The Shorter Poems

by Edmund Spenser

  The bride’s submission to her husband in ‘proud humility’ (306) resolves the tension between love and virtue explored in the Amoretti and finally distinguishes her from Petrarch’s Laura who dies ‘humble in herself, but proud against love’ (Rime Sparse, 323. 64). In keeping with the conventions of the genre the poem locates the couple’s union within a communal context and gestures beyond private acts to social consequences. Public ambitions, it would seem, are vicariously fulfilled through personal relationships. The bride is ‘lyke some mayden Queene’ (158), virtue ‘raynes’ within her ‘as Queene in royal throne’ (194) and the wedding night resembles that upon which Jove ‘begot Maiesty’ (331). Yet even now ‘Cinthia’ peeps disconcertingly through the window and the speaker begs her blessing while fearing her envy (372–87).

  As the concluding ‘tornata’ indicates, the poem is optimistic but not escapist [cf. Neuse (1966)]. The pressures of time and contingency are fully recognized. Presented ‘in lieu of many ornaments’ (427) the ‘song’ compensates for the inadequacies of the wedding day while also (such is the studied ambiguity of the syntax) apologizing for its own. Though self-presented as a figure of considerable poetic authority the speaker remains fully aware of the fate of Orpheus.

  For Amoretti cf. D. Cheney (1983); P. Cheney (1993); Gibbs (1990); Hardison (1972); Loewenstein (1987); MacArthur (1989); Prescott (1985); Turner (1988). For Epithalamion cf. Chinitz (1991); Cirillo (1968); Gleason (1994); Graves (1986); Hieatt (1961); Miller (1970); Steen (1961).

  Dedication To the Right Worshipfull…

  Needham: Sir Robert Needham, later Vice-President of the Council of the Marches of Wales, was knighted on 1 September 1594 by Lord Deputy Russell and the dedication must have been written subsequently. He left Ireland on 25 September 1594 and returned on 7 April 1596.

  2–3 sweete conceited: delightfully ingenious or devised.

  12–13 meetest… countenaunce: fittest to lend her well-deserved support.

  18 W. P.: William Ponsonby, who also published Comp and FQ.

  Dedicatory sonnets

  G: W. senior and G. W. I. are probably Geoffrey Witney Sr and his son Geoffrey Witney Jr. The latter was author of A Choice of Emblemes (1586) and a friend of Sir Robert Needham’s wife.

  ‘Darke is the day’

  1 Phœbus: Apollo, the sun.

  6 inuention: literary creativity in general. In particular the selection or fabrication of material, the basis of the art of rhetoric.

  8 slide: slip.

  10 illustrate: shed lustre upon, make renowned.

  11 dawnting: breaking, quelling.

  ‘Ah Colin’

  2–4 pyping… daies: alluding to SC and FQ.

  2 roundelaies: short, simple lyrics. Cf. SC, Aprill, [33] and note.

  9 who… fill: who can ever be satiated with your poetry.

  14 rase: erase, obliterate.

  Amoretti

  Sonnet I

  I when as: when.

  2 dead doing: murderous. Cf. FQ, 2. 3. 8.

  3 bands: bonds (the fingers).

  4 captiues… sight: adopting the persona of the enslaved courtly lover.

  6 lamping: beaming, resplendent.

  deigne: condescend.

  7 spright: vital spirit, ‘a most subtle vapour’ begotten in the heart from the blood and enabling the soul to operate in the body. Cf. Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, Part 1, Sect. 1, Memb. 2, Subs. 2.

  8 harts… book: for the imagery cf. 2 Corinthians 3: 2–3.

  close bleeding: secretly or inwardly bleeding.

  10 Helicon: cf. SC, Aprill, [42] and note.

  11 Angels: applied to Queen Elizabeth at SC, Aprill, 64; CCH, 40.

  Sonnet II

  1 Vnquiet thought: for the lover’s psychology cf. HL, 217–24.

  2 hart: the heart was regarded as the seat of the intellectual faculties.

  4 wombe: Spenser often describes the heart or breast as pregnant with desire. Cf. FQ, 4. 9. 17; Ficino, Commentary, 6. 14.

  6 vipers brood: cf. Matthew 3: 7. Vipers were held to eat their way out of the womb. Cf. Bartholomaeus Anglicus, De Proprietatibus Rerum, 18. 117.

  11 humblesse: humility.

  12 grace: favour (the amorous equivalent of divine grace).

  13 cherish: foster, hold dear.

  Sonnet III

  1–8 In Neoplatonic philosophy earthly beauty was held to reflect its celestial counterpart. Depending upon the nature of the beholder, it might inspire sensual or spiritual love. Cf. Plato, Phaedrus, 250d–251a; Ficino, Commentary, 6. 18; note to HHB, 115.

  1 souerayne: because she is queen of his affections. For the privileges and duties of such ‘sovereignty’ cf. FQ, 6. 8. 1–2.

  admyre: wonder at. This establishes the key note of the sonnet.

  3–8 heauenly… hew: for the ennobling effect of love cf. HHB, 15–28.

  3 heauenly fire: i.e. the fire of love. Cf. FQ, 3. 3. 1.

  5 That: so that.

  dazed: dazzled.

  9–14 A traditional topos. Cf. Petrarch, Rime Sparse, 20, 49.

  10 thoughts astonishment: stupefaction or paralysis of mind.

  11 titles: continuing the image of sovereignty.

  12 fancies: imagination’s.

  14 endite: commit to writing.

  Sonnet IIII

  1 New Yeare: presumably January 1, although the rest of the sonnet suggests the old style of 25 March. The matter was controversial. Cf. SC, ‘Generall Argument’ and notes.

  Ianus gate: a gate was the symbol of Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, often depicted with a double-faced head looking backwards and forwards. Before his deification his reign at Rome was regarded as analogous to the Golden Age. He gives his name to the month of January.

  4 dumpish spright: dull or melancholic spirit.

  8 wings… darts: cf. SC, March, [79]; CCH, 799–822 and notes.

  9 lusty: lively, vigorous (but also with sexual connotations).

  10 him: love or Cupid.

  11 warnes: gives timely notice or advice.

  colord… flowre: variously coloured flowers. Possibly with oblique allusion to the seasonal coming of Flora. Cf. SC, March, [16].

  Sonnet V

  2 portly: imposing, dignified.

  4 unworthy: commenting either upon the world or the envy.

  enuide: disliked, grudged at.

  5 close implide: i.e. her public demeanour reflects her private moral standards.

  7 rash: presumptuous, impetuous.

  so wide: so immodestly or so far reaching, depending upon whether the phrase modifies ‘thretning’ or ‘gaze’.

  8 that… her: that they do not dare to look upon her wantonly.

  10 boldned: emboldened, courageous.

  11 banner: in Petrarch’s Rime Sparse, 140 love sets its banner (insegna) in the lover’s face.

  Sonnet VI

  1 nought: not at all, beginning a pattern of puns which culminate in the marriage ‘knot’ of the final line.

  2 rebellious: refractory, intractable.

  3 baser kynd: lower nature.

  5 durefull Oake: durable oak. The tree was symbolic of durability.

  6 kindling: punning on the dual sense of igniting and giving birth.

  7 diuide: give forth in various directions, distribute.

  8 aspire: mount, rise.

  10 gentle brest: traditionally held to be the most responsive to love.

  11 parts entire: inward parts. Cf. Amor, 85. 9 and note.

  14 knot: bond of wedlock. Cf. Epith, 44; FQ, 1. 12. 37.

  Sonnet VII

  1 eyes: beauty ‘attracts… the gaze of others, and entering through their eyes impresses itself upon the human soul’ (Castiglione, Courtier, 326).

  myrror: ‘in the same way in which a mirror, struck… by the light of the sun… sets on fire a piece of wool placed next to it… that part of the soul which they call the dark fancy and the memory, like a mirror, is struck by an image of Beauty itself… the force of desire is kindled a
nd the soul loves’ (Ficino, Commentary, 7. 1).

  2 vertue: cf. ‘true Beautie Vertue is indeed / Whereof this Beautie can be but a shade’ (Sidney, Astrophil and Stella, 5).

  4 obiect: himself.

  5 louely hew: loving aspect.

  6 inspired: animated, infused.

  7 askew: askance.

  10 louely: lovingly.

  Sonnet VIII

  Note the Shakespearean form (rhyming ababcdcdefefgg). For the theme cf. Petrarch, Rime Sparse, 151, 154.

  2 Kindled… neere: cf. HL, 65; Ficino, Commentary, 2. 5.

  3 conspire: combine, co-operate.

  5 blinded guest: Cupid, usually represented blindfolded. Cf. note to HL, 226.

  6 wound: some editors add a question mark to clarify the sense.

  8 heauenly beauty: cf. HHB, 267–80.

  9–12 frame… weak: cf. HL, 190–96.

  13 Dark… light: the lady’s beauty reflects God’s creative light (cf. Genesis 1: 2–3; 1 John 1: 5).

  Sonnet IX

  For the rhetorical device of comparatio or comparison, cf. Shakespeare, Sonnets, 18, 130.

  4 resemble: liken, compare.

  th’ymage: the aspect, appearance.

  5–12 Employing the rhetorical figure of expeditio whereby a number of possibilities are rejected in favour of one solution.

  7 purer sight: in being closer to the celestial heaven.

  12 glasse: for its lowly status in comparison with crystal cf. FQ, 1. 10. 58.

  13–14 Maker… see: cf. ‘God is light’ (1 John 1: 5) the proposition on which the central conceit depends. Cf. also John 1: 4.

  Sonnet X

  For the central conceit cf. Petrarch, Rime Sparse, 121.

  3 licentious: lawless, but playing on the sense of wanton. Her purity defies the ‘law’ of love.

  4 freewill: ‘free’ of the influence of love. The term insinuates a subtle compliment since, according to Calvin, free will was the prerogative of unfallen man. Cf. Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1. 15. 8; 2. 2–5.

  10 comptroll: control, govern.

  11 bow… make: i.e. bend her lofty glance unto a ‘base’ or lowly lover, in this case the speaker himself.

  14 as… sport: metrically an alexandrine as at Amor, 45. 14.

  Sonnet XI

  1 sew: beg, petition.

  2 truth: troth, fidelity.

  3 cruell warriour: for love as warfare cf. Ovid, Amores, 1. 9; Petrarch, Rime Sparse, 21. Venus is frequently depicted vanquishing Mars.

  4 weary: wearisome, exhausting.

  Sonnet XII

  For the central conceit cf. Petrarch, Rime Sparse, 2, 3.

  1 thrilling: in the dual sense of piercing and exciting.

  5 disarmed: i.e. defenceless.

  7 close couert: secret shelter or hiding place.

  9 brunt: assault, onslaught.

  11 captiuing: taking captive.

  Sonnet XIII

  1–8 The lady’s elevated face and downward look symbolize her spiritual aspiration and apprehension of worldly corruption. Cf. the goddess Nature at FQ, 7.7. 57. According to Ovid, man was endowed with an erect posture in order to contemplate heaven (Metamorphoses, 1. 84–6).

  1 port: deportment, bearing.

  2 reares: raises, lifts.

  3 low embaseth: lowers.

  4 temperature: temperament. Her ‘humours’ are well balanced.

  6–8 earth… returne: cf. Genesis 2: 7; 3: 19.

  9 lofty: haughty, proud.

  10 heauen… clime: alluding to the Neoplatonic ladder of ascent from earthly to celestial things, cf. HHB, 267–87.

  12 drossy: impure, feculent.

  13 Yet… me: still deign to regard me, even though I am lowly.

  14 lowlinesse… be: such condescension will elevate you. Cf. ‘he that shall humble himself shall be exalted’ (Matthew 23: 12).

  Sonnet XIIII

  Employing the traditional conceit of storming the castle of love.

  4 peece: stronghold, fortress (but also person).

  6 were… belay: were accustomed to besiege (but also waylay).

  12 engins: engines of war, devices.

  conuert: convert to love, win over.

  Sonnet XV

  Cf. Philippe Desportes, Diane, 1. 32; Epith, 167–203; Whidden (1993).

  1 tradefull: engaged or engrossed in trade.

  2 gain: profit.

  3 both… Indias: the East and West Indies.

  7–14 Using the device of blazon whereby a lover’s physical attributes are itemized and celebrated. Cf. Song of Songs 5: 11–16; Epith, 171–80. For the body as a microcosm of the world’s mineral wealth cf. Ezekiel 28: 13.

  11 locks… gold: cf. Song of Songs 5: 11.

  Sonnet XVI

  3 stonisht: astonished, stunned.

  4 sweet illusion: enjoyable deception.

  5 glauncing sight: flashing glances.

  6 loues: Cupids (‘amoretti’). Cf. Epith, 357–9; HB, 240.

  8 rash: reckless (being bold enough to look on her).

  11 twincle: blink.

  12 misintended: evilly intended, maliciously aimed.

  Sonnet XVII

  A variation on Petrarch, Rime Sparse, 77, 78 where, by contrast, a portrait has actually been made.

  2 confused skil: disordered reason.

  4 pencill: paint-brush designed for delicate work.

  expresse… fill: represent her satisfactorily, do her complete justice.

  Sonnet XVIII

  Developing an Ovidian topos cf. Ars Amatoria, 1. 473–6; Petrarch, Rime Sparse, 265; Desportes, Les Amours d’Hippolyte, 51.

  2 teare: break, split apart.

  3 redound: overflow, drip over.

  4 weare: wear down, or wear away.

  9–12 For the enactment of love cf. Amor, 54; for the lady’s incredulity cf. Petrarch, Rime Sparse, 203.

  Sonnet XIX

  1 Cuckow… Spring: a traditional association, but the cuckoo is also associated with illicit sex, and particularly cuckoldry. Cf. Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, 5. 2. 890–903.

  3 king: Cupid. Cf. Amor, 70. 1.

  6 anthemes: songs, but with a suggestion of antiphonal response.

  7 rebounded: reverberated, re-echoed.

  12 ydle: frivolous, insignificant.

  14 let… be: let her be regarded as a rebel (or possibly prevent her from being a rebel, taking ‘let’ in the sense of hinder or disallow).

  Sonnet XX

  3–8 whiles… yield: the lion lore is traditional (cf. Ovid, Tristia, 3. 5. 33–4), but the lady regards the speaker as unworthy of leonine clemency.

  14 blooded: stained with blood (with oblique sexual connotations).

  Sonnet XXI

  Cf. Petrarch, Rime Sparse, 154.

  1 Art: cosmetic art was widely denigrated. Petrarch refers to the creative ‘arts’ of heaven and nature (Rime Sparse, 154. 1–2).

  2 tempred: set or blended in balanced harmony.

  6 loue: the first edition reads ‘loues’, possibly alluding to the Cupids or ‘amoretti’ in her eyes. Cf. Amor, 16. 5–8.

  9 With… inure: accustomed her eyes to move within such strangely ill-sorted bounds (i.e. of enticement and discouragement).

  13 traine: combining the senses of entice and discipline, thereby fusing the dual operations of the lady’s beauty.

  Sonnet XXII

  Cf. Desportes, Diane, 1. 43.

  1 holy season: Lent.

  4 Saynt: recalling Dante’s Beatrice. Cf. HL, 211–17.

  5 temple… mind: playing on the familiar notion of contemplation as building a ‘temple’ in one’s thoughts.

  6 glorious ymage: ‘in the course of time lovers do not see the loved one in their true image received through the senses, but… in an image already remade by the soul according to the likeness of its own Idea, an image which is more beautiful than the body itself’ (Ficino, Commentary, 6. 6). Cf. HL, 197–9; HB, 211–17; Casady (1941).

  9 author: creator, but playi
ng on the literary sense: she ‘writes’ his bliss as he writes his woe.

  10–11 Cf. Psalms 51: 16–17 which formed part of the service for the Lenten ritual of Ash Wednesday, the specific day to which the sonnet may refer.

  12 burning… desyre: ‘just as material fire refines gold, so this most sacred fire consumes and destroys everything that is mortal in our souls and quickens… the celestial part’ (Castiglione, Courtier, 341).

  Sonnet XXIII

  1 Penelope: chaste wife of Odysseus who refused to entertain suitors until she had completed Laertes’ shroud, but unravelled by night what she wove by day. Cf. Homer, Odyssey, 2. 93–105; VG, 428–32 and note.

  4 vnreaue: unravel, undo.

  5 subtile: ingenious, devious.

  9 that: that which.

  12 years: possibly intended to indicate the length of the speaker’s suit.

  13–14 Petrarch asserts that all worldly weaving is mere cobwebs (Rime Sparse, 173. 6–7).

  Sonnet XXIIII

  1 beauties wonderment: wonderful pattern of beauty.

  3 complement: fulfilment, accomplishment.

  4 makers art: alluding to the familiar notion of nature as God’s art.

  8 Pandora: Pandora (meaning ‘all gifts’) was sent to earth as a punishment for Prometheus’ theft of fire. Her curiosity led her to release from their casket all of life’s ills – but also hope. Cf. Hesiod, Works and Days, 60-105; Theogony, 571–612; TM, 578 and note.