Epithalamion by Spenser in Modern English
Here are some notes
about Edmund Spenser's Epithalamion:
- Structure
The poem is made up of
24 stanzas, with 18 or 19 lines in each stanza, except for the 15th stanza
which has 17 lines. The final stanza is an envoy with 7 lines. The
poem has 433 lines in total.
- Rhyming scheme
The poem uses an
ABABCC, DEDEFF rhyming scheme, except for the 15th stanza which uses
FEGGHH.
- Meaning
The title Epithalamion
comes from two Greek words that mean "to the bridal
chamber". The poem celebrates the poet's wedding day, from midnight
on the wedding day until the consummation.
- Content
The poem begins with
an invocation to the Muses, and then follows the events of the wedding
day. The speaker reflects on the private moments of the bride and groom,
and ends with a prayer for the marriage to be fruitful.
- Literary devices
The poem uses many
literary devices, including metaphor, allusion, visual imagery, auditory
imagery, refrain, and climax.
- Publication
Epithalamion was
originally published in 1595 with Spenser's sonnet sequence Amoretti.
- Considered Spenser's best minor poem
Many consider
Epithalamion to be the best of Spenser's minor poems.
Epithalamion is an ode written by Edmund Spenser as a gift to his bride, Elizabeth Boyle,
on their wedding day. The poem moves through the couples' wedding day, from the
groom's impatient hours before dawn to the late hours of night after the
husband and wife have consummated their marriage. Spenser is very methodical in
his depiction of time as it passes, both in the accurate chronological sense
and in the subjective sense of time as felt by those waiting in anticipation or
fear.
As with most
classically-inspired works, this ode begins with an invocation to the Muses to
help the groom; however, in this case they are to help him awaken his bride,
not create his poetic work. Then follows a growing procession of figures who
attempt to bestir the bride from her bed. Once the sun has risen, the bride
finally awakens and begins her procession to the bridal bower. She comes to the
"temple" (the sanctuary of the church wherein she is to be formally
married to the groom) and is wed, then a celebration ensues. Almost
immediately, the groom wants everyone to leave and the day to shorten so that
he may enjoy the bliss of his wedding night. Once the night arrives, however,
the groom turns his thoughts toward the product of their union, praying to
various gods that his new wife's womb might be fertile and give him multiple
children.
Stanza 1
Summary
The groom calls upon
the muses to inspire him to properly sing the praises of his beloved bride. He
claims he will sing to himself, "as Orpheus did for his own bride."
As with most of the following stanzas, this stanza ends with the refrain "The
woods shall to me answer and my Eccho ring."
Analysis
In the tradition of
classical authors, the poet calls upon the muses to inspire him. Unlike many
poets, who called upon a single muse, Spenser here calls upon all the muses,
suggesting his subject requires the full range of mythic inspiration. The
reference to Orpheus is an allusion to that hero's luring of his bride's spirit
from the realm of the dead using his beautiful music; the groom, too, hopes to
awaken his bride from her slumber, leading her into the light of their wedding
day.
Stanza 2
Summary
Before the break of
day, the groom urges the muses to head to his beloved's bower, there to awaken
her. Hymen, god of marriage, is already awake, and so too should the bride
arise. The groom urges the muses to remind his bride that this is her wedding
day, an occasion that will return her great delight for all the "paynes
and sorrowes past."
Analysis
Another classical
figure, Hymen, is invoked here, and not for the last time. If the god of
marriage is ready, and the groom is ready, then he expects his bride to make
herself ready as well. The focus is on the sanctity of the wedding day--this
occasion itself should urge the bride to come celebrate it as early as
possible. Here it is the marriage ceremony, not the bride (or the groom) which
determines what is urgent.
Stanza 3
Summary
The groom instructs
the muses to summon all the nymphs they can to accompany them to the bridal
chamber. On their way, they are to gather all the fragrant flowers they can and
decorate the path leading from the "bridal bower," where the marriage
ceremony is to take place, to the door of the bride's chambers. If they do so,
she will tread nothing but flowers on her procession from her rooms to the site
of the wedding. As they adorn her doorway with flowers, their song will awaken
the bride
Analysis
This celebration of
Christian matrimony here becomes firmly entrenched in the classical mythology
of the Greeks with the summoning of the nymphs. No more pagan image can be
found than these nature-spirits strewing the ground with various flowers to
make a path of beauty from the bride's bedchamber to the bridal bower. Although
Spenser will later develop the Protestant marriage ideals, he has chosen to
greet the wedding day morning with the spirits of ancient paganism instead.
Stanza 4
Summary
Addressing the various
nymphs of other natural locales, the groom asks that they tend to their
specialties to make the wedding day perfect. The nymphs who tend the ponds and
lakes should make sure the water is clear and unmolested by lively fish, that
they may see their own reflections in it and so best prepare themselves to be
seen by the bride. The nymphs of the mountains and woods, who keep deer safe
from ravening wolves, should exercise their skills in keeping these selfsame
wolves away from the bride this wedding day. Both groups are to be present to
help decorate the wedding site with their beauty.
Analysis
Here Spenser further
develops the nymph-summoning of Stanza 3. That he focuses on the two groups'
abilities to prevent disturbances hints that he foresaw a chance of some
misfortune attending the wedding. Whether this is conventional "wedding
day jitters" or a more politically-motivated concern over the problem of
Irish uprisings is uncertain, but the wolves mentioned would come from the
forests--the same place Irish resistance groups use to hide their movements and
strike at the occupying English with impunity.
Stanza 5
Summary
The groom now
addresses his bride directly (even if she is not present) to urge her to
awaken. Sunrise is long since gone and Phoebus, the sun-god, is showing
"his glorious hed." The birds are already singing, and the groom
insists their song is a call to joy directed at the bride.
Analysis
The mythical figures
of Rosy Dawn, Tithones, and Phoebus are here invoked to continue the classical
motif of the ode. Thus far, it is indistinguishable in content from a pagan
wedding-song. That the groom must address his bride directly demonstrates both
his impatience and the ineffectiveness of relying on the muses and nymphs to
summon forth the bride.
Stanza 6
Summary
The bride has finally
awakened, and her eyes likened to the sun wit their "goodly beams/More
bright then Hesperus." The groom urges the "daughters of
delight" to attend to the bride, but summons too the Hours of Day and
Night, the Seasons, and the "three handmayds" of Venus to attend as
well. He urges the latter to do for his bride what they do for Venus, sing to
her as they help her dress for her wedding.
Analysis
There is a second
sunrise here as the "darksome cloud" is removed from the bride's
visage and her eyes are allowed to shine in all their glory. The
"daughters of delight" are the nymphs, still urged to attend on the
bride, but here Spenser introduces the personifications of time in the hours
that make up Day, Night, and the seasons. He will return to this time motif
later, but it is important to note that here he sees time itself participating
as much in the marriage ceremony as do the nymphs and handmaids of Venus.
Stanza 7
Summary
The bride is ready
with her attendant virgins, so now it is time for the groomsmen and the groom
himself to prepare. The groom implores the sun to shine brightly, but not hotly
lest it burn his bride's fair skin. He then prays to Phoebus, who is both sun-god
and originator of the arts, to give this one day of the year to him while
keeping the rest for himself. He offers to exchange his own poetry as an
offering for this great favor.
Analysis
The theme of light as
both a sign of joy and an image of creative prowess begins to be developed
here, as the groom addresses Phoebus. Spenser refers again to his own poetry as
a worthy offering to the god of poetry and the arts, which he believes has earned
him the favor of having this one day belong to himself rather than to the
sun-god.
Stanza 8
Summary
The mortal wedding
guests and entertainment move into action. The minstrels play their music and
sing, while women play their timbrels and dance. Young boys run throughout the
streets crying the wedding song "Hymen io Hymen, Hymen" for all to hear.
Those hearing the cries applaud the boys and join in with the song.
Analysis
Spenser shifts to the
real-world participants in the wedding ceremony, the entertainment and possible
guests. He describes a typical (if lavish) Elizabethan wedding complete with
elements harking back to classical times. The boys' song "Hymen io Hymen,
Hymen" can be traced back to Greece, with its delivery by Gaius Valerius
Catullus in the first century B.C.
Stanza 9
Summary
The groom beholds his
bride approaching and compares her to Phoebe (another name for Artemis, goddess
of the moon) clad in white "that seemes a virgin best." He finds her
white attire so appropriate that she seems more angel than woman. In modesty,
she avoids the gaze of the myriad admirers and blushes at the songs of praise
she is receiving.
Analysis
This unusual stanza
has a "missing line"-- a break after the ninth line of the stanza
(line 156). The structure probably plays into Spenser's greater organization of
lines and meter, which echo the hours of the day with great mathematical precision.
There is no aesthetic reason within the stanza for the break, as it takes place
three lines before the verses describing the bride's own reaction to her
admirers.
The comparison to
Phoebe, twin sister of Phoebus, is significant since the groom has essentially
bargained to take Phoebus' place of prominence this day two stanzas ago. He
sees the bride as a perfect, even divine, counterpart to himself this day, as
Day and Night are inextricably linked in the passage of time.
Stanza 10
Summary
The groom asks the
women who see his bride if they have ever seen anyone so beautiful in their
town before. He then launches into a list of all her virtues, starting with her
eyes and eventually describing her whole body. The bride's overwhelming beauty causes
the maidens to forget their song to stare at her.
Analysis
Spenser engages the
blason convention, in which a woman's physical features are picked out and
described in metaphorical terms. Unlike his blasons in Amoretti, this listing
has no overarching connection among the various metaphors. Her eyes and
forehead are described in terms of valuable items (sapphires and ivory), her
cheeks and lips compared to fruit (apples and cherries), her breast is compared
to a bolw of cream, her nipples to the buds of lilies, her neck to an ivory
tower, and her whole body compared to a beautiful palace.
Stanza 11
Summary
The groom moves from
the external beauty of the bride to her internal beauty, which he claims to see
better than anyone else. He praises her lively spirit, her sweet love, her
chastity, her faith, her honor, and her modesty. He insists that could her observers
see her inner beauty, they would be far more awestruck by it than they already
are by her outward appearance.
Analysis
Although not a blason
like the last stanza, this set of verses is nonetheless a catalogue of the
bride's inner virtues. Spenser moves for a moment away from the emphasis on
outward beauty so prominent in this ode and in pagan marriage ceremonies,
turning instead to his other classical influence: Platonism. He describes the
ideal woman, unsullied by fleshly weakness or stray thoughts. Could the
attendants see her true beauty--her absolute beauty--they would be astonished
like those who saw "Medusaes mazeful hed" and were turned to stone.
Stanza 12
Summary
The groom calls for
the doors to the temple to be opened that his bride may enter in and approach
the altar in reverence. He offers his bride as an example for the observing
maidens to follow, for she approaches this holy place with reverence and
humility.
Analysis
Spenser shifts the
imagery from that of a pagan wedding ceremony, in which the bride would be
escorted to the groom's house for the wedding, to a Protestant one taking place
in a church (although he describes it with the pre-Christian term "temple").
The bride enters in as a "Saynt" in the sense that she is a good
Protestant Christian, and she approaches this holy place with the appropriate
humility. No mention of Hymen or Phoebus is made; instead the bride approaches
"before th' almighties vew." The minstrels have now become
"Choristers" singing "praises of the Lord" to the
accompaniment of organs.
Stanza 13
Summary
The bride stands
before the altar as the priest offers his blessing upon her and upon the
marriage. She blushes, causing the angels to forget their duties and encircle
here, while the groom wonders why she should blush to give him her hand in
marriage.
Analysis
Now firmly entrenched
in the Christian wedding ceremony, the poem dwells upon the bride's reaction to
the priest's blessing, and the groom's reaction to his bride's response. Her
blush sends him toward another song about her beauty, but he hesitates to commit
wholly to that. A shadow of doubt crosses his mind, as he describes her
downcast eyes as "sad" and wonders why making a pledge to marry him
should make her blush.
Stanza 14
Summary
The Christian part of
the wedding ceremony is over, and the groom asks that the bride to be brought
home again and the celebration to start. He calls for feasting and drinking,
turning his attention from the "almighty" God of the church to the
"God Bacchus," Hymen, and the Graces.
Analysis
Spenser slips easily
(perhaps even hastily) away from teh Protestant wedding ceremony back to the
pagan revelries. Forgotten is the bride's humility at the altar of the
Christian God; instead he crowns Bacchus, god of wine and revelry, and Hymen
was requesting the Graces to dance. Now he wants to celebrate his
"triumph" with wine "poured out without restraint or stay"
and libations to the aforementioned gods. He considers this day to be holy for
himself, perhaps seeing it as an answer to his previous imprecation to Phoebus
that this day belong to him alone.
Stanza 15
Summary
The groom reiterates
his affirmation that this day is holy and calls everyone to celebrate in
response to the ringing bells. He exults that the sun is so bright and the day
so beautiful, then changes his tone to regret as he realize his wedding is
taking place on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and so his
nighttime nuptial bliss will be delayed all the longer, yet last only briefly.
Analysis
By identifying the
exact day of the wedding (the summer solstice, June 20), Spenser allows the
reader to fit this poetic description of the ceremony into a real, historical
context. As some critics have noted, a timeline of the day superimposed over
the verse structure of the entire ode produces an accurate, line-by-line
account of the various astronomical events (sunrise, the position of the stars,
sunset).
Stanza 16
Summary
The groom continues
his frustrated complaint that the day is too long, but grows hopeful as at long
last the evening begins its arrival. Seeing the evening start in the East, he
addresses is as "Fayre childe of beauty, glorious lampe of loue," urging
it to come forward and hasten the time for the newlyweds to consummate their
marriage.
Analysis
Again focused on time,
the speaker here is able to draw hope from the approach of twilight. He is
eager to be alone with his bride, and so invokes the evening star to lead the
bride and groom to their bedchamber.
Stanza 17
Summary
The groom urges the
singers and dancers to leave the wedding, but take the bride to her bed as they
depart. He is eager to be alone with his bride, and compares the sight of her
lying in bed to that of Maia, the mountain goddess with whom Zeus conceived Hermes.
Analysis
The comparison to Zeus
and Maia is significant in that it foreshadows another desire of the groom,
procreation. Besides being eager to make love to his new bride, the speaker is
also hoping to conceive a child. According to legend and tradition, a child conceived
on the summer solstice would grow into prosperity and wisdom, so the connection
to the specific day of the wedding cannot be ignored.
Stanza 18
Night has come at
last, and the groom asks Night to cover and protect them. He makes another
comparison to mythology, this time Zeus' affair with Alcmene and his affair
with Night herself.
Analysis
Here again Spenser
uses a classical allusion to Zeus, mentioning not only the woman with whom Zeus
had relations, but also their offspring. Alcmene was a daughter of Pleiades
and, through Zeus, became the mother of Hercules. The focus has almost shifted away
from the bride or the act of consummation to the potential child that may come
of this union.
Stanza 19
Summary
The groom prays that
no evil spirits or bad thoughts would reach the newlyweds this night. The
entire stanza is a list of possible dangers he pleads to leave them alone.
Analysis
At the moment the
bride and groom are finally alone, the speaker shifts into an almost hysterical
litany of fears and dreads. From false whispers and doubts, he declines into
superstitious fear of witches, "hob Goblins," ghosts, and vultures, among
others. Although some of these night-terrors have analogs in Greek mythology,
many of them come from the folklore of the Irish countryside. Spenser reminds
himself and his readers that, as a landed Englishman on Irish soil, there is
danger yet present for him, even on his wedding night.
Stanza 20
Summary
The groom bids silence
to prevail and sleep to come when it is the proper time. Until then, he
encourages the "hundred little winged loues" to fly about the bed.
These tiny Cupids are to enjoy themselves as much as possible until daybreak.
Analysis
The poet turns back to
enjoying his beloved bride, invoking the "sonnes of Venus" to play
throughout the night. While he recognizes that sleep can and must come
eventually, he hopes to enjoy these "little loves" with his bride as
much as possible.
Stanza 21
Summary
The groom notices
Cinthia, the moon, peering through his window and prays to her for a favorable
wedding night. He specifically asks that she make his bride's "chaste
womb" fertile this night.
Analysis
Spenser continues his
prayer for conception, this time addressing Cinthia, the moon. He asks her to
remember her own love of the "Latmian shephard" Endymion--a union
that eventually produced fifty daughters, the phases of the moon. He specifically
calls a successful conception "our comfort," placing his emotional
emphasis upon the fruit of the union above the act of union itself. The
impatient lover of the earlier stanzas has become the would-be father looking
for completion in a future generation.
Stanza 22
Summary
The groom adds more
deities to his list of patron. He asks Juno, wife of Zeus and goddess of
marriage, to make their union strong and sacred, then turns her attention
toward making it fruitful. So, too, he asks Hebe and Hymen to do the same for
them.
Analysis
While asking Juno to
bless the marriage, the speaker cannot refrain from asking for progeny. So,
too, he invokes Hebe (goddess of youth) and Hymen to make their wedding night
one of fortunate conception as well as wedded bliss. While he does return to
the hope or prayer that the marriage will remain pure, the speaker still places
conception as the highest priority of the night.
Stanza 23
Summary
The groom utters and
all-encompassing prayer to all the gods in the heavens, that they might bless
this marriage. He asks them to give him "large posterity" that he may
raise up generations of followers to ascend to the heavens in praise of the
gods. He then encourages his bride to rest in hope of their becoming parents.
Analysis
Spenser brings this
ode to a major climax, calling upon all the gods in the heavens to bear witness
and shower their blessings upon the couple. He states in no uncertain terms
that the blessing he would have is progeny--he wishes nothing other than to have
a child from this union. In typical pagan bargaining convention, the speaker
assures the gods that if they give him children, these future generations will
venerate the gods and fill the earth with "Saints."
Stanza 24
Summary
The groom addresses
his song with the charge to be a "goodly ornament" for his bride,
whom he feels deserves many physical adornments as well. Time was too short to
procure these outward decorations for his beloved, so the groom hopes his ode will
be an "endlesse moniment" to her.
Analysis
Spenser follows
Elizabeth convention in returning to a self-conscious meditation upon his ode
itself. He asks that this ode, which he is forced to give her in place of the
many ornaments which his bride should have had, will become an altogether
greater adornment for her. He paradoxically asks that it be "for short
time" and "endless" monument for her, drawing the reader's
attention back to the contrast between earthly time, which eventually runs out,
and eternity, which lasts forever in a state of perfection.
He was sent by
Queen Elizabeth to Ireland. There he was to hold land on behalf of England. At
that time, Ireland in general considered the English no better than an
occupying power, and treated them as such even to the point of violence.
Spenser himself wrote a treatise, A View of the Present State of
Ireland, which was never widely published until after the author's death.
In this pamphlet, Spenser advocated the destruction of Irish language and
culture, and he went so far as to argue that violence would be acceptable, if
it ever became necessary.
Spenser, a Protestant,
was strongly opposed to the traditionally Roman Catholic Irish culture. This
religious and political stance, coupled with Ireland's own attitudes toward
Spenser's beloved Queen Elizabeth, served to make Spenser one of the Irish people's
greatest critics. Paradoxically, Spenser clearly loved the Irish landscape. It
was in Ireland that he met the woman who would become his second wife,
Elizabeth Boyle. The Irish countryside is the setting for his wedding in Epithamalion and
in real life. His poetic passages describing the land, weather, flora and fauna
of Ireland read like a love poem dedicated to a place as much as they were
dedicated to a woman.
Spenser was eventually
driven from Ireland by native Irish militants and his castle at Kilcolmen
burned to the ground. He fled back to London and died there a year later.
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