Spenser's The Faerie Queene Part 30

96. rustick horror, bristling hair.

99. Their backward bent knees, like the hinder legs of a goat.

101. their barbarous truth, their savage honor.

103. Late learnd, having been recently taught. She had shown too "hasty trust" in Archimago.

112. without suspect of crime, without suspicion of blame.

117. The olive is the emblem of peace, as the ivy (l. 126) is of sensuousness.

120. with their horned feet, with their hoofs.

128. Or Bacchus merry fruit, etc., whether they did discover grapes.

129. Or Cybeles franticke rites, the wild dances of the Corybantes, priestesses of Cybele, or Rhea, the wife of Chronos and mother of the G.o.ds.

132. that mirrhour rare, that model of beauty. So Sidney was called "the mirror of chivalry."

134. faire Dryope, a princess of aechalia, who became a forest nymph. Pholoe, mentioned in l. 135, is probably a fict.i.tious creation of the author's.

146. dearest Cyparisse, a youth of Cea, who accidentally killed his favorite stag and dying of grief was changed into a cypress. He was beloved by Apollo and Sylva.n.u.s.

148. not faire to this, i.e. compared to this.

152. n'ould after joy, would not afterwards be cheerful.

153. selfe-wild annoy, self-willed distress.

154. faire Hamadryades, the nymphs who dwelt in the forest trees and died with them.

156. light-foot Naiades, the fresh water nymphs, companions of the fauns and satyrs.

161. their woody kind, the wood-born creatures of their own kind, e.g. nymphs or satyrs.

163. Una was "luckelesse" in having lost her knights, but "lucky" in the friends.h.i.+p of the Satyrs. Note the Euphuistic phrasing.

169. Idolatryes. The allegory has reference to the idolatrous practices of the ignorant primitive Christians, such as the wors.h.i.+p of images of the Saints, the pageant of the wooden a.s.s during Lent (see Matthew, xxi, and Brand's Popular Antiquities, i, 124), and the Feast of the a.s.s (see Matthew, ii, 14).

172. a n.o.ble warlike knight, Sir Satyrane, in whom are united rude untaught chivalry and woodland savagery. He represents natural heroism and instinctive love of truth.

173. by just occasion, just at the right moment.

184. Thyamis is the symbol of Animal Pa.s.sion; Labryde of the lower appet.i.tes; Therion, the human wild beast, who deserts his wife.

xxiv. This account of Sir Satyrane's education is based on that of Rogero by his uncle Atlante in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, vii, 5, 7.

213. maister of his guise, his instructor.

214. at his horrid vew, his s.h.a.ggy, uncouth appearance.

256. his famous worth was blown, i.e. blazoned by Fame's trumpet.

308. a Jacobs staffe. According to Nares, "A pilgrim's staff; either from the frequent pilgrimages to St. James of Comfortella (in Galicia), or because the apostle St. James is usually represented with one."

371. See Canto III, x.x.xviii, where Archimago was disguised as St. George.

372. Th' enchaunter vaine, etc., the foolish enchanter (Archimago) would not have rued his (St. George's) crime (i.e. slaying Sansfoy).

373. But them his errour shalt, etc., thou shalt by thy death pay the penalty of his crime and thus prove that he was really guilty. A very obscure pa.s.sage. Look up the original meaning of shall.

386. This simile is found frequently in the old romances. Cf. Malory's Morte d'Arthur, ii, 104, and Chaucer's Knight's Tale, l. 1160.

416. According to a usage of chivalry, the lover wore a glove, sleeve, kerchief, or other token of his lady-love on his helmet. By "lover's token" Sansloy ironically means a blow.

425. to her last decay, to her utter ruin.

426. Spenser leaves the fight between Sansloy and Sir Satyrane unfinished. Both warriors appear in later books of the Faerie Queene.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

(Canto VI)

1. Who rescued Una from Sansloy? 2. How does Una repay their kindness? 3. How was she treated by them? 4. Explain the references to the various cla.s.ses of nymphs. 5. Look up the cla.s.sical references in xvi and xviii. 6. Why is Una described as "luckelesse lucky"? 7. What customs of the early Christians are referred to in xix? 8. What does Sir Satyrane symbolize in the allegory? 9. What was his character and education? 10. Note the Elizabethan conception of the G.o.ddess Fortune in x.x.xi. 11. Did Una act ungratefully in leaving the Satyrs as she did? 12. Who is the weary wight in x.x.xiv? 13. What news of St. George did he give? Was it true? 14. Who is the Paynim mentioned in xl? 15. Note Euphuistic ant.i.thesis in xlii. 16. Explain the figures in iv, vi, x, xliv. 17. Paraphrase ll. 289, 296. 18. Find Latinisms in xxv; xxvi; xxviii; x.x.xi; and x.x.xvii. 19. Describe the fight at the end of the Canto.

CANTO VII

I. The Plot: (Continuation of Canto V). Duessa pursues the Redcross Knight, and overtakes him sitting by an enchanted fountain, weary and disarmed. He is beguiled into drinking from the fountain, and is quickly deprived of strength. In this unnerved and unarmed condition he is suddenly set upon by the giant Orgoglio. After a hopeless struggle he is struck down by the giant's club and is thrust into a dungeon. Una is informed by the dwarf of the Knight's misfortune and is prostrated with grief. Meeting Prince Arthur, she is persuaded to tell her story and receives promise of his a.s.sistance.

II. The Allegory: 1. The Christian soldier, beguiled by Falsehood, doffs the armor of G.o.d, and indulges in sinful pleasures, and loses his purity. He then quickly falls into the power of Carnal Pride, or the brutal tyranny of False Religion (Orgoglio). He can then be restored only by an appeal to the Highest Honor or Magnificence (Prince Arthur) through the good offices of Truth and Common Sense.

2. In the reaction from the Reformation, Protestant England by dallying with Romanism (Duessa, Mary Queen of Scots) falls under the tyrannic power of the Pope (Orgoglio), with whom Catholic England was coquetting. At this juncture National Honor and Consciousness comes to the relief of Protestantism. There is personal compliment to either Lord Leicester or Sir Philip Sidney.

19. He feedes upon, he enjoys. A Latinism: cf. Vergil's aeneid, iii.

37. Phbe, a surname of Diana, or Artemis, the G.o.ddess of the moon.

45. Spenser probably takes the suggestion from the fountain in the gardens of Armida in Ta.s.so's Jerusalem Delivered, xiv, 74. Cf. also the fountain of Salmacis in Ovid's Metamorphoses, xv, 819 seq.

56. Pourd out, a metaphor borrowed from Euripides (Herac., 75) and Vergil (aeneid, ix, 317).

62. his looser make, his too dissolute companion.

67. An hideous Geant, Orgoglio, symbolizing Inordinate Pride, and the Pope of Rome, who then claimed universal power over both church and state (x). For a list of many other giants of romance see Brewer's Handbook, pp. 376-379.

104. that divelish yron Engin, cannon. The invention of artillery by infernal ingenuity is an old conception of the poets. There is a suggestion of it in Vergil's aeneid, vi, 585 seq., which is elaborated in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, ix, 91, which Milton in turn imitated in Paradise Lost, vi, 516 seq. So in the romance of Sir Triamour.

112. th' onely breath, the mere breath.