Written in the persona of Sidney’s sister, the Dolefull Lay of Clorinda which immediately follows offers a more personal perspective and recognizes the tormented psychology of a literary form which habitually sees us ‘mourning in others, our owne miseries’ (96). The true victims of Sidney’s death are now identified as the survivors, while he is envisaged in Paradise, lying amid flowers ‘like a new-borne babe’ (69) rather than transformed into a flower like the classical Adonis. In this respect he resembles the dynamic, living figure of The Faerie Queene’s Gardens of Adonis (3. 6. 47) rather than the cunningly woven but deceptive artefact of the House of Malecasta (3. 1. 38). As in The Ruines of Time (589–686), spirituality is seen to transcend art. Authorship of the Dolefull Lay has sometimes been attributed to Mary Sidney, but the poem is clearly designed, both in theme and structure, as a counterpart to Astrophel which it follows without separate heading or title-page. It employs the same stanza form (rhyming ababcc) and is exactly half the length of the preceding work (108 lines in 18 stanzas to 216 lines in 36 stanzas) – a structural proportion of 2:1 commonly found in epideictic poems and implying a resolution of complaint in the perception of Sidney’s apotheosis [cf. O’Connell (1971)]. In the absence of evidence documenting collaboration between Spenser and Mary Sidney it would seem prudent to ascribe both pieces to the same author.
As the concluding lines indicate, the Dolefull Lay enhances the impression of communal grief by serving to introduce further elegies by Lodowick Bryskett, Matthew Roydon, Sir Walter Ralegh and Sir Edward Dyer (or possibly Fulke Greville). The first of Bryskett’s two contributions was entered in the Stationers’ Register as early as 22 August 1587, but the second may have been written to complement Astrophel [cf. Tromly (1986)]. The other pieces had already appeared in The Phoenix Nest (1593). The republication of such material in 1595, appended to Spenser’s poems, represented a crucial stage in the evolution of Sidney’s personal mythology [cf. Falco (1992)] and exercised a considerable influence upon the format of the elegiac anthology to the time of Milton [cf. Kay (1990), 53–66]. Whereas the present edition supplies only Spenser’s contributions to the volume the complete text is reprinted in de Sélincourt’s edition of Spenser’s Minor Poems (1910). Cf. Falco (1994); Friedrich (1936); Martin (1987); Pigman (1985); Strickland (1992).
The title alludes to the protagonist of Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella, two editions of which appeared in 1591. The altered orthography may be intended to suggest the lover’s demise, cf. ‘Astrofell’ at CCH, 449. For Spenser’s intention to write such an elegy cf. RT, ‘Dedication’.
Dedication To the most beautifull…
Countesse of Essex: Frances Walsingham, daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham and widow of Sir Philip Sidney, married Robert Devereux, second Earl of Essex, in 1590. The matter was delicate in that she was not the ‘Stella’ of Sidney’s sonnets nor did she die through grief as the poem suggests. Cf. notes to lines 55, 175–80 and 183–96 below.
Proem
1 oaten reed: the traditional pastoral instrument. Cf. SC, October, 8, [8] and note.
3 breed: generate, occasion.
10 dolours dart: pang of sorrow.
12 wot… dight: know that my verses are coarsely composed.
13 nycer wit: finer intellect or sensibility.
Astrophel
1 Arcady: Arcadia, a traditional setting for pastorals, but with specific allusion to Sidney’s Arcadia first published in 1590 and republished in 1593. Sidney represents himself as the shepherd Philisides. Cf. RT, 673.
2 gentlest race: Sidney was the grandson of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.
3 Hœmony: Haemonia, an ancient name for Thessaly.
7–24 Cf. the description of Calidore at FQ, 6. 1. 2–3.
9 pastors: shepherds.
10 In… behoue: in everything befitting a decent (or handsome) shepherd.
13 Nymph… mother: Mary Dudley, daughter of the Duke of Northumberland and sister of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.
20 vsage… demeanure: conduct and behaviour.
30 When… away: whenever Astrophel was absent.
42 chapelets: wreaths for the head, coronets.
46 charmes: songs (from Latin carmina), but with connotations of magical enchantment. Cf. TM, 244.
53 sight: sighed.
55 Stella: here, as at CCH, 532, Sidney’s widow, but Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich in Astrophil and Stella which contains two sonnets strongly indicative of this identification (24, 35). Spenser may imply that Sidney’s wife supplanted his former lover as his guiding ‘star’.
66 esteemed: valued.
67–78 Cf. the more sensual description in Ronsard, L’Adonis, 15–28.
67 wowed: wooed, courted.
70 atchieuements: accomplishments, feats.
72 too… alas: because his courage led to his death in battle.
80 infelicitie: in the dual senses of unhappiness and misfortune.
87 To… y’drad: to seek adventure abroad, afraid of nothing.
89–90 Cf. Bion, ‘Lament for Adonis’, 60–61.
92 forreine… away: Sidney was fatally wounded at Zutphen in September 1586 during Leicester’s campaign in the Netherlands.
96 Ardeyn: the Forest of Ardennes.
fowle Arlo: the woods of Aherlow north of the Galtee Mountains and close to Spenser’s home at Kilcolman were infested with wolves and outlaws. Cf. FQ, 7. 6. 36, 55.
97 toyles… traines: nets and cunning snares (or lures).
98 enwrap: entangle, embroil.
103 all: wholly, completely.
hale: health, well-being.
104 greedily: eagerly.
111–12 Ill… owne: so intent upon causing ill to others that he was heedless of his own peril.
113–14 But… eies: but excuse his distraction because the cruelty of heaven diverted his attention towards his enemies and away from his own safety.
116 brood: kind, species.
118–24 Cf. Bion, ‘Lament for Adonis’, 7–10.
119 Launched: pierced. Sidney was shot in the left thigh at Zutphen.
mischieuous might: devastating or lethal force.
120 ryued quight: completely severed or torn asunder.
123 endured: withstood.
126 let: hinder, prevent.
129–32 Cf. Theocritus, Idylls, 1. 66–8; Virgil, Eclogues, 10. 9–10.
133 shape of dreryhead: image of sorrow.
136 vnplaynd: unlamented.
137–8 Cf. Bion, ‘Lament for Adonis’, 10–12.
139 sewing… chace: pursuing the hunt.
140 raunged: traversed.
147–74 Sidney was carried to Arnhem, and his wife hastened from Flushing to be with him.
147 wild: willed.
149 beare: bier.
151–74 Cf. Bion, ‘Lament for Adonis’, 29–31, 40–61.
154 fauours: love tokens.
163 impictured… death: marked with the signs of death.
172 like: equivalent, similar.
inuade: intrude upon, penetrate.
175–80 Neither ‘Stella’ suffered such a fate. Lady Sidney survived and married Robert Dudley, Earl of Essex. Lady Rich was divorced by her husband for adultery and married Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy.
177 Forth with: immediately.
178 make: mate.
Turtle: turtle dove.
183–96 Transformed… Astrophel: Adonis is traditionally transformed into roses and anemones. ‘Astrophel’ is unknown as a flower (although the sound suggests asphodel) but signifies Sidney’s literary endurance through Spenser’s elegy and his own Astrophil and Stella (which aesthetically joins lover and lady even as it records their separation). Cf. Bion, ‘Lament for Adonis’, 64–6; Ovid, Metamorphoses, 10. 728–39; Ronsard, Adonis, 299–302; Daph, 346 and note.
191 deow: dew.
194 Penthia: from the Greek for sorrow.
211 his sister: the Countess of Pembroke. Cf. CCH, 487 and note.
213 shape… spright:
appearance and spirit.
Dolefull Lay of Clorinda
The 108 lines of the lay may allude to the 108 sonnets of Astrophil and Stella, presuming Spenser had access to a complete manuscript. Only 107 sonnets had been published. Cf. Kay (1990), 59.
1 complaine: lament, bemoan.
4 enriuen: split apart, broken.
12 warne: prevent or forbid.
17 like: similarly, equally.
22 vsury: interest.
41–2 Cypres… Elder: emblems of bereavement. Cf. SC, November, 145–7, [145].
45 riddles: witty conundrums, puzzles.
47 laid… abed: playing on the erotic sense.
57–8 Referring to his transformation into a flower, cf. Ast, 181–92.
62 dowries: endowments, gifts.
67–88 Continuing the comparison with Adonis. Cf. FQ, 3. 6. 46–9.
73–84 Astrophel attains Neoplatonic ascent to the pure form or essence of beauty denied to the protagonist of Astrophil and Stella. Cf. RT, 589–686.
78 eye… see: cf. 1 Corinthians 2: 9.
83 forme: shape or, in the philosophical sense, essence.
89 waile… lack: lament the privation of his absence or loss.
90 vowes: supplications, prayers.
95 wear: wear out, waste.
97–108 These lines serve as an introduction to the anthology of laments by different hands which immediately follow in the first edition.
99 entertaine: hold in affection, cherish.
101 Thestylis: Lodowick Bryskett. Cf. CCH, 156 and note.
106 vnto… addrest: fashioned for the occasion.
107 rehearse: recite, but, in anticipation of line 108, playing on the sense of decking a hearse with flowers or elegies. Cf. Kay (1990), 61–2.
AMORETTI AND EPITHALAMION
This volume was entered in the Stationers’ Register on 19 November 1594 and published the following year. The title-page announces that the contents were written ‘not long since’, but sonnet 8 has been shown to date from the early 1580s and it is possible that other early material may have been reworked for publication [cf. L. Cummings (1964)]. It is generally agreed, however, that the published volume commemorates Spenser’s marriage to his second wife, Elizabeth Boyle, and that it is designed to be read as a unity, proceeding through the stages of courtship and betrothal in the Amoretti to matrimony in the Epithalamion [cf. Kaske (1978)].
In the eighty-nine sonnets of the Amoretti Petrarchan and Neoplatonic influences, though clearly evident, are qualified by Protestant matrimonial idealism [cf. Dubrow (1990); J. L. Klein (1989)], and this independence of attitude is formally signalled by the adoption of an original sonnet form whose complex, interlocking structure (rhyming ababbcbccdcdee) distinguishes it both from the dialectical (and occasionally dichotomous) Petrarchan form and the potentially segmented ‘English’ or Shakespearean variety [cf. Spiller (1992), 142–9]. The influence of Petrarch is itself mediated through that of Ronsard, Desportes and Tasso [cf. Kastner (1908–9); Kostic (1959)]. Whereas the Petrarchan lover is invariably locked into an intensely introspective, not to say solipsistic, meditation upon the pangs of unrequited love from which he gains release only by the abandonment or sublimation of his desire, the Spenserian lover seeks the fulfilment, and even sanctification, of carnal desire within matrimony and moves from the language of personal complaint to that of public celebration [cf. Dasenbrook (1985); Roche (1989), 1–69]. His distinctive progress is appropriately charted against both the seasonal and the ecclesiastical calendars (natural and spiritual time) moving from ‘sad Winters night’ (sonnet 4) through spring (sonnet 19) and Lent (sonnet 22) to Easter (sonnet 68), and onwards in the Epithalamion to St Barnabas’s Day (11 June) which marks the date of the summer solstice [cf. W. C. Johnson (1990)]. Unlike his Neoplatonic counterpart he does not endeavour to climb the ‘ladder of ascent’ from particular to universal beauty and, as a result, remains as disturbed by the ‘absence’ of his lady as any purely sensual lover [cf. Casady (1941); Gibbs (1990), 139–74; Bieman (1988), 162–75]. Not infrequently his more Petrarchan and Neoplatonic poses are undercut by his sense of self-conscious irony [cf. sonnets 54 and 88]. The conclusion of the sequence in three sonnets of absence (87–9) fittingly emphasizes his urgent need for the physical consummation celebrated in the Epithalamion.
Whereas one detects a movement in the sonnets from a Narcissistic, self-centred desire (sonnet 35) towards a more generous sense of mutuality (sonnets 65, 68), the repetition of sonnet 35 as sonnet 83 reinforces the persistence of appetite and the inadequacy of mere betrothal. Its relevance to both the earlier and later stages of the sequence suggests the ineradicable selfishness of all desire and, perhaps, of consciousness itself. Elsewhere the imagery of flight is juxtaposed with that of feeding (sonnet 72), and even in the Epithalamion a subtextual resonance of the myth of Narcissus and Echo may be detected in the refrain [cf. Loewenstein (1986)]. Considered as an extended dramatic monologue the poems disclose more about the speaker than he realizes. His struggle for mastery, inimical to the mutuality of wedded love, is never wholly renounced despite the movement from ‘I’ to ‘we’ in the concluding stanzas [cf. Copeland (1988); W. C. Johnson (1993)]. In this regard, as the notes indicate, the short sequence of ‘Anacreontics’ positioned between the sonnets and the wedding song serves to explore the multiple ironies of desire through the distancing medium of mythology.
The autobiographical components of the sequence are curiously overt yet highly elusive. The speaker twice reminds us that he is the author of The Faerie Queene (sonnets 33 and 80), addresses personal friends (sonnet 33), declares himself to be forty years old (sonnet 60) and compares his relationships with the three Elizabeths in his life, his queen, his mother and his wife (sonnet 74). Yet even such specific allusions serve to promote consideration of larger thematic issues such as the relationship between amorous and epic poetry, the vulnerability of love to time, and the potentially conflicting claims of private and public loyalties. For instance, whereas sonnet 33 expresses weariness with the epic task, sonnet 80 envisages its eventual continuance while also slyly announcing the completion of three, as yet unpublished, books [cf. Dunlop (1980)]. As love poetry moves from impeding epic to inspiring it, the amorous courting of Elizabeth Boyle is precariously poised against the political courting of Elizabeth Tudor [cf. Bates (1992), 138–51; Marotti (1982)].
The structure of the Amoretti is highly symmetrical: 21 sonnets precede and 21 follow a central group of 47 designed to move from Ash Wednesday (sonnet 22) to Easter Sunday (sonnet 68). The central sonnet (45) concentrates upon the lady’s immortal ‘Idea’ but in a context which deftly captures the actual ambivalence of the speaker’s apparently Platonic stance. Covert allusion to the ecclesiastical calendar for 1594 has been detected in the central section in that the number of sonnets exactly corresponds to the forty-seven days between Ash Wednesday (13 February) and Easter (31 March). By the same calculation sonnet 62 falls, quite accurately, on 25 March or Lady Day [cf. Dunlop (1969), (1970)]. Spenser would therefore appear to have encrypted within the sequence a series of very precise, and highly personal, temporal references designed to locate the eternal in the mundane and produce a sequence for every year from the experiences of one. The lovers’ destinies are played out against an elaborate astrological backdrop [cf. Eade (1972)].
The numerological design of the Epithalamion reinforces this aspect of the poem’s presentation. It is now generally agreed that its twenty-four sections (although unnumbered in the original edition) represent the diurnal and sidereal hours and that the 365 long lines (the sum total of pentameters and alexandrines) represent the annual cycle in which the wedding day is necessarily contained. Night falls at line 300 thereby precisely denoting the sixteen and one quarter hours of daylight specified for 11 June 1594 in contemporary almanacs. It has also been argued that the seven-line envoy or ‘tornata’ compensates for the ‘shortcomings’ of the sun which accomplishes a mere 359 days (the number of long lines in t
he 23 full stanzas) while the sphere of fixed stars completes a full revolution of 360 degrees [cf. Fowler (1970a), 161–73; Hieatt (1960); Wickert (1968)]. By means such as these the patterns of transience are subsumed into the patterns of art. It has been argued more recently that similar numerological schemes inform the structure of the entire volume, thereby uniting its various components, but the calculations involved seem forbiddingly complex and problematic [cf. Fukuda (1988); Thompson (1985)]. More evident in Spenser’s text is the sheer vibrancy of excited energy which resists formal predictability: the ‘hours’ of the Epithalamion are of uneven length, the stanza structure (based on the Italian canzone) and rhyme patterns vary continually, and the refrain is constantly altering [cf. Warkentin (1990)].
Although the epithalamium was a recognized classical genre, Spenser responded to his models (the most significant being Catullus, Statius and Claudian) in a highly original fashion [T. M. Greene (1957); Tufte (1970); Welsford (1967)]. As the bridegroom is also a poet he sings his own wedding song – contrary to tradition – and in so doing contemplates the relationship between literature, love and mutability. The immediacy of his experience is expressed and simultaneously contained through the formality of the rhetoric. The poem is structured to move through the twenty-four hours of the wedding day, with their appropriate preparations, emotions and ceremonial activities, from the eager anticipation of morning to the rapturous consummation of night. With the fall of darkness the refrain alters from positive to negative (314) and the poetry seeks to ward off, as by a charm, the imagined terrors of the night (323–52). Although the prevailing tone is joyous, and even triumphal, the imagery insinuates more sombre and solemn elements. Allusions to Orpheus (16), Tithonus (75) and Medea (189–90) reflect the various anxieties incident to love and art, while echoes of the marriage service and Song of Songs articulate their spiritual aspirations [cf. D. Anderson (1984)]. According to the Book of Common Prayer, marriage was held to signify ‘the misticall union that is betwixte Christe and his Churche’ and the bridegroom is anxious that his wedding day be recorded as a ‘holy’ day, yet its sanctity accommodates the rowdy ‘fescennine’ jesting characteristic of classical epithalamia and lends validation to the sensuality of the Amoretti (137–9). The ‘endlesse matrimony’ anticipated in the poem’s central line (217) sanctifies the body and sexualizes the soul. The offspring of the couple’s carnal love will populate heaven (417–23).
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