Pastoral Imagery and Its Importance in Spenser’s The Faerie Queene and Epithalamion - Literature Essay Samples

Serene landscapes and seductive relationships are key themes throughout Edmund Spenser’s work and are major assets to the plot and character development in â€Å"The Faerie Queene† and â€Å"Epithalamion.† Spenser’s early works are all in the pastoral tradition, most notably â€Å"The Shepheardes Calender,† with a strong progression toward his daring epic celebration, â€Å"The Faerie Queene.† Although both â€Å"The Faerie Queene† and â€Å"Epithalamion† focus on beautiful landscapes and the character’s relation to nature, only â€Å"The Faerie Queene† represents nature in a negative tone with the adventures of Redcrosse Knight and his progression throughout the poem’s six books; the knight ultimately suffers due to his humanly faults and inconsistency in keeping to the chivalric code of duty. On the other hand, â€Å"Epithalamion† represents Spenser’s pastoral magnificence at work in illumina ting his wedding to Elizabeth Boyle in 1595, producing grand displays of nymphs, love, and supreme happiness. Nonetheless, â€Å"The Faerie Queene,† in its allegorical praise to Queen Elizabeth I through the trials and tribulations of the Redcrosse Knight, Una, and Arthur, is meant to inspire the virtuosity of mankind while praising England for its history and traditions. Beautiful imagery of the English landscape provides not only the setting for Spenser’s work, but also an avenue for action and well-written poetic lines full of inspiration. All in all, pastoral imagery in Spenser’s â€Å"The Faerie Queene† and â€Å"Epithalamion† is important not only to the development of plot, but also to the development of personal relationships in both works and is what links the two Spenserian works in an alluring way. Book One of â€Å"The Faerie Queene† begins with the following passage:Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske / As time her taugh t, in lowly Shepheards weeds, / Am now enforst a far unfitter taske, / For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine Oaten reeds, / And sing of Knights and Ladies gentle deeds; / Whose prayses having slept in silence long, / Me, all too mean, the sacred Muse areeds / To blazon broad emongst her learned throng: / Fierce warres and faithful loves shall moralize my song. (1.1-9)From the outset, Spenser claims to be dispensing of the shepherd’s â€Å"Oaten reeds† as to tell the story of the glorious knights of England. However, Spenser’s pastoral tradition does not fully evaporate given his use of natural scenery in setting the place for his epic poem (1.3). Love and war, as Spenser’s central themes, will be awakened by the journey Redcrosse Knight must undergo in the service of Una (1.8-9). Spenser may be leaving the shepherd’s journey to rest only to have his characters traverse the fields and plains of yesteryear to serve the principles of duty and honor. Con sequently, Redcrosse Knight’s introduction into the poem in Canto 1 comes as he is â€Å"pricking on the plaine† in his armor awaiting his orders from the Faerie Queene (1.1.1). Redcrosse Knight is immediately introduced as jousting on the plain of battle and not in a place separate from nature (1.1.8-9). The mysticism of the Faerie Queene combined with that of nature transcends the pages of Spenser’s work, allowing the reader to picture the scenery surrounding the characters. Similarly, nature in Spenser’s â€Å"Epithalamion† dominates the lines of the poem as a marriage ceremony is performed. The Muses, mentioned in the beginning of â€Å"The Faerie Queene,† are addressed in Epithalamion as the â€Å"learnà ¨d sisters† followed by a description of the setting in the woods (1.1). As such, the invoking of the Muses, mythological figures, begins both poems. Spenser then continues with a natural description of a wooded glen to introduc e the major features of the land that must precede the descriptive necessities of the main characters for further plot development. Mythological elements, such as the Muses, play an integral role in establishing the pastoral imagery evident throughout both poems.Ceremonies occur in both â€Å"The Faerie Queene† and â€Å"Epithalamion† as gatherings of intense imagination and character interaction. Mythologically driven magic occurs during the Masque of Cupid in Book 3, Canto 12 of â€Å"The Faerie Queene.† Spenser’s elaborate language in Stanza 1 establishes the dark elements of nature:Tho when as cheareless Night ycovered had / Faire heaven with an universall cloud, / That every wight dismayed with darknesse sad, / In silence and in sleepe themselves did shroud, / She heard a shrilling Trompet sound aloud, / Signe of nigh battell, or got victory; / Nought therewith daunted was her courage proud, / But rather stird to cruell enmity. (12.1.1-8)The opening lines of Canto 12 are as dark as a night described as â€Å"cheareless† and understood to be an impending doomsday prophesy (12.1.1). Despite references to â€Å"faire† heaven, one feels an eerie sense that the following stanzas will produce a masque lacking the jovial, festive qualities normally associated with courtly functions (12.1.2). Spenser’s setting for the masque directs the reader to examine the next lines as providing the potential for a dismal event despite the forward motion of the previous stanzas. Cupid, the maker of love, is not yet introduced, but the beginning of the masque sets an uncanny light on the question of love. The importance of the beginning stanza is derived from the fact that the imagery of nature takes precedent over the character development insofar as the reader must sift through the dark thoughts of Spenser in order to obtain an insightful message in the succeeding lines. In contrast, Spenser rejects dark imagery during the wedd ing party in â€Å"Epithalamion† to supplement what is obviously a happy occasion:Let no lamenting cryes, nor dolefull teares, be heard all night within nor without: / Ne let false whispers, breeding hidden feares, / Breake gentle sleepe with misconceived dout. / Let no deluding dreames, nor dreadful sights / Make sudden sad affrights; / Ne let housefyres, nor lightings helplesse harmes, / Ne let mischivous witches with theyr charmes, / Ne let hob Goblins, names whose sence we see not, / Fray us with things that be not. (1.334-344)Warding off the evils of night, the narrator in â€Å"Epithalamion† â€Å"prays† that no harm may come to him and his bride as they consummate their marriage vows, only seeking pleasure and order under the moonlight. Clearly, the rejection of the evils of night and the dark minions of nightly nature is a sharp contrast to the worries faced by Britomart in the masque of Cupid. Light and dark imagery is a prominent form of good and evil in Renaissance literature and Spenserian poetry. Nightfall is representative of the calamity of devils and other dastardly spirits. Witchcraft has the potential to destroy the light of the world and damage the narrator’s wedding celebration. The removal of darkness and the calm of nature is a sign of harmony amongst nature and man. The heavenly effects of night and day control the affairs of the characters in Spenser’s works in ways beyond their control, but only to show the versatility and power of nature. Transformation from night to day and the composition of the natural landscape broadens the pulchritudinous words of Spenser’s â€Å"Epithalamion† and â€Å"The Faerie Queene.† In specific reference to â€Å"The Faerie Queene,† Milton Miller argues in his essay â€Å"Nature in the Faerie Queene† that the order of nature has a â€Å"perfect heavenly† and â€Å"earthly mutable† aspect that is evident throughout the text (193). However, the order of nature in heaven and earth is one and the same (193). Milton’s understanding of the importance of nature is not only clear, but also a sustainable argument that examines nature as an entity that can be altered through human consumption and evil forces. The earthly landscape is full of evil forces that can alter the terrain physically and spiritually, forcing humanity to react forcibly for its survival. In â€Å"The Faerie Queene,† Redcrosse Knight’s survival depends on help from Una and Arthur after facing the obstacles in the House of Pride and the Cave of Despair. Although set in a happier tone, the prayer by the narrator in â€Å"Epithalamion† to ward off the evils of night and â€Å"deluding dreames† underscores the perfectibility of humanly nature in favor of the divine spirits of heaven (l. 334-344). Elements of nature and heaven direct the course of the characters in â€Å"The Faerie Queene† and â€Å"Epi thalamion† to teach divine lessons of life as well as to establish the importance of respect for the providence provided by the heavens to humanity.Nature, both physical and spiritual, dominates Spenserian poetry in character development and in his dedication to the pastoral tradition. â€Å"Epithalamion† and â€Å"The Faerie Queene† are works in which nature plays the puppeteer directing the course of events across hill and dale and against the notions of light and dark. Objectively, Spenser’s works majestically describe the landscape in order to propagate the furtherance of the plot as well as, more importantly, the allegorical, philosophical, and mythological elements in his prose and of the Renaissance tradition. Grandeur and symbolism fill the lines of â€Å"The Faerie Queene† and â€Å"Epithalamion,† leaving the reader to decipher Spenser’s complicated message. Simplicity and harmony are transformed into chaos and difficulty in à ¢â‚¬Å"The Faerie Queene,† only to be restored in â€Å"Epithalamion.† One must respect Spenser’s dedication to humanly and heavenly nature in its strict comparisons and contrasts. In the end, the pastoral imagery of nature and heaven in Spenser’s â€Å"Epithalamion† and â€Å"The Faerie Queene† represents the progression of a lifelong development in his work that stays a course of magnificence and versatility while tackling humanity’s struggles with virtue and love in the Renaissance period. Works Cited:Miller, Milton. Nature in the Faerie Queene. ELH 18.3 (1951): 191-200. Print.Spenser, Edmund. â€Å"Epithalamion.† 1595. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Sixteenth Century/The Early Seventeenth Century. 8th ed. Vol. B. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt, et al. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005. 907-16. Print.Spenser, Edmund. â€Å"The Faerie Queene.† 1596. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, The Sixteenth Century/Th e Early Seventeenth Century. 8th ed. Vol. B. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt, et al. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005. 719-902. Print.