ʻFor all its fantastic foundation, The Faerie Queene is no elegy
upon faded glory but the eulogy of a patriot addressing
a united people, the nearest approach to a national epic
in the cycle of English poetry.ʼ
~B.E.C. Davis, Variorum.
My
goal when publishing Sex & Fun in The Faerie Queene was
to offer the reader what the
poem is all about, without all that metaphysical and allegorical makeup. The poem is about the Tudor succession, the Tudor dynasty and its continuation, thus preserving the unity of the nation. Books I and II form a pair, and then from Book III to Book V we see the evolution of Britomart, from a virgin to a woman, having met Arthegall and conceived a royal son (Book V, Canto 7, stanza 1-23). That son is the one we see in Book VI, Canto 2, hidden in the woods, Tristram. In Book VII, published in 1609 (as the Shake-speareʼs Sonnets) the author concluded the planetary week of the poem. Here it is a brief description of it all:
Book
1, Planet Sol.
Holiness:
Donneʼs conversion into
Protestantism.
Prince
Arthur searchs for Gloriana. Prince Arthur
is
a Prince Tudor not recognised.
(Canto
8, stanzas 5-14)
The
true Christian faith. Mind. Veritas.
Book
2, Planet Luna.
Reason
in action, prudence, avoiding sex as vice.
Body.
Virtus. Book I-II form a pair: mind-body.
Book
3, Planet Mars.
Love,
Britomart and the Tudor dynasty, its continuation.
Prophecy of Merlin and Nasheʼs sermon Christʼs Tears
over Jerusalem of 1593 to avoid civil war.
Shakespeareʼs Venus and Adonis, pub. 1593,
Prophecy of Merlin and Nasheʼs sermon Christʼs Tears
over Jerusalem of 1593 to avoid civil war.
Shakespeareʼs Venus and Adonis, pub. 1593,
his
first recognised work, addressed to the Court:
dedication to Southampton: ʻthe worldʼs hopeful expectationʼ.
The
purple flower is hidden by Venus. Tudor prince hidden.
Nashe-Marloweʼs Dido, Queen of Carthage, pub. 1594.
Venus hides the child of Aeneas (III.3.98-100) too.
Amor.
The first triad: Veritas-Virtus-Amor.
Book
4, Planet Mercury.
Friendship,
Britomartʼs sex maturation. Britomart and
Arthegall
make love.
(Canto
6, stanza 41, ll. 1-3)
Marriage
pageant. Destiny.
Books III-IV form a pair: love and wedding.
Books III-IV form a pair: love and wedding.
A
tetrad completed: Veritas-Virtus-Amor-Destiny.
Book
5, Planet Jupiter.
Justice:
Marriage as an institution. Britomart is going
to
bring forth a child for the Tudors. The Virgin Queen is a mother.
(Canto
7, stanzas 1-23)
Jupiter. Fortuna maiora.
Jupiter. Fortuna maiora.
The
inner triad of Books III-IV-V is completed.
Book
6, Planet Venus.
Charity,
the product of marriage: the child.
Tristram
as a Tudor prince who has lost the crown.
(Canto 2, stanza 25, l. 8-9, stanza 26, l. 8-9,
stanza 27, stanza 34, ll. 1-3: ʻrare hopeʼ)
Venus. Fortuna minora. Book V-VI form a pair,
Venus. Fortuna minora. Book V-VI form a pair,
the
marriage and its product, the hidden child.
Prince Arthur and Gloriana never meet in the poem
as Elizabeth I never declared a heir.
Arthegall (the equal of Arthur) and Britomart had
procreated and had a son: a Tudor prince, Tristram.
See Shakespeare,
Sonnet 87, ll. 13-14.
The
triad of Books IV-V-VI completed.
The
Ariadne constellation seen by the poet. The End.
Book
7, Planet Saturn.
Epilogue.
The succession is over. Elizabeth I is dead.
Cynthia
reigns ʻin everlasting gloryʼ
now as the Moon.
(Canto 6, stanza 8)
The Stuarts are now in power as the new dynasty.
Shake-speareʼs Sonnets published in 1609
The Stuarts are now in power as the new dynasty.
Shake-speareʼs Sonnets published in 1609
stating
the same thing: Dark Lady-the Moon dead.
(Sonnet 107, ʻthe mortal Moonʼ)
The Irish Spenser died in 1598: this poem is written
by John Donne with pseudonym.
(Sonnet 107, ʻthe mortal Moonʼ)
The Irish Spenser died in 1598: this poem is written
by John Donne with pseudonym.
The
poet in 1609 expects the Apocalypse in Canto 8.
The
planetary week of seven days is finished, but
it
remains imperfect, as the Apocalypse has not come yet.
Thus, Canto 8, unperfite. Donneʼs worst years of his life
Thus, Canto 8, unperfite. Donneʼs worst years of his life
away from London and the Court: at Mitcham, 1609-1611.
Holy Sonnetsʼs anguish and personal depression.
Last sonnet of the sequence also appeals to the Apocalypse,
ʻSabbaoths endless restʼ; compare with last stanza of the
epic poem: ʻgraunt me that Sabaoths sightʼ (last line of the poem).
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