Six Centuries of English Poetry Part 38

Or where hast thou thy wonne,{31} that so much gold Thou canst preserve from wrong and robbery?"

"Come thou," (quoth he) "and see." So by and by Through that thick covert he him led, and fownd A darkesome way, which no man could descry, That deep descended through the hollow grownd, And was with dread and horror compa.s.sed arownd.

At length they came into a larger s.p.a.ce, That stretcht itselfe into an ample playne; Through which a beaten broad high way did trace, That streight did lead to Plutoes griesly rayne.{32} By that wayes side there sate internall Payne, And fast beside him sat tumultuous Strife: The one in hand an yron whip did strayne, The other brandished a b.l.o.o.d.y knife; And both did gnash their teeth, and both did threten life.

On thother side in one consort there sate Cruell Revenge, and rancorous Despight, Disloyall Treason, and hart-burning Hate; But gnawing Gealousy, out of their sight Sitting alone, his bitter lips did bight; And trembling Feare still to and fro did fly, And found no place wher safe he shroud him might: Lamenting Sorrow did in darknes lye, And Shame his ugly face did hide from living eye.

And over them sad Horror with grim hew Did alwaies sore, beating his yron wings; And after him Owles and Night-ravens flew, The hatefull messengers of heavy things, Of death and dolor telling sad tidings, Whiles sad Celeno, sitting on a clifte, A song of bale and bitter sorrow sings, That hart of flint asonder could have rifte; Which having ended after him she flyeth swifte.

All these before the gates of Pluto lay, By whom they pa.s.sing spake unto them nought; But th' Elfin knight with wonder all the way Did feed his eyes, and fild his inner thought.

At last him to a little dore he brought, That to the gate of h.e.l.l, which gaped wide, Was next adjoyning, ne them parted ought: Betwixt them both was but a little stride, That did the house of Richesse from h.e.l.l-mouth divide.

Before the dore sat selfe-consuming Care, Day and night keeping wary watch and ward, For feare least Force or Fraud should unaware Breake in, and spoile the treasure there in gard: Ne would he suffer Sleepe once thither-ward Approch, albe his drowsy den were next; For next to Death is Sleepe to be compard;{33} Therefore his house is unto his annext: Here Sleep, ther Richesse, and Hel-gate them both betwext.

So soon as Mammon there arrivd, the dore To him did open and affoorded way: Him followed eke Sir Guyon evermore, Ne darknesse him, ne daunger might dismay.

Soone as he entred was, the dore streight way Did shutt, and from behind it forth there lept An ugly feend, more fowle then dismall day, The which with monstrous stalke behind him stept, And ever as he went dew watch upon him kept.

Well hoped hee, ere long that hardy guest, If ever covetous hand, or l.u.s.tfull eye, Or lips he layd on thing that likte him best, Or ever sleepe his eie-strings did untye, Should be his pray. And therefore still on hye He over him did hold his cruell clawes, Threatning with greedy gripe to doe him dye, And rend in peeces with his ravenous pawes, If ever he transgrest the fatal Stygian lawes.

That houses forme within was rude and strong, Lyke an huge cave hewne out of rocky clifte, From whose rough vaut the ragged breaches hong Embossed with ma.s.sy gold of glorious guifte, And with rich metall loaded every rifte, That heavy ruine they did seeme to threatt; And over them Arachne high did lifte Her cunning web, and spred her subtile nett, Enwrapped in fowle smoke and clouds more black than Jett.

Both roofe, and floore, and walls, were all of gold, But overgrowne with dust and old decay, And hid in darkenes, that none could behold The hew thereof; for vew of cherefull day Did never in that house it selfe display, But a faint shadow of uncertain light: Such as a lamp, whose life does fade away, Or as the Moone, cloathed with clowdy night, Does show to him that walkes in feare and sad affright.

In all that rowme was nothing to be seene But huge great yron chests, and coffers strong, All bard with double bends, that none could weene Them to efforce by violence or wrong: On every side they placed were along; But all the grownd with sculs was scattered, And dead mens bones, which round about were flong; Whose lives, it seemed, whilome{34} there were shed, And their vile carcases now left unburied.

NOTES.

This is a selection from Spenser's great poem, "The Faerie Queene,"

being a part of the seventh canto of book second. "The Faerie Queene"

was published in 1590, and comprises six books of twelve cantos each.

The first book is the Legend of the Red Cross Knight, or Holiness; the second, of Sir Guyon, or Temperance; the third, of Britomartis, or Chast.i.ty; the fourth, of Cambel and Triamond, or Friends.h.i.+p; the fifth, of Artegall, or Justice; the sixth, of Sir Calidore, or Courtesy. It was Spenser's design that the complete work should contain twelve books, but of the remaining part only a fragment of one book, the "Legend of Constance," is in existence.

The versification of the "Faerie Queene" is based upon the _ottava rima_, made so popular in Italian poetry by Ta.s.so and Ariosto. Instead of eight lines to a stanza, however, there are nine. The first eight lines are iambic pentameters, and the ninth a hexameter, the stanza thus closing with a lingering cadence which adds greatly to the melody of the verse. This is the "Spenserian stanza," a form of versification very popular with many of our later poets.

"If you love poetry well enough to enjoy it for its own sake," says Leigh Hunt, "let no evil reports of his _allegory_ deter you from an acquaintance with Spenser, for great will be your loss. His allegory itself is but one part allegory and nine parts beauty and enjoyment; sometimes an excess of flesh and blood. His wholesale poetical belief, mixing up all creeds and mythologies, but with less violence, resembles that of Dante and Boccaccio. His versification is almost perpetual honey."

1. =delve.= Dell. From A.-S. _delfan_, delve, to dig. Each canto of the "Faerie Queene" is introduced by a four-line doggerel like this, containing the argument, or a brief summary of the narrative,--in imitation, probably, of Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso."

2. =h.o.r.e.= Sordid, miserly. Probably from A.-S. _harian_, to become mouldy or musty. The word _h.o.a.rd_ may be traced to a similar root.

3. =stedfast starre.= The pole-star. See "Faerie Queene," I, ii, 1:

"By this the northerne wagoner had set His sevenfold teme behind the stedfast starre That was in ocean waves yet never wet, But firme is fixt, and sendeth light from farre To all that in the wide deepe wandring arre."

4. =yblent.= Blinded.

5. =dreriment.= Darkness.

6. =firmes.= Fixes, makes firm.

7. =yode.= Went. The past participle of the old verb _yede_, from A.-S.

_gangead_, to go, to proceed.

8. =reedes.= Considers. From A.-S. _raed_, counsel, advice; O. E. _rede_.

9. =salvage.= Savage, wild. Fr. _sauvage_. From Lat. _silva_, forest. See "Faerie Queene," IV, v, 19:

"For all his armour was like salvage weed With woody mosse bedight, and all his steed With oaken leaves attrapt, that seemed fit For salvage wight, and thereto well agreed His word, which on his ragged s.h.i.+eld was writ, _Salvagesse sans finesse_,[233:1] shewing secret wit."

=wight.= Person. From A.-S. _wiht_.

"For every wight that loved chevalrie."

--_Chaucer_, _Canterbury Tales_, 2105.

=griesly.= Dreadful. From A.-S. _grislic_; _agrisan_, to dread. Grisly.

10. =bedight.= Covered. From _dight_, to dress, to deck. A.-S. _dihtan_.

11. =fire-spitting.= "_Spett_ seems anciently to have more simply signified _disperse_, without the low idea which we at present affix to it."--_Warton._

12. =entayle.= Sculpture, carving. Compare _intaglio_.

13. =antickes.= Odd, or fantastic, forms. From Lat, _antiquus_, ancient.

14. =of Mulcibers devouring element.= By fire. Mulciber is a surname of Vulcan, "which seems to have been given him as an euphemism, that he might not consume the habitations and property of men, but kindly aid them in their pursuits."

15. =withouten moniment.= Without superscription.

16. =swinck.= Labor, drudge. A.-S. _swincan_, to toil.

17. =sew.= Follow. From Fr. _suivre_.

=deigne.= From Fr. _daigner_, to consider worthy. Opposed to _disdain_.

18. =Me ill besits.= It ill becomes me.

=derdoing.= Dare-doing; doing daring deeds.

19. =worldly mucke.= "Filthy lucre."

20. =spright.= Spirit.

21. =weet.= Understand. From A.-S. _witan_, to know.

22. =fond.= Foolish.

23. =empeach.= Hinder. Fr. _empecher_.

24. =accloyes.= Chokes or clogs up. Observe how the poet carries out his metaphor of the "well-head," "the purest streames," "his braunching armes," and "the gentle wave."