15
V, VI
The application of Story to thinking is most familiar to us in the form of Allegory. A colossal monument of this is seen in Spenser's Faerie Queene, where a whole system (Aristotelian) of Ethics is embodied in a narrative of Romantic Chivalry. But the appreciation of this depends largely upon a clear grasp of Spenser's original treatment of allegory—in itself a matter of the utmost literary importance—especially, the ever changing relation of the allegory to the other interests of the poem. This will be here treated in application to the second book, or Legend of Temperance.
SPENSER'S LEGEND OF TEMPERANCE
A.
Spenserian Allegory
Spenser's works will be accessible to all Students: amongst other editions may be mentioned the Globe (Macmillan, $1.25), the most correct.
For the present purpose it is essential that students should read the portion of the poem touched upon (Book II of the Faerie Queene) with some amount of rapidity, not allowing themselves to be stopped too long by difficulties of language, but seeking to get a general impression of the book as a whole. If this is found impracticable the book should be read a second time.
The point which it is sought to emphasize in the present treatment of Spenser is the various sorts of interest that are woven together in his poetry.—Besides beauties of a musical kind three main varieties of interest may be noticed.
1. Interest of Incident.
- (a) General interest of Incident: the picturesque, the pathetic, &c.
- (b) Romantic Incident: (l) unflagging interest in Chivalry and its three ideals, Prowess, Courtesy and Love—(2) Travel and Scenery—(3) Enchantment, Monsters and Marvels.
- (c) Classic interest of Incident: Familiarity as a literary beauty, or interest attaching to details from their association with the literature of the past.
2. Interest of Allegory.
- Students must avoid the opposite errors (a) of supposing the Allegory of the Faerie Queene to be something superfluous and outside poetic interest (b) on the other hand of searching for it in every detail, as if the purpose of the poem were simply to twist moral truth into the form of a puzzle-story. Observe:
- (a) The Allegory is only one motive amongst many: pictorial effects, pure imagination. Romantic and Classic interest as above, &c.
