SPENSER'S GOODLY FRAME OF TEMPERANCE SPENSER'S GOODLY FRAME OF TEMPERANCE: SECRET DESIGN IN THE FAERIE QUEENE, BOOK II By CHERYL DAWNAN CALVER, B.A., M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University (May) 1979 DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (l979) McMASTER UNIVERSITY (English) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: Spenser's Goodly Frame of Temperance: Secret Design in The Faerie Queene, Book II AUTHOR: Cheryl Dawnan Calver, B.A. (University of Saskatchewan) M.A. (McMaster University) SUPERVISOR: Professor T. H. Cain NUMBER OF PAGES: xiii, 271 ii ABSTRACT Spenser's design for the second book of The Faerie Queene involves hidden parallel and synnnetrical patterns, previously undetected, that have serious hermeneutic significance for the study of that poem and other literature of the Renaissance. My study is of form. The first chapter considers the structural approach to literature of the Renaissance and discusses my methodology. Chapter II reveals the simultaneous existence of a parallel and a symmetrical pattern of the stanzas of Book II as a whole. Chapters III and IV explore the simultaneous operation of five patterns--three parallel and two synnnetrical--for numerous pairs of cantos. Chapter V demonstrates the simultaneous existence of parallel and symmetrical patterns within each canto of Book II. What is presented is a demonstration of intricate construction along consistently predictable parallel and symmetrical lines. Such patterned composition has been detected previously in shorter Spenser poems, Epithalamion and "Aprill," in particular. My discoveries result from applying a method which, from shorter Spenser poems, one has an expectation will work. The method involves counting stanzas and dividing by two to determine the midpoint or arithmetical centre, then considering the stanzas in parallel and synnnetrical arrangements. Spenser creates, through the parallel and symmetrical placement of the episodes, characters, images, and themes of Book II, a microcosm of hidden analogies. The patterns are intricate and readily iii predictable. Spenser must have composed his poem according to such principles. While the ordinary reader may have experienced only the superficial sense of romance rambling that Spenser obviously intends to give, his more curious readers may have been aware of patterned composition along inevitable parallel and symmetrical lines and may have used presumption of patterning as a means of interpretation. They could have predicted a pattern and used the information of comparison, contrast, and reciprocal connnent to illuminate an image, character, or episode which they did not understand. For example, a reader who discovered the pairing of Belphoebe, a known type of Elizabeth, with Medina or Alma would get the hint that the latter are types of Elizabeth, though otherwise such a conclusion might seem only guesswork. The patterns provide a useful tool for criticism, suggesting and confirming interpretation. The patterns I have detected may not be the only ones awaiting discovery in The Faerie Queene. There may be some underlying principle involved that we don't see at the moment. Perhaps there is a set of mathematical ratios--some sort of mathematical formula for composition-­ involved in making the goodly framework of the poem. Pythagorean ratios and other symbolic proportions are now known to have been used in Renaissance architecture. Spenser speaks of Book II as a building and fills it with houses and temples as major symbols. He makes his book according to a "goodly frame." The mystique of arcane construction no doubt has Pythagorean, nee-Platonic, hermetic, and numerological significance. iv PREFACE Spenser's design for the second book of The Faerie Queene involves hidden patterns of verbal, imagistic, and thematic correspondences, previously undetected, that have serious hermeneutic significance for the study of that poem and other literature of the Renaissance. Recently scholars have claimed that Spenser's poems are constructed with a hitherto unrecognized delicate and intricately precise balance. It is fitting that this study of the form of The Faerie Queene, Book II, begin with acknowledgement of the three such 1 studies of Spenser most seminal to my own: Hieatt's of Epithalamion, 2 Fowler's of The Faerie Queene, and Cain's of the "Aprill" eclogue of The Shepheardes Calender. 3 The first uncovers complex patterns of numerological and calendrical correspondences and a highly "synnnetrical" structure underlying the marriage ode; the second explores similar numerological patterns underlying The Faerie Queene; the third reveals intricate parallel and symmetrical balances within the eclogue. All three suggest that intricate symbolic patterns were an intrinsic part of Spenser's artistic consciousness. These patterns are not discernible to the casual reader, but awareness of them, when once detected, becomes an important part of the experience of reading Spenser. Especially significant are the similar discoveries of Hieatt and Cain. The former reveals that the structure of Epithalamion depends upon verbal, imagistic, and thematic correspondences between its two v halves, so that, in Hieatt's words, "stanzas at some distance from each other in the poem contain elements which seem to pair, or match each other, in various ways, but generally in the form of conceits. ,.4 Hieatt demonstrates that stanzas 1 to 12 match stanzas 13 to 24, with 1 matching 13, 2 matching 14, and so on, so that 11 matches 23 and 12 matches 24. Cain finds a similar parallel arrangement of the stanzas of Colin's thirteen-stanza ode: the six-stanza technical encomium of the first half (sts. 1-6) and the six-stanza "mobile tableau" or envisioned panegyric of the second half (sts. 8-13) balance on the central seventh stanza. The first half of this stanza looks backward to the encomiastic disposition of topics while the second half points 5 in the direction of the concluding six stanzas. Again, the correspondences between balanced stanzas are verbal, imagistic, and thematic, stanza 1 matching stanza 8, 2 matching 9, and so on, so that 6 matches 13. In addition, Cain demonstrates a simultaneous symmetrical arrangement of the stanzas of the ode: stanza 1 matches stanza 13, 2 matches 12, and so on, so that 6 matches 8, as the symmetry converges 6 on stanza 7. I contend that the design of The Faerie Queene, Book II, encompasses these two basic types of pattern that Cain has detected in Spenser's "Aprill" eclogue. In other words, the parallel and symmetrical patterns in the eclogue expand into the more complex parallel and symmetrical patterns of The Faerie Queene, Book II • Consider, for example, two cantos, X and Y. In one parallel arrangement, the first stanza of canto X matches the first stanza of vi canto Y, the second stanza of canto X matches the second of canto Y, and so on. In other words, the stanzas of canto X taken from the beginning match those of canto Y taken from the beginning: x y In another parallel arrangement, the stanzas of canto X taken from the end correspond to those of canto Y also taken from the end: x y ( ( For a pair of cantos, there are also two symmetrical patterns. In one such arrangement, the stanzas of canto X taken from the end match those of canto Y taken from the beginning. Here, the last stanza of canto X matches the first of canto Y, the second last of canto X matches the second of canto Y, and so on: XY < In the second symmetrical arrangement, the stanzas of canto X taken from the beginning correspond to those of canto Y taken from the end, so that the first stanza of canto X matches the last of canto Y, the second of canto X matches the second last of canto Y, and so on: x y --->..<-­ In all, I have detected three parallel patterns and two symmetrical patterns for pairs of cantos in Book II. As well, parallel and symmetrical patterns underlie the structure of Book II as a whole and of each canto of the book. These patterns are described in detail vii 7 in Chapter I and demonstrated in the remaining chapters. My study is of form, not numerology. But such a mystique of arcane construction as it suggests no doubt has neo-Platonic, Pythagorean, hermetic, and numerological significance. The discoveries revealed in the following pages provide insight into Spenser's concept of composition and of his role as a poet. They present striking examples of a Renaissance poet's intense concern with complex structures. Critics often note that The Faerie Queene gives the appearance of having no design. But, far from lacking structural 8 organization, it is highly wrought and subtly, intricately patterned. Perhaps the rambling, fortuitous, romance-like illusion of no design in the poem is another aspect of Spenser's constant playing with the reader, challenging him to achieve true perception. While the patterns themselves are an interesting structural phenomenon, they serve also as a useful tool for criticism, providing a means of gleaning new information about the poem they underlie. viii NOTES 1 A. Kent Hieatt, Short Time's Endless Monument: The Symbolism of the numbers in Edmund Spenser's "Epithalamion " (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960; reprinted 1972, Port Washington, N.Y./London: Kennikat Press). 2 Alastair Fowler, Spenser and the Numbers of Time (New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1964). Although his structural and numerological claims far outgo his proofs, Fowler's book provides valuable data and stimulation for further study of The Faerie Queene. 3 Thomas H. Cain, Praise in "The Faerie Queene" (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1978), pp. 19-24. See also Cain's earlier article, "The Strategy of Praise in Spenser's Aprill", SEL, VIII (1968), 54-57. In this article Cain discusses a "symmetrical" balance in Colin's thirteen-stanza ode.