He contributed two complimentary sonnets to the 1590 volume (see notes to the Letter and to the Commendatory Verses). Mary Her bert, Countess of Pembroke (1555?-1621), was sister to Sir Philip Sidney and wife to Henry Herbert, and Earl of Pembroke (15347-1601). She was extremely literate and a great patron of poets. Elizabeth Spencer Carew (or Carey; b 1552, fl. 1590) was a distant cousin of Spenser and the wife of George Carey, 2nd Lord Hunsdon, the patron of Thomas Nashe. Spenser dedicated his poem Muiopotmos to her.

HATTON

7 Ennius: the father of Latin poetry and a friend of the elder Scipio Africanus, he wrote an epic history of Rome, of which only a few fragments survive.

8 Maro: Publius Vergilius Maro wrote the Aeneid to celebrate Augustus Caesar.

12 Policy: government.

OXFORD

1 gree: favour, goodwill.

11 Heliconian ymps: i.e., poets.

CUMBERLAND

8 late assaies: probably a reference to his naval expedition to the Azores, from which he had returned late in 1589.

ESSEX

4 sdeigne: disdain.

9 sty: ascend (archaic).

ORMOND

1–4reference to Spenser’s experiences in Ireland, where he knew Ormond. 8 Ormond’s castle was at Kilkenny.

HOWARD

7 Castilian king: Philip of Spain, whose Armada Howard defeated in 1588.

HUNSDON

6 nearnes: Hunsdon was first cousin to the Queen.

10 Northerne rebels: much of Hunsdon’s career was spent in guarding the border between Scotland and England. Spenser may be referring specifically to the rebellions of 1569-70.

GREY

1–4Spenser was Grey’s secretary from 1580 until Grey’s recall.

6 reaue: rob.

12 Parnasso: Parnassus, mountain sacred to Apollo and the muses.

BUCKHUEST

14 Zoilus: a severe critic of Homer; his name became synonymous with carping criticism.

WALSINGHAM

1 Mantuane Poetes: Virgil, born in Mantua, whose patron Maecenas brought him to the attention of Augustus.

NORRIS

10 sad Belgicke: Norris was a great hero in the wars against Spain in the Low Countries as well as serving in France and Ireland.

12 Lusitanian soile: Drake and Norris were in command of the expedition against Spain in 1589.

RALEGH

2 soueraine Goddesses: i.c, Elizabeth’s.

PEMBROKE

I that most Heroicke spirit: Sir Philip Sidney, who died in 1586.

‘TO ALL THE GRATIOUS …’

1 Chian Peincter: see note to IV.5.12.7.

FAERIE QUEENE

BOOK I

PROEM

1 1 The opening lines of the Proem link Spenser and his poem to a tradition begun by Virgil in four lines that preface the famous ‘Arma virumque cam’.

We ego, qui quondam gracili modulatus avena
carmen et egressus silvis vicina coegi
ut quamvis avido parerent arva colono:
gratum opus agricolis: at mine horrentia Mortis.

     (‘I am that poet who in times past made the light melody of pastoral poetry. In my next poem I left the woods for the adjacent farmlands, teaching them to obey even the most exacting tillers of the soil; and the farmers liked my work. But now I turn to the terrible strife of Mars.’ Aen., translated W. F. Jackson Knight, Penguin Books, p. 27.) These lines, printed in Renaissance editions, even if not written by Virgil, describe the progress of the poet, from the Eclogues to the Georgics to the Aeneid. Since for the Renaissance Virgil was the ideal poet, it was considered proper to begin one’s poetic career by writing pastoral poetry, to move on to more complicated structures, and finally to undertake an epic. Spenser is referring to this tradition and reminding the reader that he too began by writing pastoral poetry in his anonymously published The Shepheardes Calender (1579).

1 2 weeds: clothes.

1 4 trumpets sterne: symbol of heroic poetry. Oaten reeds: symbol of pastoral poetry.

1 7 meane: lowly.

1 8 To blazon: to give praise.

1 9 An imitation of the opening lines of Ariosto’s Orlando furioso:

Le donne, i cauallier, I’arme, gli amort,
le cortesie, Vaudaci imprese io canto.

     (‘Of Dames, of Knights, of armes, of love’s delight,/Of courtesies, of high attempts I speake,’ translated Sir John Harington, 1591.)

2 1 holy Virgin chiefe of nine: foremost of the nine Muses, traditionally Calliope, the Muse of epic poetry.

2 3 scryne: chest, box for valuables.

2 4 antique rolles: ancient records.

2 5 Tanaquill: Caia Tanaquil, the wife of the first Etruscan king of Rome; she was considered a model queen. Here and in II. 10.76 Spenser uses this name for Gloriana, Queen of Faeryland. See also Boccaccio, Il Filocolo, 2.58.

2 6 Briton Prince: Prince Arthur.

3 1 impe: child, i.e., Cupid, god of love. 3 3 roue: shoot.

3 5 Heben: ebony.

3 7 Mart: Man. Spenser is not invoking the usual association of Mars and Venus with adulterous lechery. They are invoked because of the ‘fierce warres’ (Mars) and ‘faithfull loues’ (Venus) that will ‘moralize’ Spenser’s poem.

4 1 Goddesse: i.e., Queen Elizabeth I.

4 4 Phoebus lampe: the sun; Phoebus Apollo was god of the sun.

4 6 vile: lowly.

4 7 type: pattern or symbol.

4 8 argument: subject. Cf. Milton, PL 1.24-6:

That to the highth of this great Argument

I may assert Eternal Providence,

And justifie the wayes of God to men.

CANTO 1

1 2 Spenser in the Letter to Ralegh identifies Redcross’s armour as that described by Paul in Ephesians 6.11-17:

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the assaults of the devil… For this cause take unto you the whole armour of God that ye may be able to resist in the evil day, and having finished all things, stand fast. Stand therefore, and your loins gird about with verity, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Above all, take the shield of faith, wherewith ye may quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

All quotations from Genevan Bible, 1560, spelling modernized. A red cross on a white field forms the arms of St George, patron saint of England, with whom Redcross is identified in I.2.11.9 and 10.61 S.

1 9 giusts: jousts.

2 5 scor’d: marked. 4 9 in a line: on a lead.

5 9 compeld: summoned.

6 1 Dwarfe: some editors allegorize the Dwarf as reason, prudence, or common sense.

7 9 them seemes: dative: to them seems.

8 6 ff Spenser’s catalogue of trees imitates Chaucer, Parlement of Fouless 176-82, who was following the tradition established by Ovid, Met. 10.90 ff, Statius, Thebaid 6.98 fF, and Boccaccio, Teseida 11.33-4, a source which Chaucer also used in “The Knight’s Tale’, II.2921 ff.