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1. O GOODLY GOLDEN CHAINE, chivalry or knightly honor, the bond that unites all the virtues.

18. THANKLESSE, because not knowing whom to thank.

26. In Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, Arthur is taken from his mother, Ygerne, at birth, and committed to the care of Sir Ector as his foster-father, i, 3. In Merlin Sir Antor is his foster-father.

33. RAURAN MOSSY HORE, Rauran white with moss. A “Rauran-vaur hill” in Merionethshire is mentioned by Selden. Contrary to the older romancers, Spenser makes Prince Arthur a Welshman, not a Cornishman.

34. THE RIVER DEE, which rises in Merionethshire and flows through Lake Bala.

39. MY DISCIPLINE TO FRAME, etc., to plan my course of instruction, and, as my tutor, to supervise my bringing up.

45. IN HER JUST TERME, in due time.

57. OR THAT FRESH BLEEDING WOUND, i.e. his love for Gloriana.

59. WITH FORCED FURY, etc., supplying “me” from “my” in l. 58 the meaning is: the wound … brought … me following its bidding with compulsive (passionate) fury, etc. In the sixteenth century his was still almost always used as the possessive of it. Its does not occur in the King James Version of the Bible (1611).

63. COULD EVER FIND (the heart) to grieve, etc. A Euphuistic conceit.

64. According to the physiology of Spenser’s age, love was supposed to dry up the humors (“moysture”) of the body.

70. BUT TOLD, i.e. if it (my love) is told.

100. ENSAMPLE MAKE OF HIM, witness him (the Redcross knight).

113. WHILES EVERY SENCE, etc., while the sweet moisture bathed all my senses.

146. NEXT TO THAT LADIES LOVE, i.e. next to his love (loyalty) for Gloriana. Does the poet mean that allegiance to queen and country comes before private affection?

149. WAS FIRMEST FIXT, etc., were strongest in my extremity (in the giant’s dungeon).

169. A BOOKE, the New Testament, an appropriate gift from the champions of the Reformed Church.

182. AN ARMED KNIGHT, Sir Trevisan, who symbolizes Fear.

189. PEGASUS, the winged horse of the Muses. For note on the false possessive with his, see note on V, 44.

233. HAD NOT GREATER GRACE, etc., had not greater grace (than was granted my comrade) saved me from it, I should have been partaker (with him of his doom) in that place.

249. AFTER FAIRE AREEDES, afterwards graciously tells.

267. WITH DYING FEARE, with fear of dying.

269. WHOSE LIKE INFIRMITIE, etc., i.e. if you are a victim of love, you may also fall into the hands of despair.

270. BUT GOD YOU NEVER LET, but may God never let you, etc.

272. TO SPOYLE THE CASTLE OF HIS HEALTH, to take his own life. Cf. Eliot’s Castell of Helthe, published in 1534.

273. I WOTE, etc. I, whom recent trial hath taught, and who would not (endure the) like for all the wealth of this world, know (how a man may be so gained over to destroy himself).

275. This simile is a very old one. See Homer’s Iliad, i, 249; Odyssey, xviii, 283; Song of Solomon, iv, 11; and Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered, ii, 51.

286. FOR GOLD NOR GLEE. Cf. for love or money.

294-296. Imitated from Vergil’s Aeneid, vi, 462.

315. AS, as if.

320. A DREARIE CORSE, Sir Terwin, mentioned in xxvii.

332. JUDGE AGAINST THEE RIGHT, give just judgment against thee.

333. TO PRICE, to pay the price of.

336. WHAT JUSTICE, etc., what justice ever gave any other judgment but (this, that) he, who deserves, etc.

340. IS THEN UNJUST, etc., is it then unjust to give each man his due?

xxxix. Observe the subtle argument on suicide in this and st. xl.

xli. Spenser here puts into the mouth of the Knight Socrates’ argument to Cebes in their dialogue on the immortality of the soul. Plato’s Phaedo, vi.

367. QUOTH HE, Despair.

403. THY DATE, the allotted measure or duration of thy life.

408. THY SINFULL HIRE, thy service of sin.

431. AS HE WERE CHARMED, etc., as if he were under the spell of magic incantation.

438. IN A TABLE, in a picture. The horrors of the Last Judgment and the torments of the lost were favorite subjects of the mediaeval Catholic painters.

468. FIRE-MOUTHED DRAGON. The dragons of romance are all described as fire-breathing,

473. THAT CHOSEN ART, a reference to the doctrine of Election. Mark, xiii, 20.

476. ACCURST HAND-WRITING. A reference to Paul’s letter to the Colossians, ii, 14, in which he declares that the gospel of grace has superseded the law of Moses.

484. HE SO HIMSELFE HAD DREST, he had thus attempted (to take his life).

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

(Canto IX)

1. Give an account of Prince Arthur’s vision of the Faerie Queene. 2. Interpret his search for her as an allegory of the young man’s quest after his ideal. 3. Observe in xvii an allusion to Spenser’s patron, Lord Leicester, who was a favored suitor for Elizabeth’s hand. 4. What presents did the Knights exchange at parting? 5. Characterize Sir Trevisan by his appearance, speech, and actions. What does he symbolize? 6. Note the skill with which Spenser arouses interest before telling of the interview with Despair. 7. What was the fate of Sir Terwin? Its moral significance? 8. Describe the Cave of Despair, and show what effects are aimed at by the poet. 9. Compare with Despair Bunyan’s Giant Despair and the Man in the Iron Cage. 10. Trace the sophistries by which Despair works in the mind of the Knight, e.g. the arguments from necessity (fatalism), humanity, cowardice, discouragement and disgust on account of his past failures, dread of the future, of God’s justice, and the relief of death. 11. Does Despair show knowledge of the Knight’s past? 12. With what powerful truths does Una meet the arguments of Despair? 13. Where do you find reference to mediaeval art?

14. Find examples of Euphuism, metaphors, similes, Latinisms, and alliteration. 15. Explain the verb forms in ll. 154, 321, 336.