Notes
on Epithalamion
by Chanchal
Chauhan
- Now lay
those sorrowfull complaints aside
…
The woods shall to me answer and my Echo ring.
(Stanza 1, lines 11-18)
EXP: In his masterpiece Epithalamion, " song
made in lieu of many ornaments" for his bride Elizabeth Boyle, Spenser
invokes, in classical epic tradition, the Muses to come to his aid and to sing
his wedding song. The speaker requests
the Muses to give up the sorrowful tunes that sometimes they play on their
stringed instruments and come in a happy mood with crowned heads decorated with
garlands and help the creative artist to sing the praises of his lady love. The
praises should fill the void of the forests and everybody should hear their
echo. He wishes that his song should be
unique and matchless. Just as Orpheus, the marvelous lyre-player of the Greek
mythology sang his melodious song to bring his beloved Eurydice back from
Hades, Spenser too wishes to sing his song.
But he would not sing his song to please anybody else (as Orpheus sang
his song to Persephone, the wife of Pluto who was the king of Hades), he would
address his song to himself so that he may hear it back from the forests and
the echo of his song may return to his ear.
Spenser, a poet of the English Renaissance spirit is guided by the new
sensibility of human dignity and emerging sense of liberty. Although he makes
use of classical pattern by beginning his poem with an Invocation and taking
recourse to simile from ancient mythology, yet he underlines his difference by
saying that he would sing his song to himself.
Orpheus is guided by a noble sentiment that is his love for Euridice,
the speaker of the lines in question is also guided by the same divine
sentiment that is his love for Elizabeth Boyle.
That is why the simile is appropriate.
2, Ye Nymphes of Mulla which with carefull heed,
………………
No blemish she may spie.
(Stanza 4, Lines 56-66)
EXP: In his nuptial song the speaker addresses
the nymphs of Mulla or Awbeg, the river that flows across the speaker's estate.
He also addresses the nymphs of Kilcolman Lake who look after silver trout and
pikes there. He invites them to bride's chamber; but before they attend to the
bride, he wishes that they should clean their own hair and bind them properly.
They should also wash their faces clean with water before they approach his
bride so that his beloved may not see any blemish on their faces.
In this stanza, Spenser mixes mythology with realism. In
nymphs we can recognise fishermen's daughters and young peasant girls who would
surely attend the speaker's wedding. He
wishes that those country girls should look clean on that occasion.
3
And Ye three handmayds of the
Cyprian Queene
…………….
The whiles the woods shal answer and your echo ring.
(Stanza 6, Lines 103-109)
EXP: In these lines the speaker addresses the
Graces that are supposed to be the handmaids of Venus, the goddess of
beauty. He invites them to come to the
assistance of his beautiful bride and deck her, as they are expert because they
do the make up of Venus. The three
Graces are Euphorsyne, Agalia and Thalia. Cyprian Queen is Venus, the goddess
of beauty who was formerly worshipped in Cyprus. Here the speaker uses mythological figures
for the real maids who are to attend his beloved bride, Elizabeth Boyle. The maids are seen as handmaids and his bride
as their queen, Venus, a matchless beauty.
……………
That all the woods shal answer and they echo ring.
(Stanza 7, Lines 121-127)
EXP: In these lines the speaker addresses
Apollo as the father of the Muse of poetry and as his sincere servant asks for
a favour. He wishes to be totally devoted to the sacred act of wedding on that
day and forget about everything. He wishes to be the sole in-charge of that one
day and for this freedom he is prepared to surrender rest of his days to the
supreme control of Apollo. The speaker
says that if his prayer is accepted, he will sing his sovereign praises aloud
which all the woods shall answer and their echo will reverberate in the atmosphere.
According to Hesiod, the Muses are
daughters of Zeus (Jove) and Memory. Here Spenser does not follow Hesiod. Greek Poet Enmelos makes Apollo the father
and not Jove. Thus Spenser also takes liberty and makes the sun god the father
of the Muse of poetry.
5
Her snowie neck lyke to a marble tower
……………..
To honours seat and chastities sweet bowere.
(Stanza 10, Lines 177-180)
EXP: In this stanza the speaker describes the
bridal procession passing through the main street, between two rows of
tradesmen's daughters on the steps of their shops. The onlookers are gazing on
the bride in silent admiration. While
asking the tradesmen's daughters whether they had seen any other beautiful
damsel like his ladylove, the speaker describes the bodily beauty of the bride
in the same manner as Sanskrit poets of Shringar Rasa (such as Kalidasa) did in
their poems. It is a sensual and voluptuous description of various parts of
bride's body such as eyes, forehead, cheeks, lips, breasts and nipples. He uses
appropriate beautiful similes in this description. In the lines in question the
speaker compares the snowy neck of his bride to a marble tower and her whole
body to a fair palace in which all other parts are like beautiful and grand
stairs that lead to the seat of honour and chastity that is head.
The poet uses the Platonic conception of perfect beauty
which, he says, leads the mind, "with many a stately stair", to the
seat of perfect divine virtue.
Baldassare Castiglione also underlined this conception of beauty in his
treatise, The Courtier, Book IV. The influence of Baldassare Castiglione
on Sydney and Spenser was well recognised even by writers of History of English
Literature such as Legouis and Cazamian.
- But if ye saw that which no eyes can see
……………………
Medusaes mazful
hed
(Stanza 11, Lines 185-190)
EXP: In this stanza the speaker extols the virtues
of his ladylove in a chivalric manner before the daughters of tradesmen who
watch the bridal procession from the steps of their shops.
The speaker tells the onlookers that they could see only
the outward beauty of the bride. If they could see the inner beauty of her lively
spirit that is embellished with divine gifts, they would have been 'astonished'
to see that beauty as any body who stared at the head of the mythological
Medusa was 'astonished', or converted into a stone. Although the comparison is
not appropriate (Medusa being an image of ugliness), yet it conveys the sense
that the inward beauty of the bride is of highest degree that can make the
onlookers dumbfounded. Spenser uses this
simile to play on the word, 'astonished'.
According to the classical mythology Medusa was one of the Gorgons, the
three monstrous sisters who lived in the Far East near the infernal
region. When the sea-god Neptune defiled
the temple of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and chastity transformed the hair
of Medusa into snakes and gave her power to turn anyone who gazed at her into a
stone ('astonished'). Petrarch makes Medusa a defence of Chastity against love;
Spenser makes her a defence of virtuous love against vice.
In this stanza also we see Spenser's Platonism. Like Castiglione he also underlines the
Platonic conception that external beauty is an index of internal or spiritual
beauty. After describing the beauty of
the body of his beloved he describes the beauty of the soul in Platonic terms.
………………….
Thereto approach to tempt her mind to
ill.
(Stanza 11,
Lines 191-197)
EXP: In these lines the speaker showers praise on
his bride's inward beauty which no one but he can perceive. He tells the daughters of the tradesmen that
his bride's internal beauty is a repository of spotless faith, pleasing
womanhood, great concern for honour and mild modesty. There Virtue reigns as the supreme queen in
royal throne and proclaims laws of her own free will. No evil thought can ever enter her mind to
pollute her to evil designs. Virtue can
suppress all evil thoughts and base affections that may approach her to tempt
her mind to do something unbecoming of her beauty.
This exaggerated
exaltation of beauty is typical of Renaissance scholars. This view was
prevalent among almost all the poets including Shakespeare and John Donne who
wrote love poems.
………………………..
The more they on it stare
(Stanza 13, Lines 226-233)
EXP: In these lines the speaker gives a beautiful
description of the maidenly blushes of his bride at the church when the priest
addresses her and blesses her with happy hands of her companion on their
wedding day. While she blushes with
emotion, her snow white cheeks flush into rosy hue, marking her spotlessly
white cheeks stained with vermilion and her beauty makes even the angels
guarding the sacred altar forget their holy office and stare on her face with
amazement which grows more and more beautiful at every stage. After Spenser
Alexander Pope also gives a similar description of beauty in his poem, Rape
of the Lock: "The fair each moment rises in her charms, /Repairs her
smiles, awakens every grace. /And calls forth all the wonders of her face, /
Sees by degrees a purer blush arise,"(Canto I, Lines 140-43). Spenser is
rightly called a poets' poet. We hardly find any parallel to Spenser's passage
describing the blushes on the maidenly cheeks anywhere in the whole gamut of
English poetry before him.
9.
Pour out the wine without restraint
or stay
………………
For they can do it best. (Stanza
14, Lines 250-258)
EXP: In these lines the speaker gives the
description of the wedding feast. In the
ecstatic and jolly mood the bridegroom orders the attendants to pour out wine
in the glasses for guests without any restraint or stay. It should be non-stop activity till the
stomachs of the feasting guests are full of wine. Just as in ancient Rome the
newly wed bride anointed the pillars of bridegroom's house, so the bridegroom
wants the wine should be sprinkled on the posts there so that they may also
appear to have sweat and got drunk. He requests Bacchus, the god of wine, to
crown himself with a coronal and he also requests Hymen, the god of marriage,
to put on a wreath of vine. He asks the
Graces to dance for the rest of the time for they alone can perform dance in
the finest manner.
This is a brilliant passage bringing out the Bacchus
revelry at the wedding feast. It also reveals to us that the speaker can use
pagan rituals to make his wedding a memorable occasion. All is fair in love.
10. This day the sunne is in his
cheifest hight
……………………….
When once the Crab behind his back he sees.
(Stanza 15,
Lines 265-269)
that is sacred and
holy. It was holy because it was his
wedding day, and it is sacred because it was St. Barnabas Day. The speaker
describes the position of the sun on that day.
The sun on that day usually is in his "meridian tower" with
Barnaby the bright from where it declines gradually and then loses its heat and
brightness till it moves into the sign of Cancer on the 21st of
June.
The passage also shows the thirst for scientific
knowledge that was so characteristic of Renaissance intelligentsia. Spenser
exhibits almost correct understanding of Astronomy that was part of
contemporary knowledge.
…………………..
Thy tyred steedes long since have need of rest.
(Stanza 16, Lines 278-284)
Exp: In these lines the speaker expresses his
desire to be with his bride as soon as the day is over. He feels that the day has been very long
while he waits for that sweet moment to be in bed with his beloved. The waiting
is very painful. He thinks that the
hours are moving at a snail's pace. Hence he chides the sun for being
slow. He addresses the sun and tells it
that it should plunge hastily into the western waves. The sun's horses are now
very tired and need immediate rest after the tiresome journey of the longest
day of the year.
The impatience of the bridegroom to embrace his lady love
in bed makes him feel that the wheel of hours move slowly. He prays to the sun to speed up its movement
towards the west where it sets and rests so that he may celebrate the honeymoon
for which he waited for long.
12. Fayre child of beauty, glorious
lamps of love,
………………………
That all the woods them answer and their echo ring.
(Stanza 16,
Lines 288-92)
EXP: (Context of these lines is the same as in the above lines. 'He waited for the evening and at last evening did come')
The speaker is at last happy that the sun is slowly
setting and the evening star, Hesperus or Venus is rising in the east. (But
Venus rises in the west, so it is controversial. Spenser may be having the moon
in his mind because it is the moon "with golden creast" that leads
all the stars in the sky or he may be confused about the rise of Venus}. He
says that the evening star is the glorious lamp of love that guides all lovers
at night. The star looks very cheerful
to see the happy wedding guests rejoicing on the occasion and singing songs
with joy that will woods answer and their echo fills the atmosphere.
13. Behold how goodly my fair
loue does lie
……………………
With bathing in the Acidalian brooke.
(Stanza 17, Lines
305-310)
In order to describe the bride's proud humility in her
lying in nuptial bed the poet introduces a fine simile. This passage is noted for its
suggestiveness. Just as Zeus visited
Maia in the bower in Tempe, the speaker is also going to visit his beloved
(Elizabeth Boyle) in her bridal bower to share the secret joy of love's
felicity.
……………………..
And begot Majesty.
(Stanza 18, Lines 326-331)
Alcimena was the wife of Amphitron. Jupiter visited her in her husband's
likeness, miraculously extending the duration of night. Hercules was born of that union at Tiryns,
Hence Tyrinthian groom.
15. The whiles an hundred little
winged loves,
……………………………….
Conceal'd through covert night.
(Stanza
20, Lines 357-363)
It is remarkable feat of poetic art that Spenser draws a
modest veil to describe the voluptuous aspects of the nocturnal pleasures of
the nuptial bed without making the description explicit or vulgar.
16. Who is the same, which at my
window peepes?
……………..
That may our comfort breed.
(Stanza
21, lines 372-387)
Exp: In these lines the speaker depicts the rise
of the moon in mythological and allegorical terms. He addresses the moon as goddess Cynthia and
makes a humble plea to her not to spy on the couple's pleasures. She perhaps
feels jealous of this conjugal love. But
the goddess too once had a love affair with Endymion, the Latmian Shepherd. He
implores that she should not be guided by envy. She should bless the newly
married couple so that the speaker may also see the fruit of his love in the
form of a child in his home.
Cynthia has got two-fold meaning here. Apart from referring to the goddess moon, it also symbolises the maiden Queen Elizabeth. Just as the goddess had a love affair with Endymion, Queen Elizabeth too had an affair with Lord Leicester. Even on his marriage day Spenser has not forgotten to don the cap of laureate to pay homage to the virgin Empress. In this passage he blends mythology with realism and exhibits the patriotic spirit