The Shorter Poems

by Edmund Spenser

  10 sport: entertain, indulge.

  12 pitch: highest point a bird may reach.

  14 handmayd… Queene: cf. FQ, 6. 10. 25–8.

  Sonnet LXXXI

  Adopting the form of a blazon or formal itemizing of attributes. Cf. Tasso, Rime, 2. 25 (no. 17).

  2 loose: free, untrammelled (but with suggestions of sensuality either in the lady or the observer). Cf. Amor, 37. 6 and note.

  marke: notice, observe.

  4 fyre of loue: in Castiglione ‘vivacious spirits shining from the lady’s eyes constantly add fresh fuel to the fire’ (Courtier, 334). Cf. HL, 122–4 and note.

  7 cloud of pryde: for the theme of pride cf. Amor, 5, 31, 32, 38, 58, 59; Epith,

  164, 306 and notes.

  10 pearles… rubyes: her teeth and lips. Cf. Amor, 15. 8–9.

  11–12 words… spright: ‘although the mouth is part of the body… it provides a channel for words, which are the interpreters of the soul, and for the human breath or spirit’ (Castiglione, Courtier, 336).

  13 natures wonderment: i.e. the wonders of physical nature.

  14 harts: cf. Amor, 2. 2 and note.

  Sonnet LXXXII

  5 equall: equitable, impartial.

  6 mote inuent: might find.

  7 enchased: engraved, or set in relief.

  13 argument: theme, subject.

  14 high degree: by ascending from the merely physical to the spiritual.

  Sonnet LXXXIII

  Repeating Amor, 35 with the minor variants of ‘seeing’ for ‘hauing’ (6) and ‘shewes’ for ‘showes’ (14). The new context lends the sonnet a different application. The lover’s ‘plenty’ is now that of betrothal, but the lady’s virtue still deprives him of consummation. Cf. Introduction.

  Sonnet LXXXIIII

  Cf. Tasso, Rime, 2. 194 (no. 120).

  1 Let not: the formula has the force of a prayer or prophylactic charm designed to ward off evil. Cf. Epith, 334–52.

  7 bowre of rest: bedchamber – the ‘pure affections’ (5) and ‘modest thoughts’ (6) still gravitate to this location.

  8 angelick delightes: associated in Neoplatonism with spiritual love when the soul ‘flies to unite itself with the angelic nature’ and partakes of ‘the feast of the angels’ (Castiglione, Courtier, 340, 342).

  12 stiffenesse: firmness, moral resolution.

  14 election: alluding either to his choice of the lady or to her choice of him. Either way ‘election’ has theological connotations of undeserved grace. Like the elect, the speaker is ‘saved’ despite his unworthiness.

  Sonnet LXXXV

  Cf. Ronsard, Hélène, 1. 10.

  3 Cuckow: cf. Amor, 19. 1 and note.

  Mauis: song-thrush. Cf. Epith, 81.

  4 clatter: babble, chatter.

  8 deeme… aspyre: ambiguously phrased but probably meaning ‘aspire to comprehend or celebrate her worth’.

  9 closet: private chamber or recess.

  parts entyre: inward parts i.e. deep in the intimacy of his heart. Cf. Amor,

  6. 11 and note.

  11 heauenly fury: divinely inspired poetic frenzy. Cf. SC, October, ‘Argument’ and notes.

  Sonnet LXXXVI

  For the theme of envy and misrepresentation cf. Rime Sparse, 206.

  1 Venemous toung: the traditional iconography, cf. FQ, 5. 12. 33–6.

  2–3 Furies… combe: infernal goddesses who sit at the gates of hell, as described by Ovid at Metamorphoses, 4. 451–4.

  3–4 spring… well: cf. the description of Sclaunder at FQ, 4. 8. 26. For the imagery of ‘spring’ and ‘well’ cf. FQ, 4. 2. 32.

  6 hyre: payment.

  8 coles of yre: in Song of Songs the ‘coals’ of jealousy are ‘coals of fire’ (8: 6).

  9–10 thine… hed: cf. ‘thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head’ (Proverbs 25: 22) but the application is radically dissimilar.

  13 Shame… meed: cf. ‘Shame be his meede [reward]… that meaneth shame’ (FQ, 4. 6. 6), the motto of the Knights of the Garter.

  14 dew: due.

  Sonnet LXXXVII

  2 outworne: passed wearily. The days have worn him out.

  4 sad protract: tedious duration or extent.

  10 faine: combining the senses of contrive and pretend.

  11 terme… extend: prolong its duration, extend its limit.

  12 myle: i.e. the time it would take to walk a mile.

  Sonnet LXXXVIII

  2–3 lead… wander: because of the ambivalent nature of his love, he may go astray either with her or without her.

  7 th’onely… ray: in Castiglione the lady’s beauty is ‘a ray of the supernatural’ (Courtier, 334).

  8 glance: gleam, flash.

  9 Idœa: cf. Amor, 45. 7 and note.

  10 contemplation… part: in Castiglione the lover is advised to combat physical absence by contemplating abstract beauty (Courtier, 338).

  13–14 Neoplatonic strategies fail to satisfy a love desiring bodily consummation. The ‘image’ produces blindness not insight.

  Sonnet LXXXIX

  Cf. Petrarch, Rime Sparse, 353. The difference is that Laura is dead.

  1 Culuer: dove, emblem of faithful love. Cf. TM, 246.

  6 mourne: lament.

  8 match: equal, emulate.

  9 houe: remains, or hovers (continuing the bird imagery).

  12 vnspotted pleasauns: unsullied or innocent pleasantness or charm.

  14 liuely: invigorating, life-giving. Petrarch ‘lived’ solely in Laura’s love (Rime Sparse, 206. 2).

  Anacreontics

  In the first edition these poems follow sonnet 89 without any title. The first two stanzas are printed together on one page but all of the rest are assigned a page each. Their manner is that of the Greek poet Anacreon, much in vogue among the poets of the Pléiade (cf. HHB, 219–24), and they reprise the erotic joys and frustrations of the sonnet sequence while anticipating the resolution of spiritual and physical love in Epith. Cf. D. Anderson (1984); Hester (1993); Kaske (1978); Miola (1980); Neely (1978).

  2 blynd… baby: Cupid, cf. SC, March, [79] and note.

  3 cunning: wisdom (especially that born of experience).

  4–5 honny… stung: cf. Amor, 71. 2 and note. For the erotic associations of honey cf. Song of Songs 4: 11.

  7–14 A version of Clément Marot, Epigrams, 3. 5.

  7 Diane: Diana, goddess of the hunt and chastity, is often figured as hostile to Cupid (cf. FQ, 3. 6. 20–25).

  13 With that: with the arrow that inspires chastity rather than desire.

  hart: heart, but playing on the sense of ‘hart’ (deer).

  14 Diane… dart: the arrows of chastity (i.e. the force of the lady’s virtue) incite rather than suppress bestial or physical desire, a paradox that encapsulates the dilemma of the preceding sonnet sequence.

  15–22 A version of Clément Marot, Epigrams, 3. 24.

  19 flame: blush.

  20 the other: the speaker’s love.

  22 err’d: i.e. confused the lady with Venus, much as Elizabeth I is taken for Venus at SC, Aprill, ‘emblems’.

  23–62 Adapted from Theocritus, Idylls, 19 and Anacreontea, 35 (also adapted by Ronsard at L’Inspiration Anacréontique, 6). The last two stanzas (63–82) are substantially original to Spenser. Cf. Hutton (1941).

  25 gentle Bee: cf. Amor, 71. 2 for the lady as a ‘gentle bee’.

  32 corage stout: doubtless with sexual connotations.

  33 closely: privately (i.e. she smiled to herself).

  42 fly: flying insect.

  45 hardiment: audacity, boldness.

  48 therefore: i.e. for what he had done.

  52 horne: sting (with sexual innuendo).

  62 spoyle… make: made his prey, or his booty.

  64 smock: chemise, with obvious sexual overtones.

  67–70 Cf. the imagery of wounding and healing in Amor, 50, 65.

  67 embaulmed: anointed.

  68 salue… might: remedy (or balm) of supreme efficacy. For the erotic asso
ciations cf. FQ, 3. 5. 50.

  70 well… delight: anticipating the consummation of Epith.

  73 recured: cured, recovered from. Cf. HB, 285.

  75 enured: put into practice, renewed.

  79 elfe: mischievous imp.

  80 heast to proue: carry out his mother’s behest or bidding.

  Epithalamion

  The Latin word epithalamium (from the Greek epithalamos) means ‘[song] before the bridal door’ but was used for wedding songs generally.

  1 learned sisters: the Muses, Ovid’s ‘doctae… sorores’ (Fasti, 6. 811). Cf. SC, Aprill, [41].

  3 gracefull: in the dual sense of elegant and conferring grace.

  4 greatest: Queen Elizabeth (who had received Spenser personally).

  7 owne… mourne: as in TM.

  8 rayse: occasion, cause.

  9 tenor: combining the senses of pitch and mood. Cf. SC, October, [50]; HHL, 13–14.

  11 dolefull dreriment: cf. SC, November, [36]; RT, 158 and notes.

  14 resound: proclaim, but often associated with making echoes.

  16 Orpheus: cf. SC, October, [28] and note. Orpheus’ attempts at epithalamium were ill-omened (cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 10. 1–10).

  17 selfe… sing: cf. SC, June, 72. Perhaps recalling the Narcissus imagery of Amor, 35. 7, particularly in view of the allusion to ‘Eccho’ at line 18.

  18 woods… ring: the refrain may be intended to recall, and to ward off, the tragic ‘echo’ of Orpheus’ final lament (cf. Virgil, Georgics, 4. 526–7; TM, 285–6). The nymph Echo pined away through unrequited love for Narcissus (cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3. 359–401). In Spenser loss is transformed into consummation. For propitious echoes cf. Claudian, Epithalamium of Palladius and Celerina, 23–5.

  22 lusty hed: vigour, but clearly with sexual connotations.

  24 turtle doue: cf. Amor, 89. 1 and note. In Song of Songs the lady is often addressed as a ‘dove’ (2: 14; 5: 2; 6: 9).

  25 Hymen: the god of marriage and often regarded as the son of Apollo and the Muse Clio (or sometimes Calliope or Urania). His emblems were the torch, the flute and a crown of flowers. He is traditionally invoked in epithalamia. Cf. Catullus, 61. 1–4, 39–40, 49–50 etc.

  27 Tead: torch, as at Catullus, 61. 15 (‘pineam… taedam’).

  flake: stray flame or spark.

  28 bachelor: young knight or unmarried man.

  29 trim: elegant.

  33 vsury: interest.

  37 Nymphes: minor goddesses of woods, rivers and countryside. They are also summoned to attend the queen at SC, Aprill, 120, [120].

  that… heare: that can hear you.

  40 goodly… beseene: exceptionally beautiful or well favoured.

  41–3 Cf. Catullus 61. 6–7.

  43 lillyes… roses: emblematic of chastity and love.

  44 trueloue wize: into a love knot. Cf. Amor, 6. 14 and note.

  riband: perhaps also alluding to the marriage girdle, destined to be unloosed by the bridegroom.

  45 poses: posies, flowers.

  47 deck… bowers: a traditional practice.

  49 feare… wrong: cf. Psalms 91: 12.

  51 diapred… mead: as diversified as a multi-coloured meadow. A diaper was a textile of threads crossed diamond-wise, so reflecting light diversely.

  56 Mulla: the River Awbeg. Cf. CCH, 59 and note.

  58 vse: are accustomed.

  60 rushy lake: possibly the lake at Kilcolman.

  62 Bynd… locks: cf. Amor, 37. 6 and note.

  64 christall bright: cf. SC, Julye, 159.

  65 whereas: where.

  67 lightfoot mayds: cf. TM, 31; Horace, Odes, 1. 1. 31.

  68 towre: i.e. by brandishing their antlers aloft.

  69 wolues: endemic to Ireland. Cf. CCH, 318 and note.

  74 Wake… awake: cf. Song of Songs 2: 10–13.

  75 Rosy… Tithones: Aurora (Eos) the goddess of dawn fell in love with Tithonus, son of Laomedon, and gained for him eternal life but without eternal youth. Cf. Homer, Iliad, 11. 1–2. ‘Rosy’ is the traditional epithet.

  76 coche: couch.

  77 Phœbus: Apollo, the sun god.

  80 Larke: the traditional herald of morning.

  mattins: morning songs, but with a play on mourning prayers.

  81 Mauis: song-thrush. Cf. Amor, 85. 3.

  82 Ouzell… Ruddock: blackbird and robin redbreast.

  86 meeter: more fit or appropriate.

  87 make: mate.

  92 dreame: often emended to ‘dreames’ to preserve the rhyme scheme.

  95 Hesperus: Venus as the morning star, propitious for marriage. Cf. Proth, 164–5 and note.

  96 damzels: bridesmaids.

  daughters of delight: used of the Graces at FQ, 6. 10. 15 and tending to elevate the bridesmaids to similar status.

  98 houres: the Horae or Hours were commonly regarded as the daughters of Zeus and Themis, and presided over growth in nature and order in society. They therefore evoke the dual nature of wedlock. At FQ, 7. 7. 45 they are daughters of Jove and Night. Cf. Comes, Mythologiae, 4. 16.

  99 Ioues… paradice: cf. Plato, Symposium, 203b–c where love is born in the garden of Zeus. Cf. also FQ, 3. 6. 29–42.

  103 handmayds: the three Graces. Cf. SC, Aprill, [109] and note.

  Cyprian Queene: Venus, born off the coast of Cyprus. Cf. Hesiod, The ogony, 176–206; FQ, 2. 12. 65; HB, 55.

  104 pride: magnificence, splendour.

  110 loue… come: cf. Catullus 61. 76–7, 117–18.

  111 virgins: bridesmaids.

  112 boyes: groom’s attendants.

  113 he… strayt: cf. Catullus 61. 187.

  115 ioyfull day: cf. Catullus’ ‘hilari die’ (61. 11).

  117 Sun: for the sun as the author of life cf. Comes, Mythologiae, 4. 10.

  118 lifull: full of life, life-giving.

  119 sunshyny: Apocalyptic imagery (cf. Revelation 12: 1; FQ, 1. 12. 23).

  120 disgrace: mar, blemish.

  121 Phœbus… Muse: cf. SC, Aprill, [41] and note.

  124 boone: entreaty, request.

  127 souerayne: supreme, paramount.

  129 shrill: sound shrilly.

  131 tabor: small drum.

  Croud: six-stringed fiddle.

  134 tymbrels: tambourines.

  136 sences… rauish: cf. SC, October, [27] and note.

  137–9 boyes… voyce: cf. the Fescennine jesting at Catullus 61. 122–31.

  140–46 A traditional topos. Cf. Claudian, Fescennine Verses, 4. 35–7.

  144 approuance: approval.

  145 her: their. Cf. SC, Maye, [160].

  laud: praise, but in view of the play on mattins at line 80, possibly alluding to lauds, the traditional morning prayer incorporating Psalms 148–50 which frequently employ the Latin word laudate (‘praise ye’).

  148 portly: stately.

  149 Phœbe: (Diana) goddess of the moon. Cf. SC, Aprill, [65]. For the imagery cf. Psalms 19: 5.

  151 white: the first of many echoes of the mystical union of the lamb and his bride at Revelation 19: 1–9. Cf. FQ, 1. 12. 37–40.

  seemes: beseems, becomes.

  153 angell: cf. Amor, 1. 11; 61. 6 and notes.

  154 wyre: thread. Cf. FQ, 2. 3. 30.

  155 perling: studding, sprinkling.

  157 greene: ‘greene is for maydens meete’ (SC, August, 68).

  158 mayden Queene: recalling Una at FQ, 1. 12. 8 and again associating the lady with Queen Elizabeth. Cf. note to Amor, 63. 10.

  159 modest eyes: ‘modestie’ is one of the principal virtues of ‘womanhood’ (192). Cf. FQ, 4. 10. 51; Catullus 61. 79.

  164 proud: for the theme of pride cf. Amor, 81. 7 and note.

  167 merchants daughters: stressing the social context of the wedding.

  171–7 For the topos of the blazon cf. Amor, 15, 81 and notes.

  171 Saphyres: reputedly good for the eyes. Cf. Song of Songs 5: 14.

  172 yuory: cf. Song of Songs 5: 14; 7: 4.

  173 apples: cf. Amor, 77.
7–8 and note.

  rudded: reddened, made ruddy. Cf. Amor, 64. 6.

  174 cherryes: suggesting the ‘banquet of sense’ motif.

  175 vncrudded: uncurdled.

  176 paps: breasts, nipples. Cf. Amor, 76. 9.

  lyllies: symbolic of purity. Cf. Song of Songs 4: 5.

  177 marble towre: a variation of Song of Songs 4: 4.

  180 honors seat: in her mind.

  bowre: (bed) chamber. Cf. line 299. She combines sensuality with chastity.

  186 inward… spright: cf. Amor, 79 and notes. For Neoplatonists physical beauty reflects spiritual beauty. Cf. Plato, Symposium, 210a-e.

  187 Garnisht: adorned or furnished.

  189 red: beheld.

  190 Medusaes: one of the three Gorgons, whose hair was a writhing mass of snakes and whose look turned beholders to stone. Petrarch used images of petrification to express the peril of beauty (cf. Rime Sparse, 125. 30–32; 129. 51–2). Cf. Comes, Mythologiae, 7. 11; Mazzola (1992).

  192 Vnspotted fayth: cf. Song of Songs 4: 7.

  womanhood: as opposed to ‘maydenhed’. Cf. FQ, 3. 6. 28 where the two are discriminated. Chastity, however, is common to both.

  194 vertue… throne: cf. Seneca, Moral Epistles, 114. 23. 24.

  201 vnreuealed pleasures: cf. 1 Corinthians 2: 9.

  204–5 Open… in: cf. Isaiah 26. 2; Catullus 61. 76–7.

  206–7 postes… trim: a traditional practice, cf. Catullus 64. 292–3; SC, Maye, 11–14.

  208 Saynt: cf. Amor, 22. 4 and note. The marriage takes place on St Barnabas’s Day (cf. lines 265–72) but the bride herself is a ‘saint’.

  215 altar: altars had been replaced by communion tables in Protestant churches, but the word is doubtless retained for its ceremonial grandeur.

  217 endlesse matrimony: suggesting the mystical union of the lamb and his bride at Revelation 19: 1–9. Death shall not part them. This line appropriately marks the midpoint of the poem.

  218 roring: in the sense of booming or resounding.

  220 hollow: fully open.

  221 Antheme: hymn or antiphonal song.

  226–7 red… snow: a traditional association. Cf. Tibullus 3. 4. 30–32.

  227 vermill: vermilion.

  228 dyde in grayne: i.e. fast dyed.

  229 Angels: cf. Revelation 7: 11; FQ, 1. 12. 39.