisfaction in Hobbinol’s friendship, or in his love.

  Like the unfortunate Meliboeus of Virgil’s first eclogue, Colin can ‘nowhere fynd, to shroude my lucklesse pate’ (16). But Meliboeus was a victim of political circumstance and it is likely that Colin’s disaffection with the ‘faithlesse’ Rosalind (115) may reflect, albeit obliquely, the country’s growing dissatisfaction with its Tudor ‘rose’ [cf. McLane (1961), 27–46]. It is noteworthy, for example, that Colin’s emotional frustration impedes his artistic development. Although revered by Hobbinol as an Orphic poet whose ‘oaten pype’ is sufficiently potent to charm even the Muse of heroic verse (53–64), he disclaims all lofty poetic ambitions (65–72) and channels his remaining energies into a lament for the deceased Tityrus (81–96). The immediate allusion is to Chaucer, but lurking in the background is the figure of Virgil who was commonly believed to have ‘shadowed’ himself under the persona of Tityrus, the fortunate shepherd of the first eclogue who secured the patronage of Augustus and retained possession of the pastoral paradise from which Colin is exiled. Echoes of the Aeneid in Colin’s lamentations (14–16) serve to confirm this pattern of ironic associations. Far from ascending from pastoral to epic, the bucolic poet is suffering epic torments and ‘Rosalind’ seems oblivious to his plight.

  Yet even the poetics of desolation retains a certain ‘recreatiue’ effect: the versatile eight-line stanza organized upon a mere two rhymes (ababbaba) is something of a technical tour-de-force and the eloquence of Colin’s lament for Tityrus anticipates that of his superb elegy for Dido in November. Although E. K. tells us that Colin’s journey southwards ‘is no poetical fiction’ [18], many other details clearly fall into this category, and the relationship between author and persona remains as elusive as ever. Colin’s pipe is broken but Spenser�
�s continues to play. Despite the loss of Rosalind, June ends, as it begins (9), on a note of benediction: the flocks are ‘blessed’ (118) and the concluding lines evoke something of the muted satisfaction of Virgil’s final eclogue. Sorrow and mutability are acknowledged, but so too are the joys of summer. Cf. Berger (1969); Cullen (1970); Goldberg (1992); L. S. Johnson (1990).

  Argument

  vowed: devoted.

  June

  3 what… delyte?: what do I lack to occasion delight?

  8 attemper: bring into harmony. Cf. Aprill, 36.

  9–16 Adapting Virgil, Eclogues, 1. 1–5.

  14–16 Echoing Virgil, Aeneid, 1. 1–4.

  16 shroude: shelter. Cf. June, 54; Julye, 3. The first edition has ‘shouder’, a reading defended in Brooks-Davies (1992).

  17 list… be: wish to be advised.

  19 me: for me (the ethical dative. Cf. Maye, 245).

  harbrough: harbour, in the sense of refuge or resting place.

  20 witche: wych elm.

  24 gastly: ghastly, frightful.

  owles: generally regarded as ill-omened. Cf. TW, sonnet 6. 13; RT, 130; Epith, 345 and notes.

  25–7 Possibly influenced by Horace, Odes, 1. 4. 5–7.

  25 Graces: cf. Aprill, [109] and note.

  27 trimly… traces: featly footed measures or dance steps.

  28 systers nyne: the nine Muses. Cf. Aprill, [41].

  Parnasse: Mount Parnassus. Cf. Aprill, [42].

  30 Pan: cf. Januarye, 17 and note.

  34 lincks: chains.

  39 wexen… aboue: grown worn or frayed on the surface of the fabric.

  43 Queene apples: an early variety of apple, or possibly quinces.

  45 gaudy: fine, gay.

  comen: common, in the sense of habitual, usual.

  46 rype: mature.

  46–8 Cf. ‘when I became a man, I put away childish things’ (1 Corinthians 13: 11).

  49 roundelayes: cf. Aprill, [33] and note.

  52 Echo: cf. Virgil, Eclogues, 1. 4–5. There may be an ironic allusion to the myth of Narcissus for whose love the nymph Echo pined away. Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3. 359–401; August, 160. E. K. associates ‘the author’ with Narcissus in his gloss to Diggon’s emblem in September.

  53–64 Hobbinol credits Colin with Orphic powers. Cf. note to line 96 below.

  57 Calliope: Muse of heroic poetry. Cf. Aprill, [100].

  59 Luyts… Tamburins: lutes and tabors (small drums), denoting lyric and heroic poetry respectively.

  62–4 A Virgilian topos, cf. Eclogues, 4. 55–7.

  64 outgoe: excel, surpass.

  65 conne no skill: have no knowledge. This line and line 79 are quoted in the ‘Dedicatory Epistle’ to illustrate the author’s humility.

  66 daughters… Ioue: for the Muses as daughters of Jove and Memory (Mnemosyne) cf. Cicero, De Natura Deorum, 3. 21. 54. For Apollo and Memory as their parents cf. Aprill, [41] and note.

  67 quill: pen or pipe.

  70 Parnasse: symbolizing epic poetry, as opposed to pastoral’s ‘lowly groue’.

  76 where… best: wherever is best for them (where the best befalls them).

  79 paint out: graphically describe (exploiting the common analogy between poetry and painting. Cf. Horace, Ars Poetica, 361–5).

  80 poore: pour.

  82 make: compose poetry. For the poet as ‘maker’ see George Puttenham, Arte of English Poesie, ECE, 2. 3.

  84 loue ytake: taken or captivated by love. Alluding not only to the lovers’ complaints in Troilus and Cressida, The Knight’s Tale and Romaunt of the Rose, but also to such pseudo-Chaucerian pieces as The Complaint of the Black Knight and La Belle Dame Sans Merci.

  85 Well… wayle: he well knew how to bewail.

  87 mery tales: The Canterbury Tales.

  91 passing: fusing the senses of surpassing and transient.

  94 spring: cf. ‘Dan Chaucer, well of English vndefyled’ (FQ, 4. 2. 32).

  95 learne: teach.

  96 trees… shedde: in imitation of the bereaved Orpheus whose poetry had the power to move trees. Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 10. 86–144.

  110 fere: companion, mate (often used of a spouse).

  117–20 Cf. Virgil, Eclogues, 10. 75–7.

  119 forsloe: delay or hinder.

  122 Gia… spenta: ‘Hope utterly extinguished’.

  Gloss

  [10] Eden: cf. Genesis 2: 8.

  Mesopotamia: literally ‘land between the rivers’.

  Diodorus Syculus: cf. The Library of History, 17. 53. 3.

  Tygris… Euphrates: cf. Genesis 2: 14 (where the Tigris is called Hiddekel).

  denominate: named.

  [18] For the implications of this gloss for Spenser’s biography see Var, Minor Poems, 1. 312–14. Debate has centred upon the interpretation of ‘the Northpartes’, and ‘the North countrye’ [19]. Inconclusive attempts have been made to link the poet to the Spensers of Hurstwood in east Lancashire. Other critics have regarded ‘north’ as a relative term and believe that E. K. alludes to Spenser’s move from Cambridge to Kent – although Cambridgeshire is conspicuously devoid of lofty ‘hylles’.

  [21] Kantsh… woodie: for this etymology cf. William Lambard, A Perambulation of Kent (1576), 7, where the name is clearly identified as Briton and not Saxon as E. K. maintains.

  [25] opinion of Faeries: belief in the existence of fairies.

  religiously: tenaciously.

  shauelings: monks with shaven or tonsured crowns.

  nousell: nurture.

  distraicte: divided.

  Guelfes… Gibelins: the Guelfs supported the papal cause and the Ghibellines that of the empire during the conflict between Frederick II and the papacy (1227–50). The association with elfs and goblins is fanciful.

  Lord Thalbot: John Talbot (1388?–1453), first Earl of Shrewsbury, whose exploits in France are celebrated in Shakespeare’s 1 Henry VI.

  [25] Graces: cf. Aprill, [109].

  Musœus: cf. Hero and Leander, 63–5.

  Pageaunts: these works are not extant.

  [43] Ipse… mala: ‘My own hands will gather quinces, pale with tender down’ (Virgil, Eclogues, 2.51). For Spenser’s use of this eclogue cf. headnote to Januarye.

  [57] Calliope: cf. Aprill, [100].

  staffe: stanza.

  [59] Tamburines: tabors or drums. A clarion is a trumpet.

  [68] Pan… Phœbus: cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 11. 146–93.

  [81] Tullie… lyfe: cf. Cicero, Post Reditum in Senatu, 4. 8.

  [102] Menalcas: a speaker in Virgil’s third and fifth eclogues.

  [103] vnderfonge: in this context the term effectively means ‘seduce’.

  Julye

  Spenser is indebted to the eighth eclogue of Mantuan for the central conceit of Julye, the opposition between hill and dale, but he explores it in the light of Isaiah 40: 4, ‘Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low’. The metre is the old ‘fourteener’ (here generally divided into alternating lines of eight and six syllables) familiar to Spenser’s readers from George Turberville’s translation of Mantuan (1567) and Sternhold and Hopkins’s translation of the Psalms (1562).

  The debate between Thomalin (possibly based upon Thomas Cooper, Bishop of Lincoln) and Morrell (possibly based upon John Aylmer, Bishop of London) rehearses many of the issues raised, and left unresolved, in Maye [cf. McLane (1961), 188–215]. For Thomalin, as for Piers, the pastoral landscape is the site of moral choice. He will not ‘clime’ (9) to the sort of ecclesiastical lordship despised by his counterpart [cf. Maye, 121–5], nor will he acknowledge any Pan but Christ (179). His condemnation of Rome, like that of Piers, reflects obliquely upon the ‘popish’ abuses alleged to survive in the reformed church (179–204) and has a direct bearing upon contemporary controversies concerning episcopacy, pluralism, the use of clerical vestments and the intellectual calibre of the Elizabethan clergy. He rejects the remarkable, poetic eloquence of Morrell’s defence of high station (49–52, 57–92)
, and proffers a rugged proverbial wisdom designed to undermine its exotic ethos (93–108). In particular he objects to the indiscriminate conflation of biblical and classical imagery which informs Morrell’s argument. For him, Mount Olivet and Mount Ida are distinct: the former was the precinct of Christ, the latter was home to the bad shepherd Paris who deserted his flock and brought destruction in his wake (141 – 52). As in Maye, the two speakers inhabit conflicting imaginative, as well as moral, worlds. Accordingly, they read the pastoral landscape differently. From Thomalin’s viewpoint, Morrell appropriates the spiritual significance of mountains in support of social climbing. From Morrell’s viewpoint, Thomalin distorts the traditional symbolism of valleys in order to denigrate legitimate social eminence.

  The matter is complicated, however, by the introduction of Algrind (Archbishop Edmund Grindal), a figure admired by Thomalin despite his attainment of high ecclesiastical office. Grindal had sought to promote reform from within the Anglican Church but had fallen into the Queen’s disfavour owing to his support for Puritan ‘prophesyings’, unlicensed religious gatherings at which scripture was expounded and discussed [cf. Collinson (1979), 233–52]. By refusing to suppress these activities (in a letter tactlessly modelled upon St Ambrose’s excommunication of Theodosius) he precipitated a conflict between spiritual and secular authority and was sequestered from his office [cf. McCabe (1995)]. At the time of the Calender’s publication, therefore, the ‘queene of shepheardes all’ (Aprill, 34) – the supreme governor of the Anglican Church – was in conflict with the best of shepherds (associated as he is with Abel, Moses and Aaron). The material was dangerous but Spenser handles it discreetly. The female eagle that occasions Algrind’s downfall is responsible in deed alone, not in intention (221–6). She attempts to smash a ‘shell fishe’ – presumably the disputed practices – and not the innocent shepherd sitting ‘vpon a hyll’ (217). As here presented, Algrind is the victim of circumstance, not vice [cf. King (1990), 41–4]. His fate confirms Thomalin in his personal preference for the mean estate, but does not point to any necessary association between ecclesiastical eminence and pride. On the contrary, by Thomalin’s own testimony, Algrind remained a good shepherd however ‘great in gree’ (215). As in Maye, the polarity of the debate is drawn to a studied inconclusiveness encapsulated in the conflicting emblems: as E. K.’s gloss observes, it is the paradoxical nature of Christ to be both humble and exalted. It remains unclear, however, how such a condition is be realized (or imitated) within the sphere of ecclesiastical government. Cf. J. H. Anderson (1970); Hoffman (1977); Shore (1985).