Epithalamion (poem)

Spenser calls on the Muses to help him in his artistic endeavors on this special day. Greek muses are the goddesses that inspire great artistic works such as the works of Homer or Hesiod.

"Ye learned sisters which have oftentimes Beene to me ayding, others to adorne:"

Spenser compares his love to that of Orpheus.

Orpheus was a legendary musician and poet who could charm all living things. The most well known myth regarding Orpheus concerns his descent into the underworld to retrieve the soul of his late wife Eurydice. Hades was charmed by Orpheus's music and allowed Eurydice to travel back up to Earth with the condition that Orpheus could not look back to Eurydice to confirm that she was behind him. Orpheus ultimately looked behind him after he grew concerned that Hades had misled him only to find that Eurydice was behind him, but having broken the condition, Eurydice was lost to him a second time.

"Ne let the same of any be envide: So Orpheus did for his owne bride, So I unto my selfe alone will sing,"

Spenser states his love will echo for all to hear, it will be repeated everywhere. Echo was a nymph who was cursed by Hera to repeat the last word that she heard as punishment for distracting her from catching her husband Zeus entangled in one of his many affairs. She fell in love with Narcissus, however, she was unable to win his affection or save him from his fate of falling in love with his own reflection.

Spenser could be referencing Echo from the mythology or the term echo. His love is all he hears echoed back because it is all he can speak.

"So I unto my selfe alone will sing, The woods shall to me answer and my Eccho ring."

Hymen was the god of marriage ceremonies. Spenser calls him to his side on this day so that his own marriage ceremony will be perfect and to ensure their marriage lasts. Spenser wants his bride to wake and calls on Hymen to do the duties of this day.

"Bid her awake; for Hymen is awake, And long since ready forth his maske to move,"

Nymphs were the spirits of natural objects such as trees, rivers, and clouds that animate nature and the land.

"Bring with you all the Nymphes that you can heare Both of the rivers and the forrests greene: And of the sea that neighbours to her neare, Al with gay girlands goodly wel beseene."

Tithonus was a mortal Trojan prince. Eos, the Goddess of the Dawn, fell in love with him and requested Zeus to make him immortal. Because she did not request eternal youth explicitly, Tithonus withered in old age. In some versions of the myth, Eos transforms Tithonos into a cicada. In the context of the poem, Spenser is excited at the thought of growing old with Elizabeth. He is thinking of their future together and every hour Spenser waits for the ceremony to begin actually leads to the rest of the couple's life.

"Wake, now my love, awake; for it is time, The Rosy Morne long since left Tithones bed,"

Phoebus is another name for the god Apollo. Apollo was the god of music, poetry, truth, and, relevant to the poem, the sun, as the day has begun with the sun rising.

"All ready to her silver coche to clyme, And Phoebus gins to shew his glorious hed."

Medusa was a monstrous gorgon who had the unique ability to paralyze anyone who looked directly at her. Within the poem, Spencer alludes to Medusa to communicate that he is paralyzed with wonder as opposed to fear at the sight of Elizabeth.

"Garnisht with heavenly guifts of high degree, Much more then would ye wonder at that sight, And stand astonisht lyke to those which red Medusaes mazeful hed."

Hesperus is the evening star in Greek mythology. The day is ending and Hesperus is making an appearance.

"With darksome cloud, now shew theyr goodly beames More bright then Hesperus his head doth rere."

The "Cyprian Queen" is term for Aphrodite, the goddess of love, sex, and beauty, who is also referred to as Venus in Roman Mythology.

"And ye three handmayds of the Cyprian Queene, The which doe still adorne her beauties pride, Helpe to addorne my beautifullest bride: And as ye her array, still throw betweene Some graces to be seene, And as ye use to Venus, to her sing,"

Phoebe was associated with the Moon in mythology. The moon is rising signaling the end of the day. Elizabeth is compared to Phoebe as she walks down the aisle.

"Loe where she comes along with portly pace Lyke Phoebe from her chamber of the East, Arysing forth to run her mighty race,"

In Roman Mythology, Bacchus was a god of wine, festivals, and is associated with fertility, his Greek equivalent was Dionysus. The Graces, goddesses of charm, beauty, and grace are mentioned in association with Bacchus and Venus, connecting them to both the festive nature of the wedding and the preparation of the bride.

"Crowne ye God Bacchus with a coronall, And Hymen also crowne with wreathes of vine, And let the Graces daunce unto the rest; For they can doo it best:"

This is the constellation between Cancer and Gemini. The constellation are shifting. In this case, the time is now towards the end of July since the constellation is moving.

"When once the Crab behind his back he sees."

Maia was one of the Pleiades and was the mother of Hermes by Zeus, who seemed to be connected to maternal and nurturing motherhood.

"Like unto Maia, when as Jove her tooke, In Tempe, lying on the flowry gras, Twixt sleepe and wake, after she weary was, With bathing in the Acidalian brooke."

Alcmena was the mother of Hercules by Jupiter, who took on the appearance of her husband Amphitryon, which led to the pair to make love for three days and nights.

"But let the night be calme and quietsome, Without tempestuous storms or sad afray: Lyke as when Jove with fayre Alcmena lay, When he begot the great Tirynthian groome:"

Cynthia is a female name given to Mount Cynthus, but it was also a name for Selene, the personification of the moon who is spying on the couple.

"Who is the same, which at my window peepes? Or whose is that faire face, that shines so bright, Is it not Cinthia, she that never sleepes, But walkes about high heaven al the night?"

The "Latmian Shepherd" refers to Endymion, a shepherd on Mount Latmas, whom the personification of the moon, Selene fell in love with as he slept. She was only able to grant immortality to him by placing him into an eternal slumber. Either before or during his eternal sleep the couple produced fifty daughters.

"For thou likewise didst love, though now unthought, And for a fleece of woll, which privily, The Latmian shephard once unto thee brought, His pleasures with thee wrought."

Genius was a concept in Roman Mythology where an individual may be inhabited by a "genius" to accomplish a great work or achievement.

"And thou glad Genius, in whose gentle hand, The bridale bowre and geniall bed remaine,"

Hebe is the Goddess of youth and the patron of the brides, logically connecting her to the events of a wedding and the fertility that ideally follows.

"And thou farye Hebe, and thou Hymen free, Grant that is may so be. Til which we cease your further prayse to sing, Ne any woods shall answer, nor your Eccho ring."

The Turtledove is a symbol for love and being faithful.[8] Elizabeth will go to the closed off place of Spenser's love because she is his faithful love.

"Go to the bowre of my beloved love, My truest turtle dove,"

Oule is an old spelling of owl. In Epithalamion, it is a bad omen. Spenser asks that these birds be quiet. If an owl is screeching, it means danger is nearby. Ravens are often construed as omens of bad luck, and Spenser is wishing they do not make a sound. Storks, in Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls, are avengers of adultery.[9] So it can be inferred these birds will stop any such crime from happening. Spenser does not want any of these birds to be heard on his wedding night since he is only asking for love and peace for the rest of his life.

"Let not the shriech Oule, nor the Storke be heard: Nor the night Raven that still deadly yels,"

Frogs croak at night, which can keep people awake at night. Spenser wants a peaceful night and a peaceful life with his new bride.

"Ne let th'unpleasant Quyre of Frogs still croking Make us to wish theyr choking. Let none of these theyr drery accents sing; Ne let the woods them answer, nor theyr eccho ring."

Mavis is dialect for a song thrush. There are many birds singing to mates in this stanza, and it comes out to the tune of the couples wedding song.

"The merry Larke hir mattins sings aloft, The thrush replyes, the Mavis descant playes,"

Many modern scholars argue the effectiveness of Spenser's work.

James Lambert[10] wrote about how the poem connected to the Protestant Reform of the time "Spenser’s Epithalamion reflects this communal joy as it narrates a public celebration of marriage, and does so in song and psalmic refrains. Spenser’s poetic interest in the earthly nature of joy takes Epithalamion beyond an expression of celebratory, communal Thjoy and into a more private, secret joy that remains ineffable. Finally, the poem moves toward affective joy, bestowing a kind of blessedness, or even grace, upon the listener, much like the practice of reciting the Psalms itself was supposed to do. Countering the relative absence of joy as a lived emotion, Spenser’s Epithalamion sets out to combine the discourses of joy—psalmic praises, hymnody, spiritual comfort, heavenly foretaste, festivity, matrimony, and finally, sex—into an all-inclusive articulation."

Melissa Sanchez's[11] essay praised the hidden messages in the poem, while James Larsen spoke of the poem in his critical edition:[12] "Epithalamion is a poem which gives ritualized and public affect to the personal on a number of levels, cosmographical, publicly prayerful and euchological."