The Shorter Poems

by Edmund Spenser

  45 Victor of gods: as illustrated at FQ, 3. 11. 29–45.

  46 Lions… Tigers: a traditional topos, cf. FQ, 4. 10. 46.

  52–3 Venus… Penurie: Spenser conflates two separate myths. Cupid is traditionally the son of Venus but, according to Plato, Love is born of Porus (Resource) and Penia (Penury). Cf. Symposium, 203b-c. Ficino translated Porus as Plenty (Commentary, 6. 7). Effectively, therefore, the desire for beauty breeds love. Cf. Comes, Mythologiae, 4. 14.

  54–6 elder… eldest: a Neoplatonic paradox. Divine love led to creation and gave rise to creation’s love for God. Ficino asserts that ‘love is the beginning and the end, the first and last of the gods’ (Commentary, 5. 10).

  57–98 For this conception of creation by love cf. Plato, Symposium, 178ab; Ficino, Commentary, 3. 2. For Spenser’s cosmology cf. CCH, 835–94; HB, 29–56, HHL, 22–42; HHB, 29–105.

  58 Chaos: Ficino asserts that ‘by “Chaos” the Platonists mean the world in its formless state; but by “world” they mean Chaos endowed with form’ (Commentary, 1. 3).

  62 Venus lap: see note to line 24 above. Cf. Benivieni, Canzona della Amore, 55–8.

  63 Clotho: one of the three Fates with particular influence over birth. Ficino discusses the relationship between love and necessity at some length (Commentary, 5. 11). Cf. SC, November, [148].

  64–8 wings… hyre: the Angelic Mind, the first created being, ‘was illumined by the glory of God Himself… when its whole passion was kindled, it drew close to God, and in cleaving to Him, assumed form’ (Ficino, Commentary, 1. 3).

  69 Eagle: a symbol of resurrection because it was supposed to regain its youth periodically. Cf. Psalms 103: 5; Isaiah 40: 31; FQ, 1. 11. 34.

  70 wast… light: cf. Genesis 1: 2.

  71–3 light… ray: Venus is here identified as beauty and Ficino asserts that beauty is light (Ficino, Commentary, 2. 5; 6. 17).

  78–91 For creation through the reconciling of opposites cf. Plato, Symposium, 188a; Ficino, Commentary, 3.2; FQ, 4. 10. 32–5.

  79 raunge… array: station themselves in vast ranks.

  83 Ayre… fyre: the four elements which constitute the material universe. Cf. Clout, 844 and note; FQ, 7. 7. 17–25.

  84 relented: cooled, abated.

  86 meanes: intermediaries. ‘God placed water and air in the mean between fire and earth… and thus he bound and put together a visible and tangible heaven’ (Plato, Timaeus, 32b–c).

  88 raines: realms, domains.

  89 Adamantine chaines: the ‘unbreakable bonds’ of the chain of being. Cf. Ficino, Commentary, 3. 3.

  91 mixe themselues: i.e. intermingle creatively, and contrary to the views of the Giant at FQ, 5. 2. 32–40.

  95 cope: canopy or vault (of the heavens).

  98 inspyre: breathe into.

  99–105 Animals were credited with no higher purpose than lust, but man was held to be inspired by a desire to perpetuate himself. Cf. Plato, Symposium, 207a-209a.

  100 multiply: cf. ‘Be fruitful, and multiply’ (Genesis 1: 22, 28).

  104–12 eternitie… Beautie: Ficino defines human love as ‘the desire of generation in the beautiful so that everlasting life may be preserved in mortal things’ (Commentary, 6. 11).

  106 deducted: drawn down, i.e. emanating from heaven.

  107 sparks… fyre: i.e. the embodied soul retains something of the desire for heavenly beauty and is therefore driven towards its earthly reflection. Cf. Plato, Phaedrus, 249d-250d.

  108 enlumind: illuminated, enlightened.

  111 That: that which.

  112 Beautie… race: in Castiglione earthly beauty is regarded as a ‘ray of the supernatural’ (Courtier, 334).

  117 rage: passion.

  119 enrauisht: enraptured.

  120 imperious boy: Cupid as the god of carnal desire.

  122–4 glancing… parts: Castiglione explains how the lover’s ‘vital spirits’ enter the loved one’s eyes, penetrate the heart and ‘infect the blood’ so as to make it receptive (Courtier, 268). Cf. Amor, 81. 4 and note.

  127–33 playne… dye: a conventional account of lovers’ malady reprising much of Amor. Cf. Castiglione, Courtier, 326–7.

  131–2 light… eye: i.e. their mental image of the lady. Cf. Amor, 88. 7-14 and notes.

  134–7 tyrant… triumph: cf. the sadistic Cupid of FQ, 3. 12. 22–3.

  137 decay: decline.

  138 dying to delay: i.e. in order to prolong their pain.

  139 emmarble: make as hard as marble. Cf. Amor, 51. 2.

  141–68 The lover’s sufferings are made, in accordance with literary precedent, to resemble those of Christ at the same point in HHL, 141–68. The structural coincidence ironically enforces the spiritual dissimilarity.

  152 slacke: abate.

  154 liue… dy: cf. Amor, 10.

  156 Parent… preseruer: ‘Love is called the author and Preserver of everything’ (Ficino, Commentary, 3. 2).

  159 afflict: cf. ‘whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth’ (Hebrews: 12: 6).

  not deseruer: the innocent.

  162–8 Cf. the similar sentiments of Amor, 6. 51

  169–72 The syntax is convoluted but the sense is as follows: ‘Just as divine things are least affected by passion, these heavenly beauties are equally difficult to inflame with love, and should be admired all the more by constant minds as they themselves are devoted to constancy.’

  169 enfyred: enkindled or inflamed (with passion).

  173–5 Castiglione distinguishes between lovers who pursue worthy, resolute ladies and those who opt for the easily seduced (Courtier, 263–4).

  177 Lifting… dust: cf. Psalms 113: 7.

  178 golden plumes: cf. note to line 20 above and Amor, 72.

  182 moldwarpe: mole.

  183 dunghill thoughts: with biblical resonance (cf. 1 Samuel 2: 8).

  187 generous: noble-minded.

  193–4 fairer… thought: ‘even as if the beloved were a god, the lover fashions for himself as it were an image, and adorns it to be the object of his veneration and worship’ (Plato, Phaedrus, 252d). Ideally this forms the second stage on the ladder of spiritual enlightenment (Plato, Symposium, 210a-211e). Here, however, as in Amor, the ‘image’ itself excites physical desire. Cf. Amor, 22. 6; 61. 1–2; HB, 90–91, 214–17; HHL, 259 and notes.

  196 mirrour: because it reflects divine beauty. Cf. 2 Corinthians 3: 18; Amor, 45; HHB, 115 and notes.

  197 image: cf. Amor, 22. 6; 61. 1–2; HB, 211–17 and notes.

  198 feeds… fantasy: fantasy is the imaginative faculty, but the phrase suggests the possibility of delusion. Plato observes that sensual lovers ‘feed upon the food of semblance’ (Phaedrus, 248b). Cf. HHL, 196; HHB, 286.

  200 Tantale: Tantalus was condemned to stand in water he could never drink overhung by fruit he could never pluck. Cf. VG, 385–8 and note.

  204 affixed wholly: entirely concentrated.

  210 faines: imagines (but with the potential for self-delusion).

  211 And… end: i.e. although he does not accomplish his desire.

  216 then: than.

  fayning: image forming, imagining (and potentially deceptive).

  217 sole aspect: unique appearance.

  218–24 For the heroic effects of love cf. Plato, Symposium, 179a–b.

  218 vnquiet thought: cf. Amor, 2. 1.

  220 hardly wrought: achieved with great difficulty.

  225–30 Although the sense is complete this stanza is one line short. In the first edition, as in the present text, the words ‘swords and speares’ run over into a new line of slightly indented text, although metrically they form an integral part of line 4. Some commentators have regarded the omission as thematically appropriate, as though the incomplete form comments, positively or adversely, upon ‘blind’ Cupid. Perhaps he cannot see where he leads, or perhaps the stanza cannot ‘withstand’ his ‘force’.

  226 blind: Cupid’s blindness was often interpreted as the blindness of sensual desire, but Neoplatonists sometimes regarded it a
s the blindness of joy or self-abnegation. Cf. SC, March, [79]; Wind (1967), 62.

  230 resistlesse: irresistible.

  231–7 Leander… Orpheus: the passage is indebted to Plato’s Symposium (179b–e), with Leander and Aeneas substituted for Alcestis who died for her husband. Leander swam the Hellespont (not the Euxine Sea) to reach his lover Hero but finally drowned (cf. Ovid, Heroides, 18, 19). Aeneas rescued his father and son from the fires of Troy and is primarily an example of familial love, but, more pertinently, he rushed back into the flames in a vain attempt to save his wife (cf. Virgil, Aeneid, 2. 736–95). Although warned that he would díe in battle, Achilles entered the fray at Troy in order to avenge his lover Patroclus (cf. Homer, Iliad, 18–22). Orpheus failed to redeem Eurydice from Hades and is condemned by Plato for lacking the courage to join her in death. Cf. SC, October, [28] and note.

  233 Phrygian glaiues: Trojan swords (or spears).

  235 get… retyre: i.e. to get his loved one to return, to bring her back.

  237 worship: honour, renown. Cf. FQ, 1. 1. 3.

  239 purchase: procure.

  244 grace: favour.

  254 fayning fansie: recalling lines 198, 210, 216.

  259 gnawing enuie: the traditional iconography. Cf. FQ, 1. 4. 30.

  260 distrustfull showes: untrustworthy appearances or pretences.

  263 vnassured: uncertain, or causing insecurity.

  265 wretches hell: the printer’s preface to Comp lists ‘The hell of louers, his Purgatorie’ as one of Spenser’s allegedly missing works. Cf. FQ, 4. 6. 32.

  267 cancker worme: caterpillar.

  268 gall: bile. For the contemporary psychology of jealousy cf. Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Pt. 3, Sec. 3, Membs. 1–4.

  278 Purgatorie: the imagery implies a sort of ‘divine comedy’ of love but without discarding the sensual elements.

  280–87 Paradize… Pleasure: cf. FQ, 3. 6. 49–51 where Psyche (the soul) is reunited with Cupid after many trials in the ‘Paradise’ of the Gardens of Adonis and gives birth to Pleasure. The myth derives from Apuleius’ Golden Ass and was allegorized to represent either the earthly fulfilment of desire or the transcendence of carnal passion. Here the former would appear to be indicated. Cf. Amor, 76 and notes; McCabe (1989), 146–9.

  282 Nectar: drink of the gods. Cf. SC, November, [195].

  283 Hercules… Hebe: cf. RT, 379–85; Epith, 405 and notes.

  290 quiet: resolving the ‘vnquiet thought’ of line 218.

  293 well beseene: well-appointed or provided.

  296 scope: object.

  300 penance: often applied to the sufferings of Purgatory.

  305 My… king: cf. the first stanza of HHL where Christ supplants or sublimates Cupid.

  An Hymne in Honovr of Beavtie

  1–3 Ah… thee: the ‘fury’ of divine possession was attributed both to poets (by the Muses) and lovers (by Venus). Cf. Ficino, Commentary, 7. 14; CCH, 823 and note.

  2 wontlesse: unwonted, unaccustomed.

  inspire: breathe.

  3 full of thee: cf. Horace’s ‘tui plenum’ (Odes, 3. 25. 1–2).

  7 matter: subject matter.

  9 Mother: Venus, mother of Cupid.

  12 gazefull: staring, gazing intently.

  14 enchaunting: enrapturing.

  15–18 Goddesse… sight: for Venus cf. CCH, 801–2 and note.

  17 kindly dewty: natural office or function.

  23 faire… beame: cf. HL, 112, 122–6 and notes.

  26 streame: pour, cause to flow.

  27 deaw: dew, moisture.

  29–42 For creation cf. CCH, 835–94; HL, 57–98; HHL, 22–42; HHB, 29–105.

  29 workmaister: resembling Plato’s Demiurge (Timaeus, 28–9).

  32 Paterne: the ‘Idea’ or plan which informs all creation. Cf. HHB, 78–84. According to Ficino ‘the pattern of the whole world’ resides in the Angelic Mind and World Soul (successive emanations from God) ‘much more exactly than… in the material world’ (Commentary, 5. 4).

  36–9 Paterne… deflore: the question of whether the Platonic forms transcended creation or were immanent in it remained unresolved.

  39 deflore: deflower, in the sense of defile.

  40 Beautie… adore: Neoplatonists often identified Venus–Urania with beauty and regarded beauty as the sum of the Platonic Ideas (cf. HL, 71-3 and note). Plato contends that the love of physical beauty springs from a residual memory of divine beauty (Phaedrus, 249e–250a). Spenser appears to regard it as instinctive.

  41–2 face… tell: i.e. the idea of beauty transcends all of its embodiments and is essentially ineffable.

  43–9 Thereof… empight: according to Ficino beauty ‘sows Nature with Seeds; and provides Matter with Forms’. The beauty of the soul was held to impress itself upon matter and so refine it (Commentary, 2. 5; 5. 6).

  46 myne: i.e. a quarry or source for shapeless matter.

  49 empight: implanted.

  50–54 infusion… please: Ficino defines beauty as ‘activity, vivacity, and a certain grace shining in the body because of the infusion of its own idea’ (Commentary, 5. 6).

  51 quickneth: animates, enlivens.

  52 life-full spirits: equivalent to the vital spirits in the body. Cf. note to line 102 below.

  55 Cyprian Queene: cf. Epith, 103 and note.

  flowing: referring to astrological ‘influence’, an inflowing of stellar power.

  56 bright starre: Hesperus, the evening star.

  57–63 That… marrow: ‘This beauty is an influx of the divine goodness which, like the light of the sun, is shed over all created things but especially displays itself in all its beauty when it discovers and informs a countenance which is well proportioned… thus it attracts to itself the gaze of others, and entering through their eyes it impresses itself upon the human soul… inflaming it with passion’ (Castiglione, Courtier, 325–6).

  61 which it admyre: who admire it.

  62–3 arrow… marrow: because beauty is regarded as essentially incorporeal, the ‘fire’ of desire cannot be quenched in ‘the river of matter’ (Ficino, Commentary, 5. 3). Cf. note to lines 92–8 below.

  62 pointest: i.e. furnish with a point or tip.

  64–77 ‘The proximate cause of physical beauty is… the beauty of the soul which since it shares in true supernatural beauty makes whatever it touches resplendent and lovely’ (Castiglione, Courtier, 332).

  66–7 temp’rament… complexions: balancing of pure humours or elements, Ficino’s ‘temperate combination of the four elements’ which help to constitute physical beauty (Commentary, 5. 6).

  69–70 comely… disposition: Ficino lists the requirements for physical beauty as ‘arrangement, proportion, and adornment’ (Commentary, 5. 6).

  70 meet disposition: suitable order or arrangement.

  74 stint… smart: stop his painful suffering.

  78–9 blossomes… hew: cf. Matthew 6: 28–9.

  79 orient hew: resplendent colour or lustre.

  81 like: similar.

  83–4 Nature… Exceld: i.e. we see nature outdone by art.

  84 limming: painting, representing (limning).

  85 more… so: more than physical beauty.

  88 list… ken: wishes to know or experience similar tests or trials.

  89 by tryall: by experience, by making the attempt.

  90–91 Beautie… seeme: according to Ficino ‘the beauty of some person pleases the soul not insofar as it exists in exterior matter, but insofar as its image is comprehended… by the soul through sight’ (Commentary, 5. 3).

  92–8 Ficino argues that the corruptibility of matter indicates that true beauty is spiritual (Commentary, 5. 3).

  94 rosy leaues: i.e. comparable to thin layers of ‘gold leaf’ and therefore prone to flake and decay. For roses and mutability cf. FQ, 2. 12. 74–5.

  97 golden wyre: the lady’s hair. Cf. Epith, 154 and note.

  sparckling stars: the lady’s eyes.

  99 faire lampe: the beauty of th
e lady’s soul. Ficino argued that beauty was light. Cf. HL, 71–3 and note.

  102 vitall spirits: ‘baser than the soul but purer and finer than the body’ they functioned to bind soul to matter (Ficino, Commentary, 6. 4; 6. 6). Cf. Amor, 1. 7 and note.

  expyre: not ‘die’ but pass out of the body with the last breath.

  103 natiue planet: each soul was held to have a guiding planet from which it derived particular formative qualities and to which it would ultimately return. Cf. Benivieni, Canzona della Amore, 91–100.

  105 parcell: part, portion.

  107 immortal Spright: God. Plato, by contrast, believed in the pre-existence of souls (Phaedrus, 248–9).

  111 starre: the sun. Benivieni asserts that the soul descends from ‘the highest parts [of the sky] that lodge the sun’ (Canzona della Amore, 92–4).

  112 carre: chariot.

  113–33 Beauty ‘with her heavenly power… rules over material nature and with her light dispels the darkness of the body’ (Castiglione, Courtier, 332). For Neoplatonists generally, the better the soul the more beautiful the body. Cf. note to line 139 below.

  114 seede: generative seed, progeny (effectively ‘matter’, cf. FQ, 2. 10. 50).

  enraced: implanted (i.e. made part of the mortal human race).

  117 frames… placed: i.e. fashions the body in which it will dwell. For the architectural imagery cf. Benivieni, Canzona della Amore, 100–108; Ficino, Commentary, 5. 5.

  119 robd erewhyle: acquired formerly (‘robbed’ in the sense of being snatched from heaven to earth).

  125 Tempers so trim: conditions so finely or deftly.

  126 virgin Queene: cf. the body as the house of the ‘virgin’ Alma at FQ, 2. 9. 18–58; Epith, 194 and note.

  130 habit: reside, dwell.

  132–3 soule… make: cf. note to lines 43–9 above; Ficino, Commentary, 5. 5; FQ, 3. 6. 37.

  135 endewed: endowed.

  137 faire… thewed: trained in good manners or morals.

  138 seede… strewed: cf. the parable of the sower, Matthew 13: 3–8, 18–23.

  139 faire… good: ‘in some manner the good and the beautiful are identical, especially in the human body’ (Castiglione, Courtier, 332). Cf. Plato, Symposium, 201c; HHB, 133.

  140 gentle: love was particularly associated with the ‘gentle heart’.