Britomart

            On Monday morning it was cold and I had the oven on as high as it would go during song practice. 

            I almost finished posting “Tennisman" by Serge Gainsbourg on Christian's Translations. 

            At around 10:30 I logged on for this week’s Introduction to British Literature Lecture (say those last five words ten times fast). 

            Professor Teramura reminded us that our second short response essay is due soon. 

            This lecture is on Romance, Epic and Allegory; the moral effects of Literary Fashion, the virtues of readers, thinking critically of the poetic world, and poetry as a tool to make us better thinkers. 

            With the popularity of the sonnet in England came the widespread self consciousness of national poetry. When Chaucer had only been dead for a century his work became classic literature. He had been buried in West Minister Abbey in 1400 but in 1556 his body was moved to a special tomb of honour in the same church. 

            In 1557 Richard Tottel wrote Miscellany, celebrating the poets Wyatt and Surrey. 

            In 1589 Puttenham published The Art of English Poesy. He refers to Wyatt and Surrey as the first reformers of English meter and style. Poetry is tracked to mirror the national history but also a national philosophy and morality. 

            Sir Philip Sidney is known for his sonnet sequence but also for his The Defence of Poesie in 1595. Why did poetry need defence? Plato was sceptical about it and Socrates said that poets should be banished from the ideal state because they are liars. He argued that they are only the imitators of the ideals that transcend the physical world. Poets are corrupt and a danger to society. Sidney rejects this and argues that poets are the opposite of imitators. Science is trapped in the world while poets are independent. Poets live hand in hand with nature but also grow it into new forms. Poetry ranges freely and enriches the Earth, making nature even more beautiful. Poets make the world better and more ethical. Poetry both delights and teaches. Poets embody the best of both the historian and the philosopher. Nature is brazen while poetry is golden. Poetry persuades people To become virtuous more efficiently than philosophy. The poet is the monarch of the sciences because readers are enticed in their direction. The poet offers grapes at the gates of the vineyard. The poet seduces to virtue by making it pleasurable. Philosophy is obscure and teaches to the already taught while poetry is food for the hungry. But despite his arguments Sidney was disappointed with English poetry as it had been up to that point.

            The Shepherd’s Calendar of 1579 was dedicated to Sidney. It was both important and weird. It consisted of twelve short pastoral poems illustrated with woodcuts and accompanied by end notes. It was written in archaic English. The anonymous author frames himself as a classic new poet. The author was Spenser. 

            Spenser had the idea of having a poetic career as opposed to writing poetry as a job. He worked as a secretary. By career he meant that he wanted to fashion his life story as that of a poet. 

            In the October section of his Shephearde’s Calender the shepherds Cuddie and Piers symbolize poets. Cuddie, the perfect pattern of a poet, complains that poetry is unsupported. Piers argues that the topic must be changed to sing of not rustic subjects but big and serious things and address the song to those in power. Cuddie says that the shepherd Roman Tyterus left his flocks to become Virgil. He moved from the pastoral to the epic progressively in his works Eclogues, Georgics and finally The Aeneid. Virgil’s intro to the Aeneid clarifies this but it may not be written by him. Aeneas goes with his mom Venus to Italy where he wins a war against Turnus and forms Rome. Spenser’s progression to the epic is culminated in his Faerie Queen, which is also an allegorical romance. 

           The poem introduces itself and says it has gone from pastoral reeds to epic trumpets and that it is of national importance. It is a strange mix of literary ingredients. It is inspired by the previous epics Orlando Furioso (about Charlemagne) by Ludovico Ariosto of 1516 and Jerusalem Delivered (about the Crusade) by Torquato Tasso of 1581. 

            The Faerie Queen draws on the mythology of King Arthur. In the 13th Century Edward I fashioned himself as the new King Arthur and even founded his own Round Table. Henry VII named his first son after Arthur and hoped for him to become the next King Arthur, but he died before he could take the throne and his brother Henry VIII became king. 

            The Faerie Queen is a chivalric romance and an example of entrelacement – interlacing plotlines, each interrupted by a new one that throws the old one into suspension. The poem wanders between plots and it’s hard to keep track of the vast interface. 

            It is not restricted to chivalry as Spenser adds themes of Christian theology, Greek mythology, and scientific history. 

            An allegory is a narrative in the which the elements it contains are understood both literally and on a secondary level. An example is the Pridentius Psychomachia of the 5th Century, which features a battle for the soul between Faith and Idolatry. The fight is described in gory detail and yet it takes place internally. Faith wears no armour but tramples the eyes of idolatry symbolizing sensual pleasure.

            Around this time my landlord knocked on my door. I put on my mask, expecting to have to tell him to wear his but he already had his on. I had a little container of Purell and asked him to hold out his hands and he did, but I couldn't get the gel to come out and so he just said he'd wash his hands in the bathroom. I showed him where the leak comes down on rainy days from the upper part of the living room window. He said he’d fix it with stucco. I asked if he was going to turn the heat on and he said he’d just done that. I thanked him, which is a rare thing for me to do. Maybe the mask made me feel less animosity towards him. 

            Book one of The Faerie Queen features the battle between Holiness and Error. There are no easy solutions because it is hard to decode. It presents no single moral system and the terminology shifts. 

            For Spenser allegory was not so much a lesson to uncover but a way of thinking. In his letter to Walter Raleigh, which was included in the published text, he says that allegory is dangerous. The purpose is to fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtue. Even in the letter his sentences are interlaced and convoluted. He is training his readers. 

            Spenser also compares poetry to philosophy and says that poetry is doctrine by example. He says that these days appearances are more important and so poetry is the only thing that can penetrate. One should not judge by appearances. 

            Prince Arthur I sets forth as Magnificence, which the Greeks say is the most perfect virtue, containing all the others inside. Each of the twelve virtues has a corresponding knight as its patron. Spenser planned on adding twelve political virtues. 

            In 1590 he published the first three books; in 1596 three more were circulated; and the incomplete Constancy was published posthumously in 1609. It would have ended at the beginning. 

            The letter to Sir Walter Raleigh explaining the text was originally printed at the end. Spenser wanted readers to figure it out on their own. He wanted to challenge the reader to navigate the poem without orientation. In book one we meet the characters before we know their names. 

            The knight is described as having many wounds but he has never borne arms. He wears twin red crosses on his chest and shield. A lady and a dwarf are travelling with him. They become lost in the shady grove of the Wandering Wood. The word “seemed” is important to watch for. The words “error” and “errant” come from "errare", meaning "to wander”. In the Wandering Wood the knight battles Error in the form of a monster that is half woman and half serpent. Error has a thousand children of different shapes representing erroneous beliefs that scurry from the light of truth. Is this battle really Holiness versus Error? The knight is at the monster’s mercy until his lady companion calls out for him to add Faith, which he does and gets free. The monster vomits books, papers, eyeless frogs and toads. Like creatures found along the Nile. The epic simile is characteristic of Homer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid. The knight cuts off error’s head and they are able to return to the right path. 

            The Wandering Wood was inviting but there were clues against entering in the first place. Summer’s pride made it shady and thus his heaven’s light. The leaves are also the pages of books. 

            They meet an aged sire who “seemed" sober. But only when the knight and his companions are sleeping do we see that he is an evil magician named Archimago, the architect of images and an enemy of the lady. He reads spells from magic books showing that some books are dangerous. He fashions the appearance of the lady in bed with a lover and shows it to the knight causing him to leave in anger leaving the real lady behind. We only learn the lady's name when the double is made of her. She is Una, the one real Truth. And so the knight did not defeat error after all. The reader is warned not to be misled. Judge not by appearances but by righteous judgement. Allegory can mislead. 

            Later a goodly lady wins over the knight. Names seem to tell what people represent. Her name is Fidella, meaning Faithful. He becomes caught in appearances. Her real name is Duessa or Duplicity, the enemy of Una. Spenser is using allegory to cure the reader of taking things at face value. 

            The Knight of the Red Cross will eventually become St George, the patron saint of England. This is the story of his struggle to achieve his ideal. He is infatuated with Duessa and captured by the giant Orgolio, or Pride. Una tries to help him with the assistance of Arthur. There is a daily challenge to righteousness. 

            He is reunited with Una and then has a confrontation with Despair, or Secret Stealth. Trevisan approaches the three and recounts how Despair drove Sir Terwin to suicide. Red Cross faces Despair in a cave but their battle is not physical. Despair attacks with rhetoric and uses soothing repetitions to make death seem attractive. There are several internal rhymes of the word “ease" such as "layes", “seas" and "please". Despair paints even Red Knight’s victories as errors. Death is the end of one's woes and so one should die as soon as possible. The wages of sin are death. Red Cross experiences little externally. He is pierced by swords of words and enchanting rhymes. He almost kills himself until Una intervenes. Justice grows where grace grows. 

            The threat is language and ideas. Like the knight we meet error in the poem. We are also being tested. The reader is an equal hero in the war against words. 

            Red Cross arrives in New Jerusalem. He learns that he is a changeling and becomes St George. Then he rescues Una’s parents from a dragon. Canto ten is the high point of book one. 

            Book two features a new knight, Temperance Guyon. 

            In Book three Guyon is with Arthur. The narrator leads us to error as we meet Britomarte the female cheval. Britomarte is not the first female knight. Virgil had Camilla and Ariosto had Bradamante. Spenser’s history tells that men, fearing women, created laws to disenfranchize them. Book three throws a curve ball. All of the knights in the story come from Gloriana’a court, except for Britomarte. Britomart is Chastity. Scadamour is the knight who was sent on this mission but he fails and she takes over. 

            Book three is more elaborate, with various narratives interlacing. Britomart is with Arthur, Timias and Guyon when they see the Forester chasing Florimell. Arthur and G follow Florimell, Timias goes after the Forester, and Britomart is left alone. Britomart meets Red Cross but Spenser calls him Guyon. 

            What is Chastity? Elizabeth is called “The Virgin Queen”. She is a secular Virgin Mary symbolizing the impenetrability of England. She is also the Faerie Queen. Karl Marx referred to Spenser in 1881 as Elizabeth’s ass kissing poet. But Spenser shadows Elizabeth. Chastity is not about virginity. The heroine does not change but the definition of chastity does. 

            Malecasta or Unchaste is guarded by six knights: Gazing, Conversing, Joking, Kissing, Drunkenness, and Fucking. Malecasta falls in love with Britomarte. Malecasta comes to Britomarte’s bed and “felt if any member moved." "Member" had the same meanings then as they do now. Malecasta is not a violent threat. Desire is an internal wound. A knight shoots an arrow at Britomarte inflicting an external wound to match Malecasta’s internal injury. They are related. We later learn that Britomarte is in love with Artegall, the hero of Book five. Britomarte’s pain of concealing love is like a pregnancy while hearing good things about her love is like giving birth. But her quest is to yield her virginity to the one she loves. 

            Agape is Christian love, Eros is romantic and sexual love, Philia is friendship and familial love. Book three is comprehensive of many forms of love. 

            Next week we will look at poets linked to Spenser and his themes and poetry as thinking. 

            I finished listening to the lecture at around 12:30. 

            The heat was on. I had time to tidy up before lunch. 

            I had chips and salsa with yogourt. 

            After a siesta I spent the rest of the day until dinner typing my lecture notes. 

            I carved the blackness off of four bad potatoes to make one good one. I had it with a slice of roast beef and gravy while watching Interpol Calling. 

            A Danish boat carrying $1 million in platinum is in the Caribbean when a boat approaches in the dark. A voice tells them they are a US Coast Guard patrol boat and want to come aboard. But when they do they shoot everyone on board and steal the platinum. One of the surviving crew identifies the pirate ship as an out of service US Navy boat probably bought second hand. The attacked ship was heading for Mexico and so someone at that end must have tipped off the pirates. Duval goes to Mexico where the police inform him that only seven people knew about the shipment. They determine that the pirate ship must be hiding on one of the Caribbean islands and only a small number of the 300 islands could hide a sixty ton boat. The island of Andros seems like the best bet to Duval and so he goes there to coordinate with the local police. He learns that the boat is owned by a restaurant proprietor named Gonzalez. They go to interview him and learn that his boat is derelict. The police confirm that this is true. Duval goes to look at the boat and finds that it has been patched up and can float after all when they want it to. Duval tries to check out an alleyway warehouse belonging to Gonzales when some thugs attack him. He is saved by a man we recognize as the pirate ship captain. We learn shortly after this that his name is Simms and he works for Gonzalez along with two other guys from the States. Duval concludes that the men on the fake patrol boat must have had US accents or else the Danes would have been suspicious. Lieutenant Ember of the island police force says there can’t be more than sixty men from the US on the island. Duval gets Interpol to check them all for a history of handling boats and for their criminal records. He gets info back on Simms and goes to question him but Simms is coy and doesn’t show his hand. Duval concludes that the platinum is still on the boat but doesn't want to just go and grab it. He wants to catch the killers that stole it and so he hires someone to pretend to be drunk and leak the information to Gonzalez that his boat is going to be salvaged. Duval and the police wait for Gonzalez, Simms and the other men to arrive and to start removing the platinum. Duval shoots off a flare and then tells them to drop their guns and walk towards them. They do but at the last minute Simms picks up a gun and begins firing while trying to get away. Duval shoots another flare so he can get Simms in the open and then they fight until Duval wins.