The Shorter Poems

by Edmund Spenser

  380 Harpalus: possibly George Turberville.

  382 Corydon: variously identified as Abraham Fraunce or Edward Dyer.

  384 Alcyon: Sir Arthur Gorges, the death of whose wife Spenser had lamented in Daphnaïda. Cf. Daph, ‘Dedication’ and notes.

  386 Daphnes: Douglas Gorges, poetically addressed by her husband as Daphne.

  389 Eglantine of Merifleure: an unfinished pastoral poem by Gorges.

  392 Palin: tentatively identified as George Peele.

  394 Alcon: variously identified as Thomas Lodge or Thomas Watson.

  396 Palemon: possibly Thomas Churchyard.

  400 Alabaster: William Alabaster (1568–1640), author of the Latin tragedy Roxana and the unfinished Latin epic Elisaeis, in celebration of Queen Elizabeth, to which Spenser alludes at line 403.

  406–11 The tone suggests a measure of identification between Spenser and Alabaster in respect of their need for royal patronage.

  409 glorie: praise (i.e. the work that confers praise).

  412 Po… Tyburs: Tasso (or possibly Ariosto) and Virgil respectively.

  415 pitch: height, summit.

  416 new shepheard: identified at line 424 as Samuel Daniel (1563–1619). In 1592 he published the sonnet sequence Delia referred to at line 419 and the Complaint of Rosamond possibly alluded to at line 427. His tragedy Cleopatra appeared in 1594 and the Civil Wars between 1595 and 1609.

  422 tender: fledgling.

  424 rouze: ruffle or raise (cf. FQ, 1. 11. 9).

  428 shepheard… Ocean: Ralegh, as at line 66.

  430 sweetly tempred: delicately natured, finely constituted.

  434 Amyntas: Ferdinando Stanley, Lord Strange, fifth Earl of Derby died on 16 April 1594.

  435 Amaryllis: Alice Spencer, daughter of Sir John Spencer of Althorp and widow of Lord Strange, fifth Earl of Derby. Cf. TM, ‘Dedication’ and notes.

  442 maintaine: support (by patronage).

  444 Aetion: possibly Michael Drayton (1563–1631). He had adopted the heroically sounding persona of Rowland in Idea. The Shepheards Garland (1593) to which Spenser may allude at line 447. Less probable is an allusion to Shakespeare.

  446 inuention: inventiveness, ingenuity.

  449 Astrofell: Sir Philip Sidney whose death (1586) is lamented in Ast.

  452 sundry kynd: various types (alluding to their different genres).

  455 that shepheardes: i.e. the shepherd of the ocean, Ralegh.

  466 For that: because.

  467 one: Rosalind of SC.

  468 beame… aboue: the ray of beauty shot out (like a spark) from heaven.

  473 martyrize: sacrifice (by suffering love pangs).

  477 onely: playing on ‘one-ly’.

  euer one: ‘For truth is one, and right is euer one’ (FQ, 5. 2. 48). Queen Elizabeth’s motto was ‘semper eadem’, ‘always the same’.

  478 all: wholly, entirely.

  481 enforce: endeavour, strive.

  485–583 Identification of many of the ladies celebrated is necessarily conjectural owing to the conventional quality of Spenser’s descriptions. Contemporary annotations to the poem supply some clues. Cf. Koller (1935). The twelve ladies-in-waiting complement the twelve poets.

  487 Vrania… Astrofell: Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (1561–1621), sister and literary executor of Sir Philip Sidney. The choice of the heavenly Muse Urania (cf. TM, 481–540) may allude to her translations of the Psalms. She is the supposed speaker of DLC.

  490 gold of Opher: a biblical formulation, cf. Psalms 45: 9.

  492 Theana: Anne Russell, daughter of the Earl of Bedford, and widow of Ambrose Dudley, first Earl of Warwick, who died in 1590. She is celebrated at RT, 244–52 and is one of the two dedicatees of FH.

  493 ouer dight: cloaked, covered over.

  495 glister: sparkle, glitter.

  505 Marian: presumably Margaret Russell, daughter of the Earl of Bedford, and wife of George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland. She is one of the two dedicatees of FH.

  507 pearling: forming pearl-like drops or beads.

  508 Mansilia: Helena, Countess of Northampton. Cf. Daph, ‘Dedication’ and notes.

  511 her neeces: Douglas Howard, wife of Sir Arthur Gorges. Cf. Daph, ‘Dedication’ and notes.

  512 paterne: model.

  514 tread: walk (in court processions).

  516 Galathea: presumably Frances Howard, daughter of the Earl of Nottingham and wife to Henry Fitzgerald, twelfth Earl of Kildare.

  522–3 Coshma… Maa: Frances Howard’s jointure included Croom and Adare on the River Maigue, from which the barony of Coshma derived its name. Spenser doubled the vowel in Maa in imitation of the long Irish ‘a’ [á]. Cf. Henley (1933), 464.

  524 Neœra: Elizabeth Sheffield, daughter of John Lord Sheffield and wife of Thomas Butler, tenth Earl of Ormond, one of the dedicatees of FQ.

  526 famous Shure: the River Suir which rises in the Slieve Bloom mountains and flows through Waterford. Cf. FQ, 4. 11. 42–3.

  532 Stella: here, and at Ast 55, Frances Walsingham, widow of Sir Philip Sidney. The Stella of Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella, however, was Penelope Devereux, Lady Rich.

  538 I… be: Spenser also claims kinship to the Spencers of Althorp in the dedications to TM, MHT, Muiop, and at Proth, 130–31.

  540 Phyllis: Elizabeth Spencer, daughter of Sir John Spencer of Althorp, wife of Sir George Carey, Lord Hunsdon. Cf. Muiop, ‘Dedication’ and notes.

  Charillis: Anne Spencer, daughter of Sir John Spencer of Althorp. Cf. MHT, ‘Dedication’ and notes. Her third husband, Robert Sackville, second Earl of Dorset, is the ‘noble swaine’ of line 552.

  Amaryllis: cf. note to line 435 above.

  546 reflexion: a throwing back of light or iridescence.

  547 rash: lacking caution, unprepared.

  551 temperance: self-control, humility.

  552–3 swaine… possest: Anne Spenser wed Robert Sackville in 1592.

  560 primrose: in the sense of prime rose. Cf. SC Februarie, 166.

  562 high addrest: mounted or kindled on high.

  567 doth… dread: fears to risk entering the bands of another marriage.

  572–4 Flauia… Candida: unidentified and possibly added by way of consolation to those ladies excluded from particular mention. The names mean blonde (literally ‘yellow’) and white.

  582 shrynd: enshrined or enclosed (in his thoughts).

  583 indignifie: dishonour, demean.

  586 make: eulogize, by ‘making’ or composing poetry.

  596–7 words… hiue: a biblical simile, cf. Proverbs 16: 24; Song of Songs: 4: 11.

  600–601 deeds… vine: adapting Song of Songs 7: 7–8 where the lady’s breasts are compared to ‘clusters of grapes’ and ‘clusters of the vine’. The childless Elizabeth is ‘fruitfull’ in virtuous deeds.

  603 wine: cf. Song of Songs 1: 2; 4: 10; 7: 9.

  605 windowes… East: cf. Genesis 7: 11.

  606 fleecie cattell: sheep.

  607 perled: pearled (with dew drops). Cf. note to line 507 above.

  608 Franckincence: cf. Exodus 30: 34; Song of Songs 3: 6; Revelation 8: 3–4.

  612–15 The queen’s contemplation ascends in Neoplatonic fashion to the realm of pure angelic intellect and to her own heavenly ‘idea’.

  615 fashion: demeanour.

  616–17 forgot… selfe: he has forgotten pastoral decorum after the manner of the rustic speakers in the Wakefield Shepherds’ Plays when they contemplate divinity. The breach of convention is itself a convention.

  618 seemeth: befits, suits.

  621 measure: boundary or limit.

  622 furious insolence: frenzied exultation. For poetic frenzy cf. notes to SC, October, ‘Argument’ and line 823 below.

  623 yrapt in spright: in rapturous ecstasy.

  626–7 when… worth: i.e. the inadequacy of his language betrays the inadequacy of his thought.

  630 vitall bands: the bonds of life.

  632–3 name… grow: cf. Virgil, Eclogu
es, 10. 53–4; FQ, 4. 7. 46.

  632 endosse: inscribe, write.

  634 each where: everywhere.

  engrosse: write in large letters.

  635 fill: i.e. fill the letters carved in the earth.

  637 knowen: well-known, familiar.

  645 renewed: recalled, revived.

  646 bountie: possibly Spenser’s pension and his land at Kilcolman.

  648 heards: shepherds.

  655 vnto… accrew: fall to you, come your way.

  659 Most… tell: he is most wretched who cannot explain the cause of his wretchedness.

  660–730 For court satire cf. TM, 67–108; MHT, 581–942.

  662 vncomptrold: unhindered, unrestrained.

  664 that… prooued: by what I experienced during my short stay.

  666 hooued: arose or swelled up.

  667 followd: dogged.

  670 aduenture: undertake, venture upon.

  671 blandishment: allurement, attraction.

  673 hardnesse: hardship, severity.

  678 of right: rightfully, reasonably.

  680 cancred: malignant, spiteful. This disclaimer is common to most satirists of the period.

  681 demeand: treated.

  682 selfe-regard… ill: consciousness of, or concern for, his personal fortunes, whether good or ill.

  687 losse: destruction, ruin.

  694–5 The absence of a rhyme for ‘wit’ at line 693 may indicate the loss of a line of text.

  695 his: some other man’s.

  696 fained forgerie: fraudulent deceit.

  697 breeding: occasioning, causing.

  blot of blame: mark of defamation or disgrace.

  698 secrecie: confidence.

  700 dissembling curtesie: the antithesis of the ideal expounded in FQ, 6.

  701 filed: smooth. Cf. FQ, 1. 1. 35.

  tearmes of art: artful language.

  702 schoole: academic learning or discipline.

  schoolery: instruction, teaching.

  703 countenance: support, patronage.

  705 professours: those who profess learning or the arts.

  707–8 Ne… applie: a complaint repeated at FQ, 6. 12. 41.

  709 shouldred: thrust or shoved aside. Cf. FQ, 5 Proem 5.

  shit: shot.

  711 weed: clothing.

  713 exceed: are of excessive size.

  714 harts… beares: alluding to the cuckold’s horns.

  719–20 Euen… away: cf. Psalms 68: 2.

  724 painting… wall: cf. Shakespeare, Sonnets, 146. 1–4.

  727 single: threadbare, meanly attired (continuing the clothing motif).

  729 gallantry: finery, splendour.

  732 too generall: too all-embracing or undiscriminating.

  733 of name: of repute, or of noble name.

  736 Lobbin: possibly Robert (or Robbin) Dudley, Earl of Leicester (died 1588). At SC, November, 113–22 Lobbin laments the death of Dido.

  738 else: elsewhere.

  740 ghesse: think of, call to mind.

  741 Those… retaine: presumably those who seek to further the requests of impoverished suitors, retaining rather than discarding their petitions.

  744 ledden: meaning (literally ‘tongue’ or ‘diction’). Cf. FQ, 4. 11. 19.

  in charge: by way of duty.

  745 sciences: knowledge, various branches of learning.

  746 professors: proficients, practitioners.

  749 Blame… generall: a common disclaimer of contemporary satire.

  750 priuate: personal, particular to a specific individual.

  754 profession: practice.

  757 most-what: mostly, for the most part.

  761 diuide: assign, give over.

  763 Moldwarps nousling: moles nuzzling or burrowing.

  lurke: idle.

  766 professe: avow.

  771 once: at all.

  772 lore professed: doctrine avowed or acknowledged.

  776 writ: inscribed in the sense of engraved or carved.

  778 studie: thought, intellectual concern.

  780 badge: token of favour or esteem.

  781 ought: aught, of any value.

  786 sue… serue: attend and cater to. Cf. FQ, 2. 7. 9.

  789 vse… name: use his name idly or take it in vain.

  790 complement: ceremonious courtesy (with a play on compliment).

  courting: playing upon the senses of wooing and courtly behaviour.

  793 liege: loyal.

  794 abuses: perversions or violations.

  797 Do… go: are punctiliously scrupulous lest we act rashly.

  799–822 The Cupid presented here is largely the imperious god of medieval love poetry (cf. FQ, 3. 11. 47–9; 12. 22–3), but his birth from a bisexual Venus and his nursing in the gardens of Adonis suggest the more sublime conception of love as a cosmic, creative force developed at lines 835–94 (cf. HL, 43–119; FQ, 3. 6. 49–50).

  800 couples: copulation.

  801–2 Venus: the bisexual Venus is virtually identical to the goddess Nature. Cf. Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, 1. 1–23; FQ, 4. 10. 39–47; 7. 7. 5–7. For her allegorical significance cf. Comes, Mythologiae, 4. 13.

  801 soly… seeme: appears to be both sexes in one.

  805 perfection: maturity, fulfilment.

  807 shafts… lead: according to Ovid the gold occasions love, the lead hate (Metamorphoses, 1. 468–71).

  810 godded: deified.

  812 randon: random.

  814 Like… spill: just as he pleases to preserve or destroy us.

  818 Preferre: advance.

  grace vs dignifie: either make us worthy of their favour or ennoble us through the influence of their favour.

  822 termes: words, expressions.

  yield: speak, utter.

  823 celestiall rage: divine madness or ‘furor’ of which Ficino identified four species: poetic, mystic, prophetic and amatory, associated respectively with the Muses, Dionysus, Apollo and Venus. Amatory madness is declared to be the noblest of the four. Cf. Commentary, 7. 13–15; Plato, Phaedrus, 244a-245a.

  826 possest: in the technical sense of possession by a god.

  833 mysterie: secret doctrine or rite. Colin is initiated into the sacred ‘mysteries’ of Cupid.

  835–94 For love as a cosmic creative force cf. HL, 64–119; Ficino, Commentary, 3. 2; FQ, 4. 10. 31–6. For Cupid cf. Comes, Mythologiae, 4. 14.

  839 long… y’bore: cf. HHL, 22–35.

  843 so… attone: so far from being at one or in harmony.

  844 so… bee: and such great enemies of one another. The four elements were regarded as mutually antipathetic. Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 1.15–31; HL, 83 and note.

  849 peize: sink (under their own weight).

  850 voydnesse: emptiness, vacuity.

  853 kynds: sorts of creatures.

  854 wombe… mother: i.e. the womb of Chaos which supplied ‘substance’ for creation. Cf. HL, 58 and note; FQ, 3. 6. 36.

  855–70 Skilfully blending classical and biblical accounts of creation. Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 1. 416–37; Genesis 1: 1–25.

  859–61 wight… light: for spontaneous generation cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses, 1. 416–37; FQ, 1. 1. 21; 3. 6. 8.

  862 kindly: natural (in the sense of enlivening).

  formall feature: distinct form.

  871 bayt: lure.

  872 enlarge… kynd: propagate his species, but also ‘enlarge’ or develop his nature. Cf. 2 Corinthians 6: 11.

  878 stir: stir up excite, provoke.

  880 importuning: imploring.

  884 saw: command, decree.

  886 secret sense: inner feeling, instinct or intuition.

  893 inherit: obtain, gain.

  894 Exuls: exiles.

  896 divynd: interpreted, explained (in his role as Cupid’s priest).

  898 depainted: depicted, described.

  906 yrkes: annoys, vexes.

  910 That… defamed: who (‘that’) had far otherwise (‘else’) proclaimed (‘defamed’) her b
right glory (i.e. by hiding her cruelty). It is through Colin’s laments, however, that the lady is ‘defamed’ in the other sense.

  914 who… compell: almost proverbial, cf. FQ, 3. 1. 25; 4. 1. 46.

  918 graft… feminine: implanted into matter, which was regarded as feminine and therefore ‘frail’ (cf. FQ, 3.6.36–7). Cf. Shakespeare’s ‘frailty, thy name is woman’ (Hamlet, 1. 2. 146).

  920 one… reuile: the poet Stesichorus was struck blind for defaming Helen of Troy. Cf. SC, Aprill, [26] and note.

  921 ywroken: punished.

  925 I… betimes: I advise before it is too late.

  927–40 Cf. Amor, 61.

  937 hie… thoughts: referring either to thoughts concerning her or to her own elevation of mind.

  938 loath: loathsome, hateful.

  loftie: directed to high objects, aspiring.

  939 grace: favour, indulgence.

  941 paravant: pre-eminently, before all others.

  950–51 die… conquest: for this imagery cf. Amor, 69.

  950 nought: in no way, not at all.

  954–5 glooming… rest: cf. Virgil, Eclogues, 1. 83; 10. 75–7.

  Astrophel

  Responding to the evident artificiality of pastoral elegy, Dr Johnson lamented what he regarded as the lack of sincerity in Milton’s Lycidas, and the modern reader, even less familiar with the conventions of the genre, is likely to dismiss Astrophel for similar reasons. Yet the poem itself is much concerned with the problematical efficacy of artifice in the face of bereavement, and with the degree of consolation, if any, that may be drawn from tapping the energies of poetic tradition. Regarded from this viewpoint its stylistic formality may be seen to facilitate the expression of emotion rather than to impede it [cf. Dundas (1989)].

  Pastoral elegy afforded an appropriate form in which to lament the death of the author of Arcadia, the supreme pastoral ‘maker’, but also to question the broader issues arising from his loss. By skilfully adapting Ronsard’s L’Adonis (1563) to the circumstances of Sidney’s death in battle, Spenser examines the personal and public catastrophe through the medium of a highly ambivalent myth [cf. P. E. and J. C. Bondanella (1971)]. Starkly figured as the ‘hunting’ of a ‘brutish nation’, the Protestant campaign in which Sidney gave his life (generally regarded in the 1590s as a failure) seems scarcely adequate to the sacrifices it occasioned. There is a sense in which Adonis has recklessly courted his own destruction (79–90), and is fated to survive only through the literature he had abandoned in adopting the martial life (181–96) [cf. Steinberg (1990)]. But this is very much the perspective of a ‘shepheard’ poet addressing his fellows and, perhaps, staking his claim to the poetic succession [cf. Falco (1993); Sacks (1985), 51–63].