SUB CODE: 18PEL1 BRITISH LITERTURE I In theyr fresh garments trim.

UNIT 1 Bid her awake therefore and soone her dight,

Epithalamion EDMUND SPENSER For lo the wished day is come at last,
Ye learned sisters which have oftentimes That shall for al the paynes and sorrowes past,
Beene to me ayding, others to adorne: Pay to her usury of long delight:
Whom ye thought worthy of your gracefull rymes, And whylest she doth her dight,
That even the greatest did not greatly scorne Doe ye to her of joy and solace sing,
To heare theyr names sung in your simple layes, That all the woods may answer and your eccho ring.
But joyed in theyr prayse.
And when ye list your owne mishaps to mourne, Bring with you all the Nymphes that you can heare
Which death, or love, or fortunes wreck did rayse, Both of the rivers and the forrests greene:
Your string could soone to sadder tenor turne, And of the sea that neighbours to her neare,
And teach the woods and waters to lament Al with gay girlands goodly wel beseene.
Your dolefull dreriment. And let them also with them bring in hand
Now lay those sorrowfull complaints aside, Another gay girland
And having all your heads with girland crownd, For my fayre love of lillyes and of roses,
Helpe me mine owne loves prayses to resound, Bound truelove wize with a blew silke riband.
Ne let the same of any be envide: And let them make great store of bridale poses,
So Orpheus did for his owne bride, And let them eeke bring store of other flowers
So I unto my selfe alone will sing, To deck the bridale bowers.
The woods shall to me answer and my Eccho ring. And let the ground whereas her foot shall tread,
For feare the stones her tender foot should wrong
Early before the worlds light giving lampe, Be strewed with fragrant flowers all along,
His golden beame upon the hils doth spred, And diapred lyke the discolored mead.
Having disperst the nights unchearefull dampe, Which done, doe at her chamber dore awayt,
Doe ye awake, and with fresh lusty hed, For she will waken strayt,
Go to the bowre of my beloved love, The whiles doe ye this song unto her sing,
My truest turtle dove, The woods shall to you answer and your Eccho ring.
Bid her awake; for Hymen is awake,
And long since ready forth his maske to move, Ye Nymphes of Mulla which with carefull heed,
With his bright Tead that flames with many a flake, The silver scaly trouts doe tend full well,
And many a bachelor to waite on him, And greedy pikes which use therein to feed,
(Those trouts and pikes all others doo excell) For they of joy and pleasance to you sing,
And ye likewise which keepe the rushy lake, That all the woods them answer and theyr eccho ring.
Where none doo fishes take,
Bynd up the locks the which hang scatterd light, My love is now awake out of her dreames,
And in his waters which your mirror make, And her fayre eyes like stars that dimmed were
Behold your faces as the christall bright, With darksome cloud, now shew theyr goodly beames
That when you come whereas my love doth lie, More bright then Hesperus his head doth rere.
No blemish she may spie. Come now ye damzels, daughters of delight,
And eke ye lightfoot mayds which keepe the deere, Helpe quickly her to dight,
That on the hoary mountayne use to towre, But first come ye fayre houres which were begot
And the wylde wolves which seeke them to devoure, In Joves sweet paradice, of Day and Night,
With your steele darts doo chace from comming neer, Which doe the seasons of the yeare allot,
Be also present heere, And al that ever in this world is fayre
To helpe to decke her and to help to sing, Doe make and still repayre.
That all the woods may answer and your eccho ring. And ye three handmayds of the Cyprian Queene,
The which doe still adorne her beauties pride,
Wake, now my love, awake; for it is time, Helpe to addorne my beautifullest bride:
The Rosy Morne long since left Tithones bed, And as ye her array, still throw betweene
All ready to her silver coche to clyme, Some graces to be seene,
And Phoebus gins to shew his glorious hed. And as ye use to Venus, to her sing,
Hark how the cheerefull birds do chaunt theyr laies The whiles the woods shal answer and your eccho ring.
And carroll of loves praise.
The merry Larke hir mattins sings aloft, Now is my love all ready forth to come,
The thrush replyes, the Mavis descant playes, Let all the virgins therefore well awayt,
The Ouzell shrills, the Ruddock warbles soft, And ye fresh boyes that tend upon her groome
So goodly all agree with sweet consent, Prepare your selves; for he is comming strayt.
To this dayes merriment. Set all your things in seemely good aray
Ah my deere love why doe ye sleepe thus long, Fit for so joyfull day,
When meeter were that ye should now awake, The joyfulst day that ever sunne did see.
T awayt the comming of your joyous make, Faire Sun, shew forth thy favourable ray,
And hearken to the birds lovelearned song, And let thy lifull heat not fervent be
The deawy leaves among. For feare of burning her sunshyny face,
Her beauty to disgrace. Arysing forth to run her mighty race,
O fayrest Phoebus, father of the Muse, Clad all in white, that seemes a virgin best.
If ever I did honour thee aright, So well it her beseemes that ye would weene
Or sing the thing, that mote thy mind delight, Some angell she had beene.
Doe not thy servants simple boone refuse, Her long loose yellow locks lyke golden wyre,
But let this day let this one day be myne, Sprinckled with perle, and perling flowres a tweene,
Let all the rest be thine. Doe lyke a golden mantle her attyre,
Then I thy soverayne prayses loud will sing, And being crowned with a girland greene,
That all the woods shal answer and theyr eccho ring. Seeme lyke some mayden Queene.
Her modest eyes abashed to behold
Harke how the Minstrels gin to shrill aloud So many gazers, as on her do stare,
Their merry Musick that resounds from far, Upon the lowly ground affixed are.
The pipe, the tabor, and the trembling Croud, Ne dare lift up her countenance too bold,
That well agree withouten breach or jar. But blush to heare her prayses sung so loud,
But most of all the Damzels doe delite, So farre from being proud.
When they their tymbrels smyte, Nathlesse doe ye still loud her prayses sing,
And thereunto doe daunce and carrol sweet, That all the woods may answer and your eccho ring.
That all the sences they doe ravish quite,
The whyles the boyes run up and downe the street, Tell me ye merchants daughters did ye see
Crying aloud with strong confused noyce, So fayre a creature in your towne before?
As if it were one voyce. So sweet, so lovely, and so mild as she,
Hymen io Hymen, Hymen they do shout, Adornd with beautyes grace and vertues store,
That even to the heavens theyr shouting shrill Her goodly eyes lyke Saphyres shining bright,
Doth reach, and all the firmament doth fill, Her forehead yvory white,
To which the people standing all about, Her cheekes lyke apples which the sun hath rudded,
As in approvance doe thereto applaud Her lips lyke cherryes charming men to byte,
And loud advaunce her laud, Her brest like to a bowle of creame uncrudded,
And evermore they Hymen Hymen sing, Her paps lyke lyllies budded,
That al the woods them answer and theyr eccho ring. Her snowie necke lyke to a marble towre,
And all her body like a pallace fayre,
Loe where she comes along with portly pace Ascending uppe with many a stately stayre,
Lyke Phoebe from her chamber of the East, To honors seat and chastities sweet bowre.
Why stand ye still ye virgins in amaze, She commeth in, before th almighties vew:
Upon her so to gaze, Of her ye virgins learne obedience,
Whiles ye forget your former lay to sing, When so ye come into those holy places,
To which the woods did answer and your eccho ring. To humble your proud faces;
Bring her up to th high altar that she may,
But if ye saw that which no eyes can see, The sacred ceremonies there partake,
The inward beauty of her lively spright, The which do endlesse matrimony make,
Garnisht with heavenly guifts of high degree, And let the roring Organs loudly play
Much more then would ye wonder at that sight, The praises of the Lord in lively notes,
And stand astonisht lyke to those which red The whiles with hollow throates
Medusaes mazeful hed. The Choristers the joyous Antheme sing,
There dwels sweet love and constant chastity, That al the woods may answere and their eccho ring.
Unspotted fayth and comely womenhed,
Regard of honour and mild modesty, Behold whiles she before the altar stands
There vertue raynes as Queene in royal throne, Hearing the holy priest that to her speakes
And giveth lawes alone. And blesseth her with his two happy hands,
The which the base affections doe obay, How the red roses flush up in her cheekes,
And yeeld theyr services unto her will, And the pure snow with goodly vermill stayne,
Ne thought of thing uncomely ever may Like crimsin dyde in grayne,
Thereto approch to tempt her mind to ill. That even th Angels which continually,
Had ye once seene these her celestial threasures, About the sacred Altare doe remaine,
And unrevealed pleasures, Forget their service and about her fly,
Then would ye wonder and her prayses sing, Ofte peeping in her face that seemes more fayre,
That al the woods should answer and your eccho ring. The more they on it stare.
But her sad eyes still fastened on the ground,
Open the temple gates unto my love, Are governed with goodly modesty,
Open them wide that she may enter in, That suffers not one looke to glaunce awry,
And all the postes adorne as doth behove, Which may let in a little thought unsownd.
And all the pillours deck with girlands trim, Why blush ye love to give to me your hand,
For to recyve this Saynt with honour dew, The pledge of all our band?
That commeth in to you. Sing ye sweet Angels, Alleluya sing,
With trembling steps and humble reverence, That all the woods may answere and your eccho ring.
 And shortest night, when longest fitter weare:
Now al is done; bring home the bride againe, Yet never day so long, but late would passe.
Bring home the triumph of our victory, Ring ye the bels, to make it weare away,
Bring home with you the glory of her gaine, And bonefiers make all day,
With joyance bring her and with jollity. And daunce about them, and about them sing:
Never had man more joyfull day then this, That all the woods may answer, and your eccho ring.
Whom heaven would heape with blis.
Make feast therefore now all this live long day, Ah when will this long weary day have end,
This day for ever to me holy is, And lende me leave to come unto my love?
Poure out the wine without restraint or stay, How slowly do the houres theyr numbers spend?
Poure not by cups, but by the belly full, How slowly does sad Time his feathers move?
Poure out to all that wull, Hast thee O fayrest Planet to thy home
And sprinkle all the postes and wals with wine, Within the Westerne fome:
That they may sweat, and drunken be withall. Thy tyred steedes long since have need of rest.
Crowne ye God Bacchus with a coronall, Long though it be, at last I see it gloome,
And Hymen also crowne with wreathes of vine, And the bright evening star with golden creast
And let the Graces daunce unto the rest; Appeare out of the East.
For they can doo it best: Fayre childe of beauty, glorious lampe of love
The whiles the maydens doe theyr carroll sing, That all the host of heaven in rankes doost lead,
To which the woods shal answer and theyr eccho ring. And guydest lovers through the nightes dread,
How chearefully thou lookest from above,
Ring ye the bels, ye yong men of the towne, And seemst to laugh atweene thy twinkling light
And leave your wonted labors for this day: As joying in the sight
This day is holy; doe ye write it downe, Of these glad many which for joy doe sing,
That ye for ever it remember may. That all the woods them answer and their echo ring.
This day the sunne is in his chiefest hight,
With Barnaby the bright, Now ceasse ye damsels your delights forepast;
From whence declining daily by degrees, Enough is it, that all the day was youres:
He somewhat loseth of his heat and light, Now day is doen, and night is nighing fast:
When once the Crab behind his back he sees. Now bring the Bryde into the brydall boures.
But for this time it ill ordained was, Now night is come, now soone her disaray,
To chose the longest day in all the yeare, And in her bed her lay;
Lay her in lillies and in violets, Ne let the woods them answer, nor theyr eccho ring.
And silken courteins over her display,
And odourd sheetes, and Arras coverlets. Let no lamenting cryes, nor dolefull teares,
Behold how goodly my faire love does ly Be heard all night within nor yet without:
In proud humility; Ne let false whispers, breeding hidden feares,
Like unto Maia, when as Jove her tooke, Breake gentle sleepe with misconceived dout.
In Tempe, lying on the flowry gras, Let no deluding dreames, nor dreadful sights
Twixt sleepe and wake, after she weary was, Make sudden sad affrights;
With bathing in the Acidalian brooke. Ne let housefyres, nor lightnings helpelesse harmes,
Now it is night, ye damsels may be gon, Ne let the Pouke, nor other evill sprights,
And leave my love alone, Ne let mischivous witches with theyr charmes,
And leave likewise your former lay to sing: Ne let hob Goblins, names whose sence we see not,
The woods no more shal answere, nor your echo ring. Fray us with things that be not.
Let not the shriech Oule, nor the Storke be heard:
Now welcome night, thou night so long expected, Nor the night Raven that still deadly yels,
That long daies labour doest at last defray, Nor damned ghosts cald up with mighty spels,
And all my cares, which cruell love collected, Nor griesly vultures make us once affeard:
Hast sumd in one, and cancelled for aye: Ne let th unpleasant Quyre of Frogs still croking
Spread thy broad wing over my love and me, Make us to wish theyr choking.
That no man may us see, Let none of these theyr drery accents sing;
And in thy sable mantle us enwrap, Ne let the woods them answer, nor theyr eccho ring.
From feare of perrill and foule horror free.
Let no false treason seeke us to entrap, But let stil Silence trew night watches keepe,
Nor any dread disquiet once annoy That sacred peace may in assurance rayne,
The safety of our joy: And tymely sleep, when it is tyme to sleepe,
But let the night be calme and quietsome, May poure his limbs forth on your pleasant playne,
Without tempestuous storms or sad afray: The whiles an hundred little winged loves,
Lyke as when Jove with fayre Alcmena lay, Like divers fethered doves,
When he begot the great Tirynthian groome: Shall fly and flutter round about your bed,
Or lyke as when he with thy selfe did lie, And in the secret darke, that none reproves,
And begot Majesty. Their prety stelthes shal worke, and snares shal spread
And let the mayds and yongmen cease to sing: To filch away sweet snatches of delight,
Conceald through covert night. With sacred rites hast taught to solemnize:
Ye sonnes of Venus, play your sports at will, And eeke for comfort often called art
For greedy pleasure, carelesse of your toyes, Of women in their smart,
Thinks more upon her paradise of joyes, Eternally bind thou this lovely band,
Then what ye do, albe it good or ill. And all thy blessings unto us impart.
All night therefore attend your merry play, And thou glad Genius, in whose gentle hand,
For it will soone be day: The bridale bowre and geniall bed remaine,
Now none doth hinder you, that say or sing, Without blemish or staine,
Ne will the woods now answer, nor your Eccho ring. And the sweet pleasures of theyr loves delight
With secret ayde doest succour and supply,
Who is the same, which at my window peepes? Till they bring forth the fruitfull progeny,
Or whose is that faire face, that shines so bright, Send us the timely fruit of this same night.
Is it not Cinthia, she that never sleepes, And thou fayre Hebe, and thou Hymen free,
But walkes about high heaven al the night? Grant that it may so be.
O fayrest goddesse, do thou not envy Til which we cease your further prayse to sing,
My love with me to spy: Ne any woods shal answer, nor your Eccho ring.
For thou likewise didst love, though now unthought,
And for a fleece of woll, which privily, And ye high heavens, the temple of the gods,
The Latmian shephard once unto thee brought, In which a thousand torches flaming bright
His pleasures with thee wrought. Doe burne, that to us wretched earthly clods,
Therefore to us be favorable now; In dreadful darknesse lend desired light;
And sith of wemens labours thou hast charge, And all ye powers which in the same remayne,
And generation goodly dost enlarge, More then we men can fayne,
Encline thy will t effect our wishfull vow, Poure out your blessing on us plentiously,
And the chast wombe informe with timely seed, And happy influence upon us raine,
That may our comfort breed: That we may raise a large posterity,
Till which we cease our hopefull hap to sing, Which from the earth, which they may long possesse,
Ne let the woods us answere, nor our Eccho ring. With lasting happinesse,
Up to your haughty pallaces may mount,
And thou great Juno, which with awful might And for the guerdon of theyr glorious merit
The lawes of wedlock still dost patronize, May heavenly tabernacles there inherit,
And the religion of the faith first plight Of blessed Saints for to increase the count.
 So let us rest, sweet love, in hope of this, Now is my love all ready forth to come, the poet announces, and
And cease till then our tymely joyes to sing, he is ready, too. He then invokes the sun, praying that its lifegiving rays
The woods no more us answer, nor our eccho ring. will brighten this joyful day without burning his bride s bright sunshyny
face. The wedding musicians play, boys run through the streets shouting,
Song made in lieu of many ornaments, and the wedding guests clamour until finally, in stanza 9 (nearly 150 lines
With which my love should duly have bene dect, into the poem), the bride appears. She is like Phoebe, like some
Which cutting off through hasty accidents, angell, like some mayden Queene. Addressing the women around the
Ye would not stay your dew time to expect, bride, the poet declares that, much as they admire her physical beauty,
But promist both to recompens, they would stand amazed at the inward beauty of her spirit. Open the
Be unto her a goodly ornament, temple gates, the poet demands, and the marriage ceremony actually
And for short time an endlesse moniment. takes place, in stanzas 12 and 13 the centre of the poem.
During the ceremony, the bride blushes in purity and modesty,
Introduction impressing even the angels. When the ceremony is over, the groom s
Epithalamion is a poem of 433 iambic lines of varying lengths, thoughts turn to celebration, to wine and dancing but only for one
divided into twenty-three stanzas and an envoi twenty-four sections in stanza. By stanza 15 he is impatient for the wedding day to end and the
all. The title means, literally, at the nuptial chamber, from the Greek wedding night to begin. Ah when will this long weary day have end,/
(epi and thalanos); the poem celebrates the twenty-four hours of the poet s And lende me leave to come unto my love? he asks. Again he turns his
wedding day. The poem is written in the first person, and much of it is attention to the Muses and nymphs, asking them now to stop celebrating
addressed to the Muses, nymphs, other bridal attendants, and wedding and to help the bride prepare for bed. Repeatedly he complains that the
guests. The twenty-four sections do not correspond precisely to the day has been long and tiring.
twenty-four hours of the wedding day, yet the poem moves In stanzas 18 through 20 he asks the night to provide a mantle of
chronologically through the entire day. privacy for the couple and cautions various creatures to remain quiet so as
In the first stanza, the poet speaks to the Muses, who have often not to disturb them as they enjoy sweet snatches of delight. When the
inspired him in the past, asking that they Helpe me mine owne loves moon rises, in stanza 21, the poet asks her and other goddesses and gods
prayses to resound. Edmund Spenser quite often begins his works this to bless the couple with happiness and fertility.
way, with the poet/narrator requesting divine assistance as he undertakes a The poem has a mythological frame; both human beings and gods
task that is beyond his mortal skills. His bride is so magnificent, it is are wedding guests, but in stanza 10, the bride is given a blazon, a head-
implied, that he cannot find words to describe her. The next three stanzas to-toe description of her beauty borrowed from the conventions of the
anticipate the awakening of the bride on her wedding day. The poet Petrarchan sonnet. Spenser s bride is first a mayden Queene, then her
beckons the Muses to wake her, and to summon nymphs from land and neck is like a marble towre and her body a pallace fayre, but Spenser
sea to bring garlands and flowers to adorn the bride and her chamber. In never lets the reader forget the sensuousness of the occasion. The lips of
stanzas 5 and 6, she awakens and is dressed for the wedding. his bride are lyke cherryes charming men to byte, her breast like a
 bowle of creame uncrudded. This magnificent celebration of wedded temptation far from her mind. If only they could see those invisible
love concludes with Spenser s prayer that his poem, in lieu of many virtues, he says, they would be filled with wonder and song.
ornaments, will be to his wife a goodly ornament, and that his The groom then calls for the church to be opened for the bride s
consecration of their marriage in song will be for short time an endlesse entrance to the ceremony itself. He instructs the attendant maidens to
moniment. observe and learn from his bride s reverence. The bride is brought to the
altar for the ceremony, as music plays in praise of the Lord. She blushes
Summary as the priest blesses her; even the angels attending the altar are distracted
Edmund Spenser s Epithalamion (published in 1595) is a poem in by the beauty of her face. The poet asks his bride why she so shyly takes
24 stanzas about the poet s wedding to one Elizabeth Boyle. his hand in oath.
On the day of his wedding, the poem s speaker calls upon the Once the ceremony is complete, the celebration commences. The
muses. They have often inspired him with verse, he says, so he now asks new husband cries to all those in attendance, telling them to rejoice, to let
them to assist him in singing the praises of his love and preparing for the the feasting begin, to pour the wine, and to ring the bells. He laments that
wedding. It is not yet dawn when he asks the muses to wake his bride this day, midsummer s day, is the longest day and shortest night of the
after gathering lilies, roses, and flowers of all kinds to prepare her bower year; thus, the hours until they can consummate the marriage are passing
and her path for the moment when she awakes. The poet then calls too slowly. At last, the evening star appears, twinkling with gladness for
directly upon the nymphs who care for various facets of nature s beauty to their sakes.
come to help prepare his bride and to sing to her. The celebration concludes as darkness approaches. The groom
The groom next addresses his bride herself, urging her to awake. calls for his bride to be escorted to the bower. He addresses the night,
All nature is singing in affirmation, he tells her, of the day s joyous event. asking it to wrap the newlyweds together in peaceful darkness, free of fear
Asking why she still sleeps, he invokes various divine attendants to assist or trouble or tears. He urges that nothing, whether whispers, dreams, evil
in preparation. He prays to Phoebus Apollo, father of the muses, asking spirits, birds, or frogs, make any disturbance, calling for complete silence
that this particular day be given to the poet and promising to then praise as they spend their first night together. The groom next turns his song into
Phoebus with loud singing. a prayer for a blessing upon his bride s womb and their offspring,
The groom turns his description to his bride s procession and her petitioning various deities overseeing marriage or procreation, including
beauty. Much music, singing, and dancing anticipates her coming forth. Juno, Genius, and Hymen. He closes the poem by addressing the song
She appears, dressed in white that he says is so appropriate to her itself, commissioning it to serve as a decoration for and monument to his
virginity that one might think she were an angel. The poet tells the bride.
daughters of merchants to consider his bride s beauty: her golden hair, her
modest countenance, her eyes, cheeks, lips, breasts, neck, and figure, Theme
shining in perfect purity so that other virgins stand in amazement to look Epithalamion by Edmund Spenser has three main themes:
at her. Her inner beauty, he tells them, is even more glorious. The virtues marriage, the adoration of the bride from the perspective of the groom,
of love, chastity, faith, respect, and modesty rule her heart and keep and mythology. These themes are present in the poem by design.
 This is because an epithalamion is a Greek-rooted term that means joyous husband s home. Maidens sing and bells toll. Eventually the party
before the bridal chamber. Therefore, a epithalamion poem is meant to ends, and the two lovers are left alone to enjoy their wedding night.
be about and in celebration of a wedding. The entire poem is a recounting in flowery language, full of Greek
The poem features vivid descriptions of the bride s beauty, called and Christian allusions, of the joyous wedding day. It is indeed a song, or
a blazon, and a wish that the poem becomes akin to a priceless ornament hymn, celebrating marriage. Spenser wrote it as a tribute to his own
cherished by the future-wife. The poem also features an imagining of the marriage, but by extension, it can be interpreted as an homage to the
wedding in which both gods and humans attend. tradition of matrimony and the uniting of a man and woman in a lifelong
Edmund Spenser references Orpheus and other mythological loving relationship.
figures. This gives the poem and the wedding event itself a cosmically
royal atmosphere. The insertion of the mythical element in Epithalamion What are the symbols used in Spenser s epithalamion?
also gives the occasion a sort of blessing for it to be long-lasting and The Epithalamion is a beautiful love poem by the famous
happy. Renaissance poet Edmund Spenser that celebrates his intense courtship
and marriage to Elizabeth Boyle.
Discuss Epithalamion as a marriage hymn. Epithalamion is known for its rich and powerful sensual
Epithalamion is a long lyric poem written by Edmund Spenser symbolism and imagery, which have a reflection from classical myths and
in celebration of his marriage to Elizabeth Boyle. The word itself means legends. This can be illustrated by the following examples:
marriage song, coming from two Greek words that mean upon and A striking feature of the poem is its 24 stanzas as well as a total of
bridal chamber. It is easy to follow the poem once one understands that 365 lines, which represent 24 hours of a day and 365 days of a year.
each of the twenty-four stanzas represents an hour of the couple s Moreover, the first 16 stanzas have a celebratory tone while the last 8
wedding day. The first few stanzas anticipate the bride awakening, but she have a restful tone, which again correspond to the 16 hours of Irish
is still asleep and dreaming. At the fifth and sixth stanzas, she awakes, daytime at Summer Solstice and the remaining 8 hours of night.
and then she dresses for the occasion of the wedding ceremony. NOW ceasse ye damsels your delights forepast;
Throughout the first half of the poem, Spenser invokes many Greek gods Enough is it, that all the day was youres:
and goddesses to help prepare for the wedding. For example, he calls Now day is doen, and night is nighing fast:
upon some to help dress my beautifullest bride. In the eighth stanza, Now bring the Bryde into the brydall boures.
boys run up and down the street hailing Hymen, the god of marriage. Now night is come, now soone her disaray,
At stanza twelve, Spenser urges the wedding attendants to bring And in her bed her lay;
her up to th high altar that she may the sacred ceremonies there partake, Lay her in lillies and in violets,
the which do endlesse matrimony make. At this point, Christian allusions The description of physical beauty of his lover, Elizabeth (and her
replace the Greek references. In stanza thirteen, she takes her vows and body parts) also makes use of powerful symbolism. For instance, her
angels sing alleluia. In the following stanza, the bride is brought to her cheeks are referred to as red apples, her eyes as Saphyres (that shine very
brightly), her lips like cherries, her breasts like a bowl of white cream, and
the nipples like lilies etc. The poem, is in fact, full of such seductive Bring home with you the glory of her gaine,
descriptions. With ioyance bring her and with iollity.
Consider the lines Neuer had man more ioyfull day then this,
from the 5th stanza. Spenser makes use of the conventional Whom heauen would heape with blis.
symbol of courting birds. The birds are singing their mating tunes, which The 19th stanza gives a mention to Frogs and Owls . Spenser
seems to be a part of the poet s wedding tunes. is invoking a veil of silence for his bride s wedding night, a restful silence
The daughters of delight from the 6th stanza refers to of bliss in which not even the woods answer back a distratcting sound.
bridesmaids who represent blessings for the marriage. Let none of these theyr drery accents sing;
In stanza 8, the mention of Phoebe is a symbol of brightness and Ne let the woods them answer, nor theyr eccho ring.
virginity (Phoebe, as we know, is the chaste goddess of moon and
virginity). The Canonization JOHN DONNE
Spenser compares the awe inspired by his beloved s true beauty to For God s sake hold your tongue, and let me love,
the awe inspired by Medusaes mazeful hed, a mythological woman who Or chide my palsy, or my gout,
turned everyone who dared to gaze at her hairs into a rock. This is a My five gray hairs, or ruined fortune flout,
symbol to represent the beauty and powerful virtues of his beloved. With wealth your state, your mind with arts improve,
Spenser considers the spiritual beauty of his lover to be more precious Take you a course, get you a place,
than her outer, physical beauty. Observe his honor, or his grace,
BUT if ye saw that which no eyes can see, Or the king s real, or his stampèd face
The inward beauty of her liuely spright, Contemplate; what you will, approve,
Garnisht with heauenly guifts of high degree, So you will let me love.
Much more then would ye wonder at that sight,
And stand astonisht lyke to those which red Alas, alas, who s injured by my love?
Medusaes mazeful hed. What merchant s ships have my sighs drowned?
There dwels sweet loue and constant chastity, Who says my tears have overflowed his ground?
Vnspotted fayth and comely womanhood, When did my colds a forward spring remove?
Regard of honour and mild modesty, When did the heats which my veins fill
Triumph of our victory from the stanza 14 alludes to the end of Add one more to the plaguy bill?
the marraige ceremony, which leads in to the wedding merriment, Make Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still
feast therefore now all this liue long day, and then to day s end preceding Litigious men, which quarrels move,
the restful, blissful bridal night. Though she and I do love.
Now al is done; bring home the bride againe,
bring home the triumph of our victory, Call us what you will, we are made such by love;
 Call her one, me another fly, the ordinary world. In pursuing personal ambitions in business or at court,
We re tapers too, and at our own cost die, people like the imagined outsider and courtiers, soldiers, and lawyers
And we in us find the eagle and the dove. trade serenity for strife. The speaker argues that an ideal love, which is
both physical and spiritual, can provide a paradigm for the confused
By us; we two being one, are it. world, and he asserts that this poem proves his point.
So, to one neutral thing both sexes fit. The reference to the king in the first stanza causes some scholars
We die and rise the same, and prove to associate the poem with the accession of James I in 1604. Only three
Mysterious by this love. years earlier, Donne had put a disastrous halt to his own courtly ambitions
when he eloped with Ann More, the ward of his employer, Sir Thomas
We can die by it, if not live by love, Egerton, Lord Keeper of the Seal. Ann More s father had Donne
And if unfit for tombs and hearse blackballed, in effect, and the couple experienced severe financial strain
Our legend be, it will be fit for verse; for several years. This poem might be seen, then, as an explanation or
And if no piece of chronicle we prove, even a justification of his apparently impulsive behaviour.
We ll build in sonnets pretty rooms; If his intended audience for the poem was King James himself,
As well a well-wrought urn becomes Donne s appeal must have fallen on deaf ears, since another ten years
The greatest ashes, as half-acre tombs, were to pass before his fortunes improved. The marriage was apparently a
And by these hymns, all shall approve happy one, however, and Ann Donne was to bear nine children before her
Us canonized for Love. death in 1617. John Donne did not remarry.

And thus invoke us: You, whom reverend love Summary

Made one another s hermitage; The speaker asks his addressee to be quiet, and let him love. If the
You, to whom love was peace, that now is rage; addressee cannot hold his tongue, the speaker tells him to criticize him for
Who did the whole world s soul contract, and drove other shortcomings (other than his tendency to love): his palsy, his gout,
Into the glasses of your eyes his five grey hairs, or his ruined fortune. He admonishes the addressee
(So made such mirrors, and such spies, to look to his own mind and his own wealth and to think of his position
That they did all to you epitomize) and copy the other nobles ( Observe his Honour, or his Grace, / Or the
Countries, towns, courts: beg from above King s real, or his stamped face / Contemplate. ) The speaker does not
A pattern of your love! care what the addressee says or does, as long as he lets him love.
The speaker asks rhetorically, Who s injured by my love? He
Introduction says that his sighs have not drowned ships, his tears have not flooded
The Canonization argues for the superiority of love s unifying land, his colds have not chilled spring, and the heat of his veins has not
and reconciling potential over the divisive and antagonistic impulses of added to the list of those killed by the plague. Soldiers still find wars and
lawyers still find litigious men, regardless of the emotions of the speaker Give a critical appreciation of the poem The Canonization
and his lover. by John Donne.
The speaker tells his addressee to Call us what you will, for it is The Canonization is perhaps technically somewhat atypical of
love that makes them so. He says that the addressee can Call her one, me Donne because it isn t based on a strikingly clever, extended conceit that
another fly, and that they are also like candles ( tapers ), which burn by dominates the poem as a whole, as is so often the case with him. Instead,
feeding upon their own selves ( and at our own cost die ). In each other, Donne confronts us with a series of brief, more incidental metaphors in a
the lovers find the eagle and the dove, and together ( we two being one ) kind of scattershot approach. Donne and his mistress are, in rapid
they illuminate the riddle of the phoenix, for they die and rise the same, succession, two flies, two tapers, the eagle and the dove, and the Phoenix.
just as the phoenix does though unlike the phoenix, it is love that slays Of their love he says
and resurrects them. We can die by it, if not live for love.
He says that they can die by love if they are not able to live by it, The Italian Renaissance poets often used morire (to die) as
and if their legend is not fit for tombs and hearse, it will be fit for symbolic of sexual climax, and as with many other things, the English
poetry, and We ll build in sonnets pretty rooms. A well-wrought urn transferred that metaphor to our language.
does as much justice to a dead man s ashes as does a gigantic tomb; and And if no piece of chronicle we prove,
by the same token, the poems about the speaker and his lover will cause We ll build in sonnets pretty rooms.
them to be canonized, admitted to the sainthood of love. All those who Stanza is Italian for room. The rapid-fire metaphorical devices
hear their story will invoke the lovers, saying that countries, towns, and continue, in which a well-wrought urn is likened to these hymns (the
courts beg from above / A pattern of your love! poems Donne and his love will build ), and finally Donne employs a
The Canonization is one of Donne s most famous and most figure he uses elsewhere in which eyes serve as a reflecting mirror of the
written-about poems. Its criticism at the hands of Cleanth Brooks and outside world, creating a personal microcosm:
others has made it a central topic in the argument between formalist critics You, to whom love was peace, and now is rage;
and historicist critics; the former argue that the poem is what it seems to Who did the whole world s soul contract, and drove
be, an anti-political love poem, while the latter argue, based on events in Into the glasses of your eyes
Donne s life at the time of the poem s composition, that it is actually a (So made such mirrors, and such spies
kind of coded, ironic rumination on the ruined fortune and dashed That they did all to you epitomize)
political hopes of the first stanza. The choice of which argument to follow Countries, towns, courts.
is largely a matter of personal temperament. But unless one seeks a purely As always Donne regards his personal love as so important that
biographical understanding of Donne, it is probably best to understand the the world seems to be subordinated to it. He comes across as something of
poem as the sort of droll, passionate speech-act it is, a highly a narcissist, here and elsewhere in his oeuvre.
sophisticated defence of love against the corrupting values of politics and Regardless of the technique in which he presents his thoughts, one
privilege. has to observe about the content of the poem that Donne at least borders
on protesting too much. He often takes a defensive, angry attitude about
love and sexual matters, reacting harshly to people s alleged criticism of What is the paradox inherent in the title of the poem The
him. Or, possibly he is even parodying this stance as the typical way men Canonization ?
act: A paradox is a statement that contradicts the central message of a
For God s sake hold your tongue, and let me love, work of literature such as poems, dramas, novels, and short stories.
Or chide my palsy, or my gout. In The Canonization a courtier is venting his frustrations over how
This is similar to his more playful criticism, elsewhere, of the he admires someone whom he cannot have. This could be a married
great and central inanimate force he senses as hostile to his desires in woman, a higher ranking woman, or any other woman whose attachment
interrupting them: to the courtier would be inappropriate. The man voices aloud his need for
Busy old fool, unruly sun, this person s love.
Why dost thou thus? When did the heats which my veins fill
Through windows, and through curtains call on us. Add one more to the plague bill?
Or the implied criticism is sometimes directed against the object Soldiers find wars, and lawyers find out still
of his love, showing an impatience with her supposed inability to Litigious men, which quarrels move,
understand his logic: Though she and I do love.
Mark but this flea, and mark but well in this, Since the love is perhaps even sinful, the irony that manifests in
How little that which thou deniest me is. the poem s paradoxical title is that the poet treats this indiscreet
Donne often comes across as a slightly (or more than slightly) relationship as if it were a mandate from heave that the two should be
impudent man who seems to overstate the case of how great his love is together. He sees himself as a figure of martyrdom and she as someone
while simultaneously appearing sarcastic and even hostile. In The equally celestial
Canonization, the same tendency is there but perhaps not as forcefully as Call s what you will, we are made such by love ;
in other poems. Call her one, me another fly,
Though we can partly dismiss his attitude as just a sign of the We re tapers too, and at our own cost die
times, it s significant that most of his contemporaries wrote quite A canonization is the induction of a martyr into sainthood. As the
differently. The Cavalier poets such as Lovelace recreated a more courtly poem indicates, this is clearly not the case.
attitude to women, and other Metaphysicals such as Marvell may have
been just as love- (or sex-) obsessed as Donne but in a far more light- How does the poem The Canonization illustrate the idea
hearted manner, without the acerbic, defensive tone. But one thing we can that metaphysical poetry is characterized as much by logical
say about The Canonization and Donne in general is that whatever his precision as by a union of thought and feeling?
faults, he s honest, and his language is always strikingly effective and The Canonization, by John Donne, is an argument. In this
uncannily lucid. argument the speaker presents a logical and persuasive defence of his
love. He speaks to a listener who has criticized the speaker s current state
of being in love by mentioning the speaker s financial status ( ruined
fortune ) or his age (his five grey hairs ). The speaker responds with Henry Vaughan, Richard Crashaw, Andrew Marvell, George Herbert,
defiance--haven t you better things to do than to criticize my love? In Robert Herrick etc.
other words, mind your own business. What follows, however, is a tight Characteristics of Metaphysical Poetry
argument of which any defence lawyer would be proud. The speaker (1) Dramatic manner and direct tone of speech is one of the main
declares that his love is not hurting anyone else or changed the world in characteristics of metaphysical poetry. In the starting line of the poem
any way--soldiers still fight; lawyers still litigate. The listener objects The Canonization there is given a dramatic starting
with the fact that the speaker is hurting himself. The speaker s rebuttal is For God s sake hold your tongue, and let me love .
brilliant. He offers an analogy and a definition of love. Yes, the speaker (2) Concentration is an important quality of metaphysical poetry in
claims, my lover and I do destroy ourselves through our love, just as a general and Donne s poetry is particular. In his all poems, the reader is
candle destroys itself to produce light. However, he goes on to compare held to one idea or line of argument. Donne s poems are brief and closely
the lovers to a phoenix that rises from the ashes: We die and rise the woven. In The Extasie , the principal argument is that the function of
same. This is the mystery and miracle of love: two people lose their man as a man is being worthily performed through different acts of love.
separateness and become one. In this way the speaker shoots down the He continues with the theme without digression. For instance,
listener s objections, and further drives his point home by declaring that As twixt two equal armies, Fate
instead of criticizing his love, the listener and the rest of the world will Suspends uncertain victorie,
want to emulate it and praise it. The speaker refutes each of the listener s Our souls, (which to advance their state,
objections and provides a powerful defence of his wondrous, miraculous Were gone out,) hung twixt her and me .
love--worthy of canonization, not condemnation. (3) An expanded epigram would be a fitting description of a
metaphysical poem. Nothing is described in detail nor is any word wasted.
Metaphysical Poetry: Definition, Characteristics and John There is a wiry strength in the style. Though the verse forms are usually
Donne as a Metaphysical Poet simple, they are always suitable in enforcing the sense of the poem. For
What is Metaphysical Poetry? instance
The term metaphysical or metaphysics in poetry is the fruit of Moving of th earth brings harms and fears
renaissance tree, becoming over ripe and approaching pure science. Men reckon what it did and meant,
Meta means beyond and physics means physical nature . But trepidation of the spheres,
Metaphysical poetry means poetry that goes beyond the physical world of Though greater far, is innocent .
the senses and explores the spiritual world. Metaphysical poetry began (4) Fondness for conceits is a major character of metaphysical
early in the Jacobean age in the last stage of the age of Shakespeare. poetry. Donne often uses fantastic comparisons. The most striking and
John Donne was the leader and founder of the metaphysical school famous one used by Donne is the comparison of a man who travels and
of poetry. Dryden used this word at first and said that Donne affects the his beloved who stays at home to a pair of compasses in the poem A
metaphysics . Among other metaphysical poets are Abraham Cowley, Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
If they be two, they are two so
 As stiff twin compasses are two, (7) Metaphysical Poetry is a fusion of passionate feelings and
Thy soul fixt foot makes no show logical arguments. For example, in The Canonization , there is passion
To move, but doth, if th other do . expressed through beautiful metaphors:
We find another conceit in the very beginning couple of lines of Call us what you will, we are made such by love;
The Extasie Call her one, me another fly,
Where like a pillow on a bed, We are tapers too, and at our own cost die,
A pregnant bank swel . And we in us, find the eagle and the dove .
(5) Wit is another characteristic of metaphysical poetry. So, here But at the same time, the tone of the poem is intellectual and there
we find various allusions and images relating to practicality all areas of is plenty of complexity involved in the conceits and allusions, such as the
nature and art and learning-- to medicine, cosmology, contemporary Phoenix riddle .
discoveries, ancient myth, history, law and art. For instance, in The (8) Metaphysical Poetry is the mixture of sensual and spiritual
Extasie , Donne uses the belief of the blood containing certain spirits experience. This characteristic especially appears in Donne s poetry.
which acts as intermediary between soul and body Poems such as The Canonization , The Extasie even though they are
As our blood labours to get not explicitly discussed, the great metaphysical question is the relation
Spirits, as like souls, as it can, between the spirit and the senses. Often Donne speaks of the soul and of
Because such fingers need to knit spiritual love. The Extasie speaks of the souls of the lovers which come
That subtle knot, which makes us man: out of their bodies negotiate with one another. For instance,
In the same poem, the Ptolemaic system of astrology is also used And whilst our souls negotiate there,
when he says We like sepulchral statues lay;
All day, the same our postures were,
The intelligences, they the sphere . And we said nothing, all the day .
(6) Metaphysical Poetry is a blend of passion and thought. T. S. (9) Usage of satire and irony is another characteristic of
Elliot thinks that passionate thinking is the chief mark of metaphysical metaphysical poetry. Donne also uses this in his poems. For example, in
poetry. There is an intellectual analysis of emotion in Donne s Poetry. The Canonization , there is subtle irony as he speaks of the favoured
Though every lyric arises out of some emotional situation, the emotion is pursuits of people the lust for wealth and favours.
not merely expressed, rather it is analyzed. Donne s poem A Valediction: Take you a course, get you a place,
Forbidding Mourning proves that lovers need not mourn at parting. For Observe his honour, or his Grace .
instance, (10) As far as Donne is concerned, the use of colloquial speech
So let us melt, and make no noise, marks the metaphysical poetry. This is especially apparent in the abrupt,
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move, dramatic and conversational opening of many of his poems. For instance,
Twere profanation of our joys For God s sake hold your tongue, and let me love
To tell the laity our love . Or,
 Or the King s real, or his stamped face
(The Canonization)
(11) Carelessness in diction is another characteristic of
metaphysical poetry. These poems reacted against the cloying sweetness
and harmony of the Elizabethan Poetry. They deliberately avoided
conventional poetic expression. They employed very prosaic words, if
they were scientists or shopkeepers. Thus, we find, in their poetic works,
rugged and unpoetic words. Their versification and their dictions are
usually coarse and jerky.
(12) Affectation and hyperbolic expression is another character of
metaphysical poetry. It is often hard to find natural grace in metaphysical
writing, abounding in artificiality of thought and hyperbolic expression.
The writer deemed to say something unexpected and surprising. What
they wanted to sublime, they endeavored to supply by hyperbole; their
amplification had no limit, they left not only reason but fancy behind
them and produced combination of confused magnificence . For instance,
the lines of A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning
Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to ayery thinness beat .
(13) The lyrics of the metaphysical poems are very fantastic and
peculiar. According to A. C. Word, The metaphysical style is a
combination of two elements, the fantastic form and style and the
incongruous in matter and manner .
Therefore, so far we discussed the salient features of metaphysical
poetry, it is proved that John Donne is a great metaphysical poet.