III. STUDY OF THE _FAERIE QUEENE_
124 lines✦
. A ROMANTIC EPIC.--The _Faerie Queene_ is the most perfect type which wehave in English of the purely _romantic poem_. Four elements enter into itscomposition: "it is pastoral by association, chivalrous by temper, ethicalby tendency, and allegorical by treatment" (Renton). Its subject was takenfrom the old cycle of Arthurian legends, which were brightened with theterrorless magic of Ariosto and Tasso. The scene of the adventures is laidin the enchanted forests and castles of the far away and unreal fairylandof mediaeval chivalry, and the incidents themselves are either highlyimprobable or frankly impossible. The language is frequently archaic anddesignedly unfamiliar. Much of the machinery and properties used incarrying on the story, such as speaking myrtles, magic mirrors, swords,rings, impenetrable armor, and healing fountains, is supernatural. All thecharacters--the knights, ladies, dwarfs, magicians, dragons, nymphs,satyrs, and giants--are the conventional figures of pastoral romance. The framework of the plot of the _Faerie Queene_ is vast and loosely puttogether. There are six main stories, or legends, and each contains severaldigressions and involved episodes. The plan of the entire work, which theauthor only half completed, is outlined in his letter to Sir WalterRaleigh. This letter serves as an admirable introduction to the poem, andshould be read attentively by the student. Gloriana, the Queen ofFairyland, holds at her court a solemn feudal festival, lasting twelvedays, during which she sends forth twelve of her greatest knights on asmany separate adventures. The knights are commissioned to champion thecause of persons in distress and redress their wrongs. The ideal knight,Prince Arthur, is the central male figure of the poem. He is enamoured ofGloriana, having seen her in a wondrous vision, and is represented asjourneying in quest of her. He appears in all of the legends at opportunemoments to succor the knights when they are hard beset or in the power oftheir enemies. The six extant books contain respectively the legends of (I)the Knight of the Redcrosse, or Holiness, (II) Sir Guyon, the Knight ofTemperance, (III) Britomart, the female Knight of Chastity, (IV) SirCampbell and Sir Triamond, the Knights of Friendship, (V) Sir Artegall, theKnight of Justice, and (VI) Sir Caledore, the Knight of Courtesy. Book I isan allegory of man's relation to God, Book II, of man's relation tohimself, Books III, IV, V, and VI, of man's relation to his fellow-man.Prince Arthur, the personification of Magnificence, by which Spenser meansMagnanimity (Aristotle's [Greek: megalopsychia]), is the ideal of a perfectcharacter, in which all the private virtues are united. It is a poem ofculture, inculcating the moral ideals of Aristotle and the teachings ofChristianity. 2. INFLUENCE OF THE NEW LEARNING.--Like Milton, Gray, and other Englishpoets, Spenser was a scholar familiar with the best in ancient and modernliterature. As to Spenser's specific indebtedness, though he owed much inincident and diction to Chaucer's version of the _Romance of the Rose_ andto Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_, the great epic poets, Tasso and Ariosto,should be given first place. The resemblance of passages in the _FaerieQueene_ to others in the _Orlando Furioso_ and the _Jerusalem Delivered_ isso striking that some have accused the English poet of paraphrasing andslavishly borrowing from the two Italians. Many of these parallels arepointed out in the notes. To this criticism, Mr. Saintsbury remarks: "Not,perhaps, till the _Orlando_ has been carefully read, and read in theoriginal, is Spenser's real greatness understood. He has often, andevidently of purpose, challenged comparison; but in every instance it willbe found that his beauties are emphatically his own. He has followedAriosto only as Vergil has followed Homer, and much less slavishly." The influence of the New Learning is clearly evident in Spenser's use of_classical mythology_. Greek myths are placed side by side with Christianimagery and legends. Like Dante, the poet did not consider the Hellenicdoctrine of sensuous beauty to be antagonistic to the truths of religion.There is sometimes an incongruous confusion of classicism and mediaevalism,as when a magician is seen in the house of Morpheus, and a sorcerer goes tothe realm of Pluto. Spenser was guided by a higher and truer sense ofbeauty than the classical purists know. A very attractive element of his classicism is his _worship of beauty_. TheGreek conception of beauty included two forms--the sensuous and thespiritual. So richly colored and voluptuous are his descriptions that hehas been called the painters' poet, "the Rubens," and "the Raphael of thepoets." As with Plato, Spenser's idea of the spiritually beautiful includesthe true and the good. Sensuous beauty is seen in the forms of externalnature, like the morning mist and sunshine, the rose gardens, the greenelders, and the quiet streams. His ideal of perfect sensuous and spiritualbeauty combined is found in womanhood. Such a one is Una, the dream of thepoet's young manhood, and we recognize in her one whose soul is as fair asher face--an idealized type of a woman in real life who calls forth all ourlove and reverence. 3. INTERPRETATION OF THE ALLEGORY.--In the sixteenth century it was theopinion of Puritan England that every literary masterpiece should not onlygive entertainment, but should also teach some moral or spiritual lesson."No one," says Mr. Patee, "after reading Spenser's letter to Raleigh, canwander far into Spenser's poem without the conviction that the author'scentral purpose was didactic, almost as much as was Bunyan's in _Pilgrim'sProgress._" Milton doubtless had this feature of the _Faerie Queene_ inmind when he wrote in _Il Penseroso_:-- "And if aught else great bards besideIn sage and solemn tunes have sungOf turneys, and of trophies hung,Of forests and enchantments drear,_Where more is meant than meets the ear_." That the allegory of the poem is closely connected with its aim and ethicaltendency is evident from the statement of the author that "the generall endtherefore of all the booke is to fashion a gentleman or noble person invertuous and gentle discipline. Which for that I conceived should be mostplausible and pleasing, being coloured with an historical fiction, thewhich the most part of men delight to read, rather for varietie of matterthen for profite of the ensample." The _Faerie Queene_ is, therefore,according to the avowed purpose of its author, a poem of culture. Though itis one of the most highly artistic works in the language, it is at the sametime one of the most didactic. "It professes," says Mr. Church, "to be aveiled exposition of moral philosophy." The allegory is threefold,--moral, religious, and personal. (a) _Moral Allegory._--The characters all represent various virtues andvices, whose intrigues and warfare against each other symbolize thestruggle of the human soul after perfection. The Redcross Knight, forexample, personifies the single private virtue of holiness, while PrinceArthur stands for that perfect manhood which combines all the moralqualities; Una represents abstract truth, while Gloriana symbolizes theunion of all the virtues in perfect womanhood. (b) _Religious or Spiritual Allegory._--Under this interpretation theRedcross Knight is a personification of Protestant England, or the churchmilitant, while Una represents the true religion of the Reformed Church. Onthe other hand, Archimago symbolizes the deceptions of the Jesuits andDuessa the false Church of Rome masquerading as true religion. (c) _Personal and Political Allegory._--Here we find a concretepresentation of many of Spenser's chief contemporaries. One of Spenser'sprime objects in composing his epic was to please certain powerful personsat court, and above all to win praise and patronage from the vain andflattery loving queen, whom he celebrates as Gloriana. Prince Arthur is acharacter that similarly pays homage to Lord Leicester. In the RedcrossKnight he compliments, no doubt, some gentleman like Sir Philip Sidney orSir Walter Raleigh, as if he were a second St. George, the patron saint ofEngland, while in Una we may see idealized some fair lady of the court. InArchimago he satirizes the odious King Philip II of Spain, and in falseDuessa the fascinating intriguer, Mary Queen of Scots, who was undeservingso hard a blow.
✦