Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1967 Right Reason in Edmund Spenser's 'Faerie Queene.'. William Robert Lacey III Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Lacey, William Robert III, "Right Reason in Edmund Spenser's 'Faerie Queene.'." (1967). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 1299. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/1299 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. L A C E Y , m. William Hobart, 1921- RK2RT REASON IN EDMUND SPENSER'S *ABMB QU B E N B . Loulalana State University and Agricultural and m >o1i,hi<w1 Oollaca. FhJD.. 1967 Language and Literature, general University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor. Michigan RIGit’r REASON IN EDMUND SPENSER'S FAERIE QUEEUE A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty.of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by William Robert Lacey,SI U.S., Mississippi State College, 1947 M.A.» Mississippi State University, 1959 May, 1967 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Completion of this investigation Means not only the successful termination of a saaetiMes burdensome chore, for which I an grateful; it means, also, the termination of a relationship which I have found to be rewarding and stimulating. Consequently, as much as I rejoice in the one, so I reluctantly relinquish the other— the association with my adviser and committee— Mr. Lawrence Sasek, Mr. Esmond Mari 11a, and Mr. John Wildsan. Too, the completion of this stage also concludes a pleasant relationship with Mrs. Helen Palmer, Mrs. Mary Jane Dyson, and Mrs. Bneline Staples of the Hill Memorial Library, Louisiana State University, and with Mrs. Margaret Salcido of the Library, University of Texas at El Paso. These pleasant associations having ended in a fruition of sorts, I trust that they will continue in other days and in other ways. My indebtedness to my wife, Etoile, for her patient assistance is as measureless as my unbounded gratitude. Withal, the experience has been a pleasant one, primarily on account of the enthusiastic cooperation of those idiom I have named and whom I shall continue to remember gratefully as patient helpers and kind friends. ii 1 CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...................................... ii ABSTRACT ......................... iv CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM .................................... 1 IX THE TECHNIQUE OP ALLEGORY ........................ 19 III THE CONCEPT ................................ , . 52 IT" SPENSER'S USE OP RHETORICAL TECHNIQUES .......... 119 V RIGHT REASON IN THE FAERIE QUEERS A. An Ovarviaw ........................ 132 B. Right Raason In Book I ....................... 152 C. Right Raason in-Book II .................... 222 D. Right Raison in Books III, IV, and V ..... 262 E. Right Raason in Book VI •••«••••••••• 269 F. Right Raason in tha 'Cantos of Mutabilitia" . 298 VI RIGHT REASON AS A UNIFYING THEME IN TEE FAERIE QUEERS ......... 324 LIST OP WORKS CONSULTED ............................... 332 APPENDICES A . 350 B ....................................... 355 C .................... 358 D ....................................... 361 » VITA .............................................. 36S ABSTRACT The problem of finding unity in Ednund Sponsor's Faerie queen# has oxorcisod and fascinatod scholars sinco tho sovontoonth century— sinco tho days when John Milton could acclaim Sponsor as a bottor toachor than Scotus or Aquinas. Tho expectation of finding formal, classical unity has boon disappointed, for Sponsor as a man of tho Middle Ages was concerned loss with formal, structural unity than with thematic, didactic unity of purpose and intent. The theme which Edmund Sponsor used to unify She Faerie queen# was an inherent part of the so-called Elitabethan world picture, the traditional world-view which the Renaissance received from the Middle Ages and medieval interpretations, largely fostered by the Churqh, of classical anthropology and cosmology* The concept of right reason, which had descended from Socrates to full development in later Greek philosophy,transferred its allegiance from pagan classicism to Chris­ tianity; as a vital component of Christian Humanism, the concept of right reason served to unite the finite intelligence of created man with the infinite Wisdom of Almighty God. Theologically, this key link in medieval and Renaissance theology found its most explicit expression in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and Richard Hooker. The concept of right reason, as modified by centuries of Chris­ tian Humanism, served Ednund Spenser as a unifying theme for his didactic epic. In Book I of The Faerie queen#, the Red Cross Knight iv V has to add to hit naivo faith worldly wisdom and theological sophisti­ cation, for the requisite right reason as a vital component of Christian Humanism must ground itself on philosophy, theology, experi­ ence, and knowledge, as well as upon faith. Sir Guy on, in Book II, learns the opposite aspect of the problem. Just as faith without knowledge is unavailing, so is knowledge without faith. Right reason presupposes wisdom, not mare learning. Books III and IV concern the regulation of interpersonal relationships through the dictates of right reason, so that Bros develops through Agape into Charity. Book V expands the interpersonal relationships of Books III and IV into the wider scope of social justice, wherein the titular knight, Sir Artegall, learns that Christian Humanism requires that mercy temper justice. In Book VI, Sir Calidore learns that the exercise of courtesy must origi­ nate in and lead toward basic Christian virtues. The incomplete 'Cantos of Mutabilitie" explore the validity of the concept of right reason— whether there exists an Infinite in which the finite mind of man can participate. Rebellious Mutabilitie elicits an enigmatic compromise from Nature. The poet, however, wiser than Muta­ bilitie, knows not to seek answers to supernatural problems from nature, majestic and powerful though she be. Rather, Spenser tran­ scends the delusions of physical nature and appeals to his God for an answer; the answer which he receives to his petition validates the idealistic basis upon whidi right reason must rest. Having independently arrived at a theological position remarkably similar to that of his contemporary, Richard Hooker, a position which has defined orthodox Anglicanism as a deliberate compromise between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism for succeeding generations, Edmund vl Spenser died in ISM, without completing the anbitious task which he had undertaken. But his final ejaculatory prayer made the "leap of faith" to bridge the gap between the phenomenal world of "seeming" and the ideal world of being, and demonstrated the existence, necessity, and function of right reason as a channel of communication be .ween the corresponding worlds of the transitory mundane and the eternal ideal. CHAPTER I 1TB PROBLEM No dearth of material— criticism, coamentary, or reaction— thwarts the student of Edmund Spenser's poetry; rather, an embarrassment of • riches makes the task of selection and discrimination the first business with which he must concent himself. In the nearly four hundred years since the publication of the Shopihaarda* Calendar with E. K.'s appended comments, Spenser criticism has flourished prodigiously, often revealing more exactly the contemporary critical idiosyncrasies than the meaning and techniques of the poet, so that a history of Spenser criticism parallels a history of English critical theory. William R. Mueller1 points out that Spenser criticism has been at its best during two half- century periods, that between 1715 and 1762, and that between 1900 and 1950; and that, moreover, the bulk of criticism addressed itself to The Faeri* Quaon*. Prior to the eighteenth century, E. K., Sidney, Jons on, Harvey, and Milton had remarked about the poet's work, but only Sir Kenelm Digby's attempt to explicate the twenty-second stanza of Canto ^Spcnaar'a Critica: Changing Currant* in Literary Ta*t* (Syracuse, 1959), p. 1. I an greatly indebted for the arrangement and the material In this chapter to Professor Mueller; to Jewel Wurtsbaugh, Too Canturia* of Spanaarim Soholarakipt (1809-1808) (Baltimore, 1936); and to Tha Work* of Edmund Spanaart A Variorm Edition, ed. Edwin Greenlaw, Charles Grosvenor Osgood, and Frederick Morgan Padelford (Baltimore, 1932-19*7), hereafter cited as Par. 2 IX, Hook II, and his Concerning Edmunei Sponsor constituted sustained efforts toward criticism; otherwise, seventeenth century criticism was brief and was directed more toward discussion of the propriety of Spenser's diction than toward versification, structure, or meaning. Critics of the seventeenth century concentrated upon Spenser's verse form. Predictably, Thomas Rymer deplored Spenser's unhappy "choice of the etanaa, which is in no wise proper for our language."2 John Dryden, with less perccptiveness than he exercised toward the poetry of Chaucer, damned Spenser with faint praise: ho succeeded, Drydcn said, as well as one could expect with his inappropriate