INTERPRETING THE POEM,A DITTY
The poet eulogises Queen Elizabeth of England, paying every attention to, not just her glamorous beauty, but her gracefulness and motherly status to all her English subjects – “Queen of the Shepherds”. Even her throne of glory is fertile, “grassie greene”. Spenser merges the beauty of the subject of the poem with the beauty and reproductive capacity of the natural environment, “the flowery Daffadillies”, “primroses greene”, Damask roses” and “sweetie violet” . Her flawless beauty upgrades her stately appearance to that of “a maiden Queen” . Edmund Spenser further unveils the excellence and dazzling beauty of the English Queen by directing his searchlight to the celestial, comparing her to heavenly angels, “angelic face”. He also admires her regal masculinity: “her princely grace”. According to the poet, Queen Elizabeth combines both human and angelic qualities, such that hardly is any comparison good enough to measure up to her rare genial beauty and modesty:
Her modest eye,
Her majestic,
Where have you seen the like but there?
The beauty of this majestic Queen attracts musicians and admirers including gods, who scramble to witness her “Goddesse” sing and play in melodious tones that are alien to the human world. Even the instruments used to “grace” the earthly Queen have no equal in the world, particularly in terms of their “soote”ness or soothing, and such is expected in a swelling “merriment” . Edmund concludes that when the Queen is accorded such a grand attention here on earth, such that she is satisfied, she will surely reign gloriously in Heaven in company of the trail blazers of heavenly grace. Our poet ordered that we roll out our musical instruments, “the Pincke and Cullambine, with Gellifowres”, performed with “paramours”, and “sops-in-wine”, not just to elevate the Queen‟s gracefulness, but also in preparation for her heavenly “coronations” among most divinely honoured Queens. Spenser advises that in readiness for the great event, flowers of distinctions, fragrance per excellent, fit for stately events, should be brought in: “Daffadowndillies”, “Cowslips”, “loved Lillies”, “Pretice Pawnce” matched with the “fayre flower Delice” .
A good number of themes can be pointed out quickly in the praise poetry. They are beauty, gracefulness, merriment, transient beauty, fertility and sensuousness.
Edmund Spenser uses some exaggerative expressions in the poem, perhaps due to the eulogizing nature of the poem: “her angelic face”, “to full the fourth place and reigne with the rest in heaven”, “where my Goddesse shines”, “so sweetly they play”, “And sing all the way”, “That it a heaven is to heare”, “Her heavenly haveour, her princely grace” . He also uses explicit or direct comparison, indicating likeness or similarity between some qualities found in the subject of the poem. For instance, “Ydad in Scarlot, like a mayden Queene”, “Tell me, have ye seene her angelick face like Phoebe fayre”? There are also some metaphorical expressions in the poem: “ … her angelic face”, “ …, “her princely grace” . Spenser graced the poem with a few apostrophes, thus, “See were she sits upon the grassie greene, o seemely sight”, “Now ryse up Elisa, decked as thou art in royal a ray”. The combination of natural imagery with sensuous celestial images complements the poetic eulogy “…sits upon the grassie greene”, “ …Damaske Roses and Daffadillies”, primroses greene”, “…Gelliflowres”, “…loved Lillies”, “ …fayre flower” .
3.2 INTERPRETING THE POEM,AMORETTI LXVII: LIKE AS A HUNTSMAN
This is a poem about a wild chase - the poet, probably the hunter, found himself chasing a deer blindly. The more the animal pranced away, determined to get away with its life, the more the poet engaged her in a ferocious chase in the jungle. Apparently tired, the deer had a brief rest “in some shady place”. In the tireless and foolish pursuit, “after long pursuit and vain assay”, the poet became tired, dull, slow and awkward, forsook the “gentle deer” which returned by the path through which the poet had engaged her in an endless chase so as “to quench her thirst at the next brook”. In turn, the deer stared at the hunter, probably the poet, fearlessly:
There she beholding me with milder look,
Sought not to fly, but fearless still did bide:
Till I in hand her yet half trembling took,
And with her own goodwill her firmly tied.
In what looked like a determination of the deer to resign to fate, it was no longer interested in running away from the poet. Now vanquished, it acknowledged the superiority of the huntsman in the race for life.
Apparently, the female deer in the poem is a lady (woman) or lover of the poet whom he had engaged in an overbearing chase. She had escaped the poet ‟s overweening or submerging invitation for love, but had to return the poet‟s love, seeking the path of love from which she had fled. Now that she needs the poet ‟s comfort, she owned up voluntarily, so the poet does not need to engage her in any chase anymore. The themes of the poem are love, deception, escape, submission and fear.
3.3 THE POEM, AMORETTI LXXV: ONE DAY I WROTE HER NAME
This is an unusual poem of love; its novelty lies on the lover‟s unique approach to his female lover. The young lover in the poem is determined to immortalise his lover and by extension, their love affair, but surprisingly, every attempt to get his lover‟s name immortalised ended in vanity. The poet insists:
One day I wrote her name upon the sand,
But came the waves and washed it away:
Again I wrote it with a secondhand,
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
Deeply obsessed by her love, he attempts to subdue mortality by every means but discovered that it was impossible for him to conquer mortality, which he thought if he had conquered, he would have a long and enduring relationship with his
lover. Against his determination, nature played the destructive agent to his desire to attain eternal or an endless love affair; “…the waves washed it away”, “…but came the tide and made my pains his prey” .
The poet is a practical man, a romantic, who believes that in the face of a burning biological drive, a true love desire can be satisfied and maintained when humanity attains a godly or god-like status, in which he becomes superior to his transient nature. The poet‟s fruitlessness in his quest for an endless love relationship is apparent in the poem.
We, however, know from the response of the man‟s lover in this poem that he is bargaining for the impossible when she interrupts and obstructs the man‟s intention to attain immortality so that they could have a prolonged affair. She describes her man as a “vain man” who pursues vanity “that dost in vain assay” . The position of the woman in the poem is quite different from that of her lover whom she sees as an idealist or a myopic fool who gropes after selfishness and the ephemerals of life. To the woman, her lover need not worry about all these because she, the reason for which he embarks on an endless struggle, will also die. She explains:
For I myself shall like to this decay
And eke my name be wiped out likewise.
The search for immortality for any reason at all is nothing but a bizarre exercise - “A mortal thing so to immortalize”. The lady does not see any reason a mere “thing”, article or material thing that is by the law of nature subject to death and decomposition should conceive permanency in longevity. Does this mean that there is no way man can ever attain immortality? The poet answers our question through the lady‟s response. She says human virtue, greatness and the arts are capable of eternalising a person, and can even inscribe one ‟s name in glory in the heavens. But death, according to our speaker, has been given the unquestionable willpower to “subdue” humanity.
Finally, she advises her lover to show rare virtue, love her genuinely, and by that, both lovers will be sure of renewing their life and love till eternity. She preaches that a rare, disciplined and selfless display of virtue will transport one to heaven:
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse, your virtues rare shall eternize
And in the heavens write your glorious name
Where when as death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew.
The poem ‟s aesthetic value is based on its various themes such as the vanity of life, the transient nature of life, love, vanity, search for immortality, selfish desire, human conflict with the unchanging will of nature, persistence, the value of or indestructibility of virtue, as well as the overriding influence of death over man.
3.4 INTERPRETING THE POEM, AN HYMN IN HONOUR OF BEAUTY
In this poem, the poet attempts to re-canonise metaphysical poetry by revealing the various complexities and popular imprisonments by which love or beauty dominate man across the ages. In what looks like the poet ‟s attempt to define love, the poem tries to simplify the subject of love by addressing it in human terms. Deliberately humanizing the subject of love, the poet begins on a note of question, asking the location where love desires to ferry him, with her “wontless fury” that is coloured with inspiring rage. The human body houses the hot rage of love, yet it is capable of transporting man to anywhere with her “raging fire”. It is that living but venomous fire of love that resides in the heart (“feeble breast”) that gives the poet the strength to investigate the nature of love. According to him, it is difficult to understand the nature or personality of love, nor of the mother of love.
The poem begins:
AH whither, love, wilt thou now carry me?
What wontless fury dost thus now inspire
Into my feeble breast, too full of thee?
Whilst seeking to as lake thy raging fire
Thou in me kindlest much more great desire
And up alift above my strength dost raise
The wondrous matter of my fire to praise
It appears there is a magnetic pull and fury in love, but such strong fury is so powerful that it makes everyone to hunt for or desire love, irrespective of one‟s social, economic status, ethnic and religious backgrounds. Human vulnerability combined with the mystery and complexity love is coded in compel the poet to force out a song for love: “An honourable hymn I eke should frame”. Perhaps, our poet ‟s song may be a healing balm for men whose hearts have been hurt by love. Spenser does not leave us in doubt as to the gender of love as he states categorically … “And with the brightness of her beauty clear” . It then means that love is a female and not a male, but resides in the heart of everyone with all her angelic and beastly personified existence.
Love, the ubiquitous invisible, searches the souls of men, and uses her “might” to befog. The poet does not understand how love got her possessive power of “such soul-enchanting might”. Spenser seems to tell us that love is the mother of love, so everything that applies to daughter love, is applicable to mother love, so, the poet moves literarily between mother and daughter, as implied in the poem.
The third stanza of the poem unfolds love as an embodiment of beauty and a goddess per excellence “…thou great goddess, queen of beauty” delighted by all. The poet moves ahead, stating other qualities of love, such as her capacity to illuminate dullness, “light” rekindling, “T illuminate my dim and dulled eyne” . “Love immortal beam”, gives life to “withered heart”, it is perfect, fashionable, “goodly pattern”. Everyone is free to request that love lays bare her secret store here on earth, or else, one may not have access to it in heaven if forfeited here on earth. Man‟s sinful eyes are not granted access to love ‟s graceful “secret store”, so powerful is love that she influences everything on earth“ …every earthly thing partakes” in the affairs of love as divinely willed, so love is “fair, accordingly”, it is capable of reforming the soul, infuses “…celestial power”, very pleasant and pleasing, has “…sovereign might”, to give “pleasant grace”. The poet compares love to the “lively fire”, “…light of the lamp which shining in the face”. Love is strong, amorous desire, so strong that it “robs the hearts of those whose it admire”, “ …poisoned arrow”, “that wounds the life and wastes the inmost marrow”. It is also described as a “mixture” of colours, “fair and goodly temperament” .
In all its graceful state and magnanimity, love “quickly fade”, “And pass away” . The parts of love are measured, hence its ephemerality is made of many colours, including “white and red”, and in such colours are its powers that “pierce through the eyes unto the heart”, and in rage makes her victim or any heart she possesses “restless”. Only death limits the length of death‟s arrow on her victims. In whichever heart she penetrates, she captures, dominates and “rub both sense and reason blind” .
Spenser wondered why love does not “blossom” like the field. In this sense, the attractiveness of love is like a plague that endangers and reduces everyone to a victim. The enormity of love, the poet insists, is much more than any man can imagine “wonders in the minds of men”; it‟s a “fair lamp”, “a celestial ray.” The fire of love dies and when such happens, the spirit behind love returns to her “native planet”. It appears love is a total stranger to the human world; it also does not have a specific home or nativity and it is immortal, and only roams the sky: “ …nor is it heavenly born and cannot die” .
Still tracing the possible origin of love, Spenser says it is a derivative of the soul; the seat of love, the soul itself is from “purest heaven‟s height”, but the soul only uses light as a protective covering. As a result of her divine connection, love has the willpower to “impress”, as “graced” by the heavens, and her fitting house too must be adorned with spoil and “heavenly riches”. Her beauty and bravery are divine gifts to complement her fleshy being. Love is temperamental but deserves to be accorded a queenly status in a palace.
In as much as the body is formed from the soul, what the soul is encased in is a “comely corpse” a dead pattern; only the soul that is formed from heavenly light is the living matter from which purity and love sprout, thus, “many a gentle mind dwells in deformed tabernacle (the body) with some foul imperfection” .
Our poet seems to be more definite here as he says that “goodly beauty is heavenly born” every man now desires her and falls into sin through love, especially as she adorns the world with her dazzling beauty. Spenser exonerates love from any blame, but insists that those who abuse love are guilty of her misuse because her admirers seek to “deprave it”. To our poet, the soul is fair and beautiful, but the flesh is filthy, and subject to being abused and corrupted, but immortalities are above the corruptions of the flesh. “Flesh(e) fault it filthy make”, “…for things immortal no corruption take” .
In what sounds like a cautious warning or advice to love, Spenser salutes love, asking that she be conscious of her graceful status, eulogizing it as the world‟s “dame and ornaments” and “image of heavens light”, she should not give into “disparagements” .
She is advised to be mindful of her divine grace and stay off men‟s conscious abuses “mindful still of your first country‟s sight”, “ …preserve your first informed grace”, which shadow reflects in her beautiful face.
The poet then names the vices that fair love should beware of in her first country of sight. They are “loathe foul blot”, “disloyal lust”, “…fair beauty‟s foulest blame”, “that base affections, why our ears would bland”, “commend to you by loves abused name” .
But is indeed the bond slave of defame
Which will the garland of your glory mar;
And quench the light of your bright shining star.
Our poet did not deny love‟s apparent beauty and gracefulness that is divine in nature, but advised her strongly to beware of men, as they are ready to beguile so that they could debase her, “quench the light” of her, “shinning star”, or glory. Love has also been warned to be gentle and loyal and truthful so that her glory may not be marred.
In his theory of love and beauty, Edmund Spencer‟s poetry, we may say, „moralises‟ love, courtship and marriage, though there are a number of verses in the poem that really „problematise‟ love, considering the lengthy qualities of do’s and don’ts spread across the poem, some of which are far reaching and apparently unattainable, except by super humans, though daughter love seen in the poem is as abstract as her nature. The poet points out the themes of love and beauty, desire, sovereignty, immortality, celestial strength, power, deception, transience, the search for the origin of love, definition of love and beauty, self- preservation, vain impression, deceitful love, fantasy, chaste pleasure, and conquering beauty.
We see a generous use of figurative language in the poem. In the first verse of the poem, the poet begins with lines that are both apostrophic and rhetorical in nature:
AH whither, love, wilt thou now carry me?
What wontless fury dost thou now inspire
Into my feeble breast, too full of thee?
Whilst seeking to as lake they raging fire
The last line of the eleventh verse of the poem is also rhetorical: “more such affection in the inward mind/That it can rub both sense and reason blind?”As it is
also in the twelfth verse of the poem: “Work like impression in the looker‟s view? Or why do not fair pictures like power show”. The use of rhetoric by the poet is to infuse life into the poem and probe the reader‟s mind on the subject of love discussed in the 300 lines poetry. The poem is replete with personification. Spenser deliberately personifies love in the poem to lift his subject from obscurity to reality, to give life to the controversial issue of love. Again, love is addressed as a female. For instance, inverse 2, love is humanised:
That as I erst in praise of thine own name,
So now in honour of thy mother clear …
And with the brightness of /her/ beauty clear
Also inverse 4, the subject of love‟shumanity continues:
“It may so please, that she at length will stream”,
“ …According as the heaven‟s have her graced” …
Tempers fit for such a virgin queen …”
“ …which doth the world with her delight adora …”
The poet‟s deliberate personification of the subject of love in the poem reflects her relevance and inseparability from humanity.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
How is the poet‟s assessment of love in Amoretti LXVII: Like as a Huntsman different from Amoretti LXXV: One Day I Wrote Her Name?
4.0 CONCLUSION
In this unit, we have discussed Edmund Spenser‟s A Ditty, Amoretti LXVII: Like as a Huntsman and Amoretti LXXV: One Day I Wrote Her Name. We have also discussed An Hymn in Honour of Beauty. You may wish to read over your work again.
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit, you have learnt:
. The themes in Edmund Spenser‟sA Ditty;
. The themes in Spenser‟sAmoretti LXVII: Like as a Huntsman;
. The various themes in Spenser‟s Amoretti LXXV: One Day I Wrote Her Name;
. The poet‟s impression of and advice on love in An Hymn in Honour of Beauty.
6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
1) Explain how the divine merges with the actual in Edmund Spenser‟s praise poem of Queen Elizabeth in A Ditty.
2) Identify the number of themes raised in Spenser‟s poem, Amoretti LXVII: Like as a Huntsman.
3) Explain the contrast between divine love and carnal love in Amoretti LXXV: One Day I Wrote Her Name.
4) Discuss Spenser‟s theory of love in An Hymn in Honour of Beauty.
7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING
Akporobaro, Frederick (1994). Understanding Poetry. Lagos: Lighthouse Publishing Company.
Goathy, Andrew (1997). The Language of Metaphor. London: Routledge.
Marims, M.H. (1993). A Glossary of Literary Terms. Port Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Oriola Stanley (2008). “Tayo Olafioye: A Poet‟s Season of Inconvenience”. In Beth L. Virtanen and Sola Owonibi (Eds.) The Mines of His Mind-critical Reflections on the Works of Tayo Olafioye. Trenton: Africa World Press.
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