Or, “In substance as in form, the poetry of Spenser is circumscribed by the tastes and beliefs of his age”. Discuss with reference to The Faerie Queene Book I.
Answer: The Renaissance, or the Revival of Learning, during the Elizabethan Age was characterized by certain features broadly represented in the works of Spenser. Spenser is called the child of the Renaissance and the Reformation because in his works we have the finest expression of the ideals and principles of the classical Renaissance and the Reformation.
The Renaissance marked the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern world. The new age was characterized by the spirit of adventure, love for beauty, moral earnestness, a love for richness and magnificence, a liking for material luxuries, power, and pelf, and, above all, by a desire to revive the ideals and practices of classical poets and philosophers of Greece and Rome.
Greek philosophical thought deeply influenced Renaissance thought, and Spenser, as the Child of the Renaissance, is influenced by Greek philosophic thought, which he embodies in The Faerie Queene. Spenser draws from Aristotle the plan of The Faerie Queene. The idea of The Faerie Queene, to fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline, is derived from Aristotle.
During the period of the Renaissance, there was an air of seriousness, moral earnestness, and moral teaching. Virtue was idealised. Spenser is quite in tune and harmony with this classical insistence of the Renaissance for moral elevation and teaching. In The Faerie Queene, he tries to present through Arthur the figure of a perfectly virtuous man. The Faerie Queene seeks to be an epic, not of fictitious adventure, but of morality and virtue. Spenser’s poem may be ranked with those of Homer and Virgil, Ariosto and Tasso, because of their moral purpose and loftiness.
The fashion of the Renaissance scholars was to write in the form of allegory, and Spenser also makes good use of the genre. Appreciating Spenser, Davis says, “To Spenser allegory is a natural mode of poetic expression. His creative faculty instinctively transforms abstract thought to concrete image.”
Spenser equally shares the weaknesses and shortcomings of the age. The Renaissance brought in its wake a love for luxury, beauty, richness, exuberance, and extravagance, and Spenser shares all these features of the Renaissance along with other poets. Exaggeration diffuseness and prolixity are some of the diseases of the Renaissance and Spenser is not free from their hold. Spenser’s exuberance and rich luxurious style, bordering on the level of over-cloying sweetness, is a gift that he received from the Renaissance atmosphere. His works appear to be overdone. He is swept away by the rush of ideas, and he describes places, landscapes, pageants, and feasts in such great detail that he begins to tell on the nerves of readers. But Spenser may be exonerated of such lapses because of the prevalent tendencies of the times.
The Reformation was a religious movement based on the opposition of the people to the claims of Papal authority and the Church of Rome. The Reformation was a Protestant rising against Roman Catholicism. Spenser, like his other contemporaries, is affected by the movement of the Reformation, and inspired by his enthusiasm for the Renaissance ideals of beauty, luxury, and art, he does not show any disrespect against Roman Catholicism. In spite of his study of Plato, Aristotle, and Ariosto, Spenser keeps his adoration of the Bible on a higher level, and his life presents him as a true Christian.
The first book of The Faerie Queene is, in fact, an epitome of the history of Reformation. It vividly presents the struggle between the forces of Protestantism headed by Queen Elizabeth, represented in the book as Una and the forces of Roman Catholicism headed by Mary, Queen of Scots, represented in the book as Duessa. Una is shown as the fountainhead of all the virtues to be found in a devout Protestant and Duessa stands for the vices tainting Roman Catholicism. Una is the embodiment of truth and true Church, humility, and innocence, whereas Duessa stands for pride, luxury, and all other evils found in Roman Catholicism. Orgoglio, the giant represents the vices of the corrupt Roman Catholic Church. He stands for Pride, the common failing of Roman Catholicism. The holy hermit, Archimago is another representative of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the apotheosis of trickery hypocrisy and intrigue- all vices rampant in the Roman Catholic Church. Thus by depicting the sinful characters of Duessa, Orgoglio, and Archimago, all representing Roman Catholicism, Spenser shows his disfavor and hatred for the corrupt Roman Catholic Church. By representing Una and the Red Cross Knight in all their humility, innocence, and truthfulness, Spenser shows his favor for the virtues of the Protestant religion.
The Faerie Queene represents the Reformation at its peak. Though Davis says that Spenser’s Christianity is overlaid with the paganism of the Renaissance, it is Christianity that has not been driven away by paganism. The heart of Spenser is solidly rooted in Christianity and he reveals himself as a devoted Christian in The Faerie Queene.
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