“Placed in Firmament”: The Dominance of Temperance in

Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene

Liz Norton

Professors Alyson Kiesel and Maria Carrig

Honors Thesis

May 8th, 2019

 Temperance reigns supreme in Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. One of Spenser’s

six principal virtues, temperance lives outside of its own book, governing the other virtues of

Holiness, Chastity, Friendship, Justice, and Courtesy, as well as smaller cultural aspects in the

poem. Broken into six separate books, The Faerie Queene follows six emblematic knights on

their quest for the Faerie Queene. Through their stories, Spenser fully explores each of his

virtues, demonstrating both how to properly enact them and how to avoid those who may lead

one into sin. While no virtue exists solely inside the book dedicated to it, temperance uniquely

pervades the whole epic, occurring in every episode of every canto. Temperance’s influence in

The Faerie Queene is seen most clearly through the epic’s representation of art and love. Both

representations often seem contradictory inside the allegory of the poem and at times appear to

directly belie one of the principal virtues or a previously realized opinion of proper behavior. An

analysis of art and love through a temperate lens, however, dissolves inconsistencies and unifies

seemingly different theories of virtue inside the poem. Through an examination of these

elements, the unifying presence of temperance inside the poem becomes apparent, allowing for a

deeper understanding of Spenser’s moralizing project.

Art’s presence in The Faerie Queene often seems morally ambiguous, sometimes

denoting great evil and other times seen in connection with Spenser’s most righteous heroes and

heroines. Scholars have attempted to uncover a consistent allegorical significance of art in The

Faerie Queene since the poem’s initial publication in 1590. In his seminal work The Allegory of

Love, C.S Lewis contends that art’s presence in the epic indicates evil, an opinion that has

dominated popular thought on the subject since 1936.

“Spenser, as I have shown, distinguishes the good and evil paradises by a skillful contrast

between nature and art... It has often been noticed that he is fond of describing pictures or

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 tapestries, but it has not been equally noticed that he usually puts such artefacts in places

which he thinks evil. Spenser uses art to suggest the artificial in its bad sense--the sham

or imitation” (Lewis 1043).

Here, Lewis defines art’s use as solely evil and goes on to give several examples of nefarious

places that contain art, such as the Bower of Bliss and the House of Busyrane and more mildly

bad places such as the House of Malecasta. The overwhelming presence of art in these places

does seem to confirm Lewis’ theory although he does list one exception to his rule, the beautiful

art in the castle of the benevolent Alma, which he explains away as allegorically necessary.

Nature, to Lewis, represents pure and unadulterated virtue wherever it is found. He writes,

“Thus, again, Pride has a palace, Belphoebe a pavilion in the woods and the hill where the

Graces dance is adorned only ‘by natures skill’” (Lewis 1043).

Scholars have widely accepted Lewis’s theory, and accordingly, art has gained an evil

reputation in The Faerie Queene although other interpretations do exist. For instance, in his

article “Allegorical Implications of Artifice in Spenser’s The Faerie Queene,” Hans P. Guth

illustrates some of nature’s darker allegorical functions in the epic such as the Redcrosse

Knight’s battle with Error in a dark wood in Book I, or his companion Una’s encounter with

savage satyrs in the same book. Guth, unlike Lewis, acknowledges both the positive and negative

allegorical uses of nature and art and therefore suggests that they have a neutral significance. He

writes, “It seems then that in The Faerie Queene both art and nature may have either good or evil

associations, may appear either in good or evil context” (Guth 20). Art, however, cannot simply

have a neutral symbolic function in an allegorical work like The Faerie Queene where almost

every element represents a bigger idea and works to accomplish greater moral goals.

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 Spenser himself professes this intention in a letter to his friend and mentor Sir Walter

Raleigh, writing,

“Sir, knowing how doubtfully all allegories may be construed, and this booke of mine,

which I have entituled the Faery Queene, being a continued allegory, or darke conceit, I

have thought good, as well for avoyding of gealous opinions and misconstructions… to

discover unto you the general intention and meaning, which in the whole course thereof I

have fashioned, without expressing of any particular purposes or by accidents therein

occasioned. The generall end therefore of all the booke is to fashion a gentleman or noble

person in vertuous and gentle discipline” (Hamilton 714).

In this letter, Spenser makes clear that neutrality does not exist in The Faerie Queene. As he

writes to Raleigh, The Faerie Queene is a dark conceit imbued with meaning and colored with

historical fiction. Spenser seems concerned that his audience would understand the allegorical

workings of his poem, this letter and its appendage to the first editions of the work itself

representing this intent. Guth’s idea that art functions neutrally, therefore, provides an

unconvincing conclusion to an otherwise compelling reading. Guth correctly notes art’s presence

in both good and evil contexts but refuses to consider the allegorical implications of that

complexity.

To understand art’s presence in such morally disparate places the reader must examine art

as an extrapolation of temperance. Temperance, through its conciliatory nature, rectifies the

seeming moral contradictions present in Spenser’s places of art, altogether allowing for a

consistent theory of art to be present in the poem. It is important, therefore, to comprehend

Spenser’s version of temperance, which combines both classical and Christian ideas of the

virtue. Temperance exists somewhat differently in these schools of thought, both of which

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influenced Spenser. Duessa’s journey to the underworld with Night in book I canto v provides an

example of classical influence in The Faerie Queene, mirroring similar journeys to the

underworld undertaken by Aeneas and Odysseus in The Aeneid and The Odyssey respectively.

Book I, as the book of holiness, also contains a myriad of Christian influences such as the

Redcrosse Knight’s visit to the holy city of Jerusalem. Through these examples, the reader sees

Spenser utilizing classical and Christian ideas somewhat equally in The Faerie Queene.

Understanding both classical and Christian versions of temperance, therefore, is crucial to

comprehending Spenserian temperance.

In the Republic, Plato defines temperance as “mastery of pleasures and desires”. He

states,

“Moderation [temperance]... actually stretches throughout the whole, from top to bottom

of the entire scale, making the weaker, the stronger, and those in the middle--whether you

wish to view them as such in terms of prudence, or, if you wish in terms of strength, or

multitude, money or anything else whatsoever of the sort-- sing the same chant together.

So we would quite rightly claim that this unanimity is moderation [temperance], an

accord of worse and better, according to nature, as to which must rule in the city and in

each one” (Plato 432a).

Here we see Plato acknowledge that temperance is not a virtue solely located in the “better,” as

he says. Temperance instead works as the “natural harmony of worse and better” encompassing

both sides of the individual and the nation. Temperance cannot exist solely in the good or solely

in the bad, instead both are needed to achieve harmony in the individual and in the city.

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 The Christian idea of temperance, which Saint Augustine defines along with the other

cardinal virtues in his work Of the Morals of Catholic Church and On the Morals of the

Manichaeans, functions differently in principle. Augustine writes,

“Temperance is love surrendering itself wholly to Him who is its object; courage is love

bearing all things gladly for the sake of Him who is its object; justice is love serving only

Him who is its object, and therefore rightly ruling; prudence is love making wise

distinction between what hinders and what helps itself” (Augustine 1).

Here, temperance means giving all love to God. Thus, if one wishes to be temperate one’s body

cannot be corrupted by desire or love for anything other than the Lord. One, therefore, must

govern desire and not fall victim to base urges that may distract the body and mind from the love

of God.

Edmund Spenser utilizes both classical and Christian ideas of temperance in The Faerie

Queene while also fashioning his own interpretation of the virtue. The reader sees the Platonic

version of temperance most clearly in Guyon’s visit to the house of Medina in book II canto ii.

Medina (“middle” in Latin) must govern her sisters Elissa (“too little” in Greek) and Perissa

(“too much” in Greek) and try to find a temperate mean between the two. Here, “the worse”

(Elissa) and “the better” (Perissa) create harmony as they combine into one temperate mean

embodied by Medina. Guyon, the knight of temperance, rewards this temperance as he entrusts

Medina to watch Rudymane, his recently orphaned charge.

Augustinian temperance can be seen in Guyon’s journey through the Cave of Mammon

in book II canto vii. In the Cave of Mammon, Guyon exhibits perfect Augustinian temperance in

the face of Mammon’s temptations of money, women, and power. While being lead through the

cave, Guyon rejects all Mammon’s offers and escapes, almost losing his life in the process. Here

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we see Guyon maintain his love for God above all other worldly temptations, a feat which is he

rewarded for.

Canto viii opens with the Palmer, Guyon’s companion, finding an angel guarding

Guyon’s sleeping body. Spenser writes,

“The Charge, which God doth vnto me arrett,

Of his deare safety, I to thee commend;

Yet will I not forgoe, ne yet forgett

The care thereof my selfe vnto the end,

But euermore him succour, and defend

Against his foe and mine: watch thou I pray;

For euill is at hand him to offend.

So hauing said, eftsoones he gan display

His painted nimble wings, and vanisht quite away” (II.viii.8)

In this stanza the reader sees an angel charge the Palmer with protecting Guyon, a task God had

recently charged the unnamed angel with. The angel then proceeds to say that the protection of

Guyon is important because they have a mutual foe that must be destroyed, the witch Acrasia. In

this passage, we see Spenser imbue Guyon’s mission with a holy element. With the angel’s

decree that Guyon and he share the same enemy, the reader sees Guyon’s mission to destroy the

bower transform from a vengeance plot into a heavenly ordained quest.

The reader can, therefore, see the destruction of the Bower of Bliss as a prime example of

Spenserian temperance. To reach Acrasia once arriving in the Bower, Guyon must resist intense

sexual temptation, showing Augustinian temperance once again. Once finding Acrasia, however,

Guyon appears to have an intemperate response to the Bower and completely razes it. Through

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understanding the holiness of Guyon’s mission, however, the reader knows this to be a temperate

action as Guyon shows his love to God through doing his will even if it means destroying a

beautiful and tempting place. In the Bower, the reader observes Guyon devoting all of his love to

God, thus perfectly enacting Augustinian temperance once again. The destruction of the Bower

shows Guyon using Platonic temperance as well as he razes the Bower but allows Acrasia to

live. The destruction of the place itself allows “the better”, nature, to resume its dominance over

the region while Guyon’s mercy towards Acrasia ensures that “the worse” remains present, both

being needed for harmony. The net which Guyon captures Acrasia in allows for this message to

be seen in the imagery of the poem. In the net, “the worse”, Acrasia, is captured but still exposed

to the world, a reminder of temperance even in a time of victory. Through the use of Augustinian

and Platonic temperance in the bower, Guyon destroys one of the most evil places in the play

without becoming unvirtuous, altogether perfectly embodying Spenserian temperance.

I argue that the combination of classical and Christian temperance governs Spenser’s

theory of art in The Faerie Queene. To Spenser, art should embody temperance in both content

and intent. Art should be beautiful but not tempting and it must acknowledge both the good and

bad of the world and somehow create harmony through that concession. As Guth posits, Spenser

uses art in both good and evil places and it can have both moral significances. This, however, is

not neutral, as Guth states. Instead, it simply shows “the worse” and “the better” that come

together to make the harmonious allegory at work in The Faerie Queene. Thus, the evil art seen

in places as extremely evil as the House of Busyrane in book III contrasts with the extreme

beauty of the temple of Venus, and the tempting art in the Bower of Bliss is reworked into the

pure beauty of the Gardens of Adonis. Spenser includes both sets of examples to illustrate both

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“the worse” and “the better” of art and, through that, attempts to teach his reader how to

harmoniously embrace and enact the ideal.

As made apparent by the examples above, Spenser often connects art with women and

places governed by women. The witch Acrasia rules the Bower of Bliss, Venus oversees the

Garden of Adonis, and Britomart rescues Amoret from the House of Busyrane. Even the one

location which C.S Lewis concedes to possess positive art, the Castle of Alma, has a female

sovereign. Throughout The Faerie Queene, Spenser utilizes his female characters to explore

issues of love, sexuality, and chastity. The sole female knight, Britomart, champions chastity and

primarily searches for her beloved. Spenser connects other prominent female characters to

matters of love and sexuality in a similar way: Acrasia is a temptress, Una a grace-filled beloved

for the Redcrosse Knight, and Belphoebe the embodiment of Diana like chastity. Through these

female characters, Spenser introduces love and sexuality to the reader in many morally diverse

settings, much like the art he connects them with.

As Spenser includes chastity among his seven principal virtues, one might assume that

good love would revolve around chastity and evil love would feature overt sexuality.

While instances of this dichotomy do exist in The Faerie Queene, such as the Redcrosse

Knight’s relationships with Una and Duessa, Spenser incorporates several counterexamples as

well. For instance, in the original ending of book III, Amoret and Scudamore engage in a

passionate embrace. Spenser writes,

“Lightly he clipt her twixt his armes twaine,

And streightly did embrace her body bright,

Her body, late the prison of sad paine,

Now the sweet lodge of loue and deare delight:

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 But she faire Lady ouercommen quight

Of huge affection, did in pleasure melt,

And in sweete rauishment pourd out her spright:

No word they spake, nor earthly thing they felt,

But like two senceles stocks in long embracement dwelt” (III. xiii. 45).

In these lines, Spenser depicts the reunion of Amoret and Scudamore after Britomart frees

Amoret from her imprisonment in The House of Busyrane and uses some of the most sexually

explicit language in the entire poem. Amoret and Scudamore come together in an embrace that

satisfies both, most notably Amoret as she “pours out her spright”. This scene features behavior

that by the standards of the modern reader would be considered deeply unchaste. As society

usually sees chastity as a women’s virtue as well, this scene shocks as it shows a woman

experiencing pleasure. This episode, however, is not considered unchaste by either Spenser’s

speaker or Britomart who witnesses it. Instead, it is celebrated as an expression of love and

envied by Britomart as she “her selfe oft wisht like happinesse” (III.xii.46). The reader should

also note this expression of desire from Britomart, who actively longs for the end of her celibacy

as she watches the happy couple. This passage is not devoid of temperance either as Spenser

tempers every expression of “the better” with one of “the worse”. For instance, when describing

Amoret’s body, Spenser contrasts the phrase “prison of sad paine” with “lodge of loue and deare

delight”. He also uses a series of images that contrast the human body with its more spiritual

counterpart. Words like “spright” used to describe both Amoret’s body and soul shows Spenser

implementing temperance in just one word. Through these means, Spenser crafts a passage

devoted to positive sexuality without violating temperance or chastity.

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 In The Faerie Queene, sexuality can be found in chaste love and celibacy can be seen as a

hindrance to it, deconstructing traditional ideas of what is good and evil in proper romantic

relationships. This directly mirrors Spenser’s treatment of the closely connected element of art

and just as with art what unites all these morally diverse examples into a cohesive theory of love

is temperance. In his book, The Kindly Flame, Thomas P. Roche discusses this unorthodox

depiction of chastity in The Faerie Queene. To do this he speaks of the main villain of book III,

Busyrane, who holds Amoret captive in an attempt to make her love him. Busyrane’s brutality

marks his attempted wooing of Amoret as he removes her heart and replaces it with a metal rod

which constantly pierces her body. Roche notes that Busyrane does not fit the normal model for

villains in Spenser as it appears he does not negate chastity because he never makes lustful

advances toward Amoret. Roche examines this oddity and discovers that Busyrane represents sex

and desire in the absence of love rather than simple lust. Chastity, therefore, represents the

rejection of sex and desire in the absence of love. He writes,

He [Busyrane] is the abuse of marriage because his mask of cupid presents an image of

marriage as a sacrifice just as Busiris was a place of sacrifice. He is an abuse of marriage

because the mind he possesses cannot distinguish between the act of marriage and

adulterous love. He is an abuse of marriage because the falsity of his view of love can

lead only to lust or death (Roche 1964)”.

In this passage, Roche contends that Busyrane, not lust, is the negation of chastity as he defiles

marriage and therefore true love. This interpretation illustrates Roche’s interesting method of

defining virtue in The Faerie Queene, one centered around determining what a negates a virtue.

Through defining what is not chaste, and analyzing instances of unchastity, Roche uncovers that

sexual activity is not what makes someone unchaste. It is when someone defiles love, in this

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case, Busyrane, whether through lust or corruption, that they become unchaste. Through a

definition of what is not chaste the reader can determine what is chaste and through this lens

better interpret the behavior of Spenser’s characters.

I argue that Spenser uses temperance to govern love, like the way it governs art, in The

Faerie Queene, further cementing the connection between the two elements. Love, to Spenser,

needs to meet both Platonic and Augustinian versions of temperance to be perceived as good. By

examining chastity, the Spenserian ideal of love, through Roche’s lens, the reader sees Spenser

defining what is not chaste through the elimination of extremes. Busyrane’s extreme obsession

with Amoret is, therefore, unchaste, as is Acrasia’s extreme visual temptation in The Bower of

Bliss. In both these ways, the reader sees Spenser showing Platonic and Augustinian temperance.

As the reader sees the extreme “good” and extreme “bad” versions of chastity eliminated they

are left with instructions on how to live the Platonic mean. The idea of Augustinian temperance

can be harder to see in relation to Spenserian chastity as characters engage in sexual activities.

These sexual activities, however, are temperate under Augustinian temperance as he states

intemperance means love for anything other than God. While they may seem to violate this

principle, the sexual activities that Spenser’s character engages in actually glorify God as they

are in the service of marriage.

Susanne Wofford espouses this idea in her article “Gendering Allegory: Spenser’s Bold

Reader and the Emergence of Character in The Faerie Queene III”. She states, “In the 1590

ending of book III, Britomart brings Amoret out of the House to the embrace of Scudamore,

metaphorically making possible the consummation of their marriage as their two bodies blend

into one… As Amoret and Scudamore become Scudamoret, the emblem of marriage...”

(Wofford 19). In this passage, Wofford explains how Amoret and Scudamore’s steamy moment

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can still be viewed as temperate. Marriage is a sacrament in the Christian faith, and in the

consummation of their marriage Amoret and Scudamore fulfill that sacrament and, in the

process, give all their love to God. Other instances of good sexuality such as Britomart’s longing

for Arthegall are also in service of marriage and can, therefore, still be seen as temperate by

Augustinian standards. Through the elimination of extremes and sacramental consummation,

Spenserian chastity is governed by Spenserian temperance.

Spenser infuses The Faerie Queene with examples of temperate art and love, creating

some of the most stunning imagery in the poem. When temperance, art, and love come together

in a person or place, that person or place becomes glorified in the poem, shining. For example,

this idea of temperate art most is seen clearly embodied in Spenser’s description of the huntress

Belephoebe in canto iii. Spenser writes,

“So faire, and thousand thousand times more faire

She seemd, when she presented was to sight

And was yclad, for heat of scorching aire,

All in solken Camus lylly whight

Purfled vpon with many a folded plight

Which all aboue besprinkled was throughout,

With golden aygulets, that glistred bright,

Like twinckling starres, and all the skirt about

Was hemd with golden fringe” (Spenser II.iii.26)

In this passage, the reader sees Spenser utilizing art both in his text and in his writing style. In

the text, the reader sees art in the gold present on Belphoebe’s clothes as well as the lily white

color of her dress. The artistic embellishments seen here become clearer when examining the rest

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of her statuesque depiction. With marble white skin, hair like golden wire, and her graceful form,

Belphoebe truly seems like a work of art come to life. The language of this description is artistic

as well. The consistent rhyme and meter of the stanza create a pleasing musical quality to the

passage when read aloud with the repetition of words like “gold”, “faire”, and “thousand” only

enhancing this. The imagery in the passage is also beautiful as Spenser compares gold in

Belphoebe’s garment to “twinckling starres”.

Through the art in this passage, the reader sees temperance at work, the most obvious

example coming at the very end where Spenser uses a half line. This stanza is part of a 23-stanza

long blazon of Belphoebe that moves down from her head to describe her entire body, and this

half line is where one would expect a vanginalE symbol to appear. Instead, however, the

description avoids this depiction by utilizing the half line and moving straight to her legs in the

next stanza. Here, Spenser removes temptation from his art in order to foster the Augustinian

version of temperance. Temperate art cannot employ anything that encourages base desires as a

yonic symbol may have here.

While Augustinian temperance is most clearly at work in this passage, we can see

Spenser using Platonic temperance as well. In this stanza, as well as in the entire description,

Belphoebe’s natural beauty (the better) and the artificial beauty added to her by art (the worse)

come together to create harmony in her overall appearance, something Spenser reinforces when

he describes her face as a “heuenly pourtraict of bright Angels hew” (II.iii.22) later in the blazon.

Belphoebe, therefore, is a perfect example of Spenser’s temperate art at work in The Faerie

Queene.

Spenser includes the witch Acrasia in the Bower of Bliss as an example of intemperate

art, whose description contains similar aspects of art used in intemperate ways. Spenser writes,

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 “Vpon a bed of Roses she was layd,

As faint through heat, or dight to pleasant sin,

And was arrayd, or rather disarayd,

All in a vele of silke and siluer thin,

That hid no whit her alabaster skin,

But rather shewd more white, if more might bee:

More subtile web Arachne cannot spin,

Nor the fine nets, which oft we wouen see

Of scorched deaw, do not in th’ayre more lightly flee” (II.xii.77)

Here the reader sees Spenser permeate Acrasia’s depiction with an amount of art

comparable to that in Belphoebe’s description. The “vele of silke and siluer thin” is an object of

art that Acrasia literally has draped across her body. This veil mirrors the dress that Belphoebe

wears which is a light dress filled with golden embellishments. The mention of Acrasia’s

“alablaster skin” also mimics the marble skin that Spenser describes Belphoebe as having.

Acrasia’s description, however, does not contain the same tempering elements that Belphoebe’s

does. Where Spenser purposefully skips over any tempting imagery in Belphoebe’s description,

he writes that Acrasia’s vestments reveal her whole body to an observer and actually “shewd

more white, if more might bee”. In this stanza, Spenser also describes intemperate use of nature

as the bed in which Acrasia performs intemperate acts is filled with roses, a natural element

being used in tandem with the art in Acrasia’s depiction to satisfy intemperate urges. This

directly contrasts Belphoebe’s description, where nature and art come together to make a

temperate mean.

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 The description of Acrasia provides the reader with an intemperate doppelganger of

Belphoebe. This counterexample shows not only how amazingly temperate Belphoebe is, but

also constitutes a teaching moment in the text where the reader learns to distinguish temperance

from intemperance. The use of similar language in both descriptions allows the reader to

understand how actively one must seek temperance as words and actions that may be temperate

on occasion can quickly slip into intemperance if not properly performed or monitored.

Belphoebe also provides a perfect example of temperate love. In book III, Belphoebe

encounters a wounded Timias in the forest and the two fall in love. After medical care from

Belphoebe, Timias awakens and his description of Belphoebe, who hovers above him, resonates

with temperate love. Timias speaks,

“Mercy deare Lord (said he) what grace is this,

That though hast shewed to me sinfull wight,

To send thine Angell from her bowre of blis,

To comfort me in my distressed plight?

Angell, or Goddesse doe I call thee right?

What seruice may I doe vnto thee meete,

That hast from darkenes me returnd to light,

And with they heuenly salues and med’cines sweete,

Hast drest my sinfull wounds? I kisse thy blessed feete” (III. v. 35)

This passage shows a temperate love marked by an acknowledgment of “the worse” and “the

better” as well as a respect for God. Timias’ immediate thought upon waking and seeing

Belphoebe is to thank God for sending him, a sinful creature, an angel to comfort him. Before

any mention of Belphoebe’s physical appearance, Timias acknowledges God, exhibiting the

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ideal Augustinian temperance. Timias loves God before anything else, including the beautiful

Belphoebe. To Timias, their love is a gift from God and thus a glorification of him. Timias’

description of Belphoebe also shows Platonic temperance in Timias’ acknowledgment of himself

as a sinful creature. He shows that despite the great sight in front of him, he is still an imperfect

person. Even in the face of heaven, there is still sin, showing a temperate combination that

allows for real love, in which people often must balance both the good and the bad of their

partners. This combination is figuratively enacted as Belphoebe rubs “heavenly salues” into

Timias’ “sinful wounds”. This passage includes such great temperance that even the name of the

most intemperate place in the poem, the “bowre of bliss”, is used in a temperate way as Timias

describes Belphoebe as an angel coming forth from there. The heavenly associations with

Belphoebe allow for this name, which has been used intemperately up to this point, to be

reclaimed in the name of temperance.

In book six, Spenser shows a similar kind of temperate love, but also the consequences of

intemperate action. In canto x of book six sir Calidore, the knight of Courtesy, stumbles upon a

beautiful hill. Named Mount Acidale, this is a place whose “pleasaunce did appere/To passe all

others” (Spenser VI.x.5), untouched with mud or wild animals and with a large plain on top

where Aphrodite often holds her court. On the top of Acidale, Calidore finds a group of naked

maidens dancing. Spenser describes the scene as “An hundred naked maidens lilly white, All

raunged in a ring and dauncing in delight” (Spenser VI.x.11). He continues his description

comparing the ladies to “precious gemmes” before ultimately creating a simile comparing the

women to the crown Ariadne wore when she married Theseus. He writes,

“Look how the crowne, which Ariadne wore

Vpon her yuory forehead that same day,

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 That Theseus her vnto his bridale bore,

When the bold centaures made that bloudy fray

With the fierce Lapithes, which did them dismay;

Being now placed in the firmament,

Through the bright heauen doth her beams display,

And is vnto the starres an ornament,

Which rond about her moue in order excellent” (VI.x.13)

In this passage, as well as descriptions cited above, Spenser uses artistic images as well as artistic

language to depict the beautiful sight in front of Calidore. “Precious gemmes” obviously

compares the ladies to diamonds, rubies, and other gems that often were found in the most

expensive and fashionable jewelry of the day, as well as sometimes embedded into the art. The

jewelry comparison continues in stanza 13 as Spenser correlates the women with Ariadne’s

crown which became a constellation after Theseus abandoned her. Spenser links the women both

to the crown which rested about Ariane’s “ivoury forehead”, another artistic reference in itself

and to the stars which illuminate the heavens with their beams and ornament the sky, a reference

to the beauty of nature. More references to the beauty of nature can be found in the stanzas

surrounding these as Spenser describes the beauty of Acidale as well as the beauty of the woman

in the center of the circle. He writes, “Crowned with a rosie girlond, that right well/ Did her

beseeme. And euer, as the crew/ About her daunst, sweet flowres, that far did smell, and fragrant

odours they vppon her threw;” (VI.x.14).

In these lines, the reader can see Spenser combining natural and artistic images to create

temperate art. To use Plato’s terms, It combines “the better” of nature with “the worse” of art to

create pleasurable harmony for both the in-scene viewer, Calidore, and the reader. Additionally,

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even though the women are naked, this is not a particularly tempting scene, there is no sexually

explicit language in the lines and there is no reference to temptation until the very end when

Calidore ventures forth from his hiding place. While it may seem that this temptation might

complication the idea of temperate art in this passage, it is met with a swift reprisal as all the

women vanish as they see Calidore. In this rejection of temptation, Spenser reinforces the idea of

temperate art.

Spenser introduces the idea of love in this passage, foreshadowing the coming

disappearance of the graces. In this stanza, Spenser references the myth of Theseus. Theseus,

through the help of the beautiful and rebellious Ariadne, defeated the Minotaur and thus freed the

people of Crete from the terror of its tribute. After defeating the Minotaur, Theseus marries

Ariadne and the two leave Crete together, only for Theseus to abandon Ariadne on the advice of

Athena. Ariadne’s bridal crown, which Spenser references here, was a symbol of trusting and

pure love in Elizabethan rhetoric (Hamilton 670). Spenser’s allusion to this myth cements the

Graces as symbols of pure love and beauty, however, it also conjures ideas of abandonment and

sour love, leaving the reader with a sense of foreboding about the coming lines. This is only

heightened by a reference to vicious rape in the same stanza.

The contrast between pure love and sour love seen here mirrors the temperate treatment

of art in the rest of the poem as “the worse” and “the better” are brought together to describe the

beautiful. Several other instances of temperate art can be seen in this episode as well, the graces

dance but “fully merrily, and making gladfull glee”, not sexually; they are happy, they dance not

to arouse but to express their own joy. The act of love in the middle of the dance is chaste as

well, simply a man playing a love song to a woman, not a sexual act.

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 It is only when Calidore interrupts due to his temptation that the scene becomes

intemperate and therefore vanishes. Spenser writes,

“Much wondred Calidore at this staunge sight,

Whose like before his eye had neuer scene,

And standing long astonished in spright,

And rapt with pleasaunce, wist not what to weene;...

Therefore resoluing, what it was, to know,

Out of the wood he rose, and toward them did go

But as soone as he appeared to their vew,

They vanisht all away out of his sight,” (VI.x.17-18)

In this passage the reader sees Calidore act intemperately as he emerges from his hiding place

“rapt with pleasaunce” to approach the graces. Calidore here acts out of temptation and in doing

so spoils the dance of the graces as they disappear at the sight of him. Through the temptation of

Calidore and the subsequent disappearance of the graces, Spenser symbolically depicts the

consequences for intemperate love. In the end, Calidore is heartbroken at losing such a pleasant

sight and must return to his quest alone without ever meeting the beautiful and grace-filled

women. Spenser shows in this passage that the consequence for intemperance is the removal of

beauty and grace from one’s life, a devastating repercussion for an author who dedicated his

life’s work to a beautiful, graceful queen.

This scene of retribution calls back to the devastation seen in the Theseus myth

referenced earlier in the canto. Love always has a negative side, “the worse”, and here Spenser

argues that intemperance is at the root of it. The ability of heroes to make mistakes is another

common theme between the stories. As with Acrasia in the Bower of Bliss, Spenser uses this

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story as a teaching moment, showing that the ordinary person can commit sin and not succumb

to complete evil. Spenser includes Calidore’s return to grace later in the canto as he apologizes

for the wrong he has done. He writes, “But gentle Shepheard pardon thou my shame,/ Who

rashly sought that, which I mote not see. Thus did the courteous Knight excuse his blame/ and to

recomfort him, all comely meanes did frame” (VI.x.29). Calidore’s apology to Colin Clout

reestablishes temperance in his character and allows for him to continue his journey and capture

the Blatant Beast. This redemption story can also be seen in book I with the Redcrosse Knight as

he struggles with unholiness before eventually redeeming himself at the House of Holiness in

canto ten, the same canto which the Grace episode occurs in book VI, of book I.

It is fitting that Spenser inserts himself, through the figure of Colin Clout, into one of

these teaching moments. Colin Clout appears in Spenser’s earlier work The Shepheardes

Calender and as a shepherd with a penchant for poetry devoted to queens, clearly represents

Spenser in this canto. An examination of Spenser’s writing career allows the reader to discover

the significance of Clout’s appearance here. Spenser released the first three books of The Faerie

Queene six years before the last three. In the six years between the two publications, Spenser

appears to have changed the tone of his piece somewhat, filling books four, five, and six with a

dark undercurrent showing his disillusionment with writing and his role as a poet. The poet’s

tongue nailed to a post in book five (V.ix.26), as well as Spenser’s description of his own

storytelling as “endless work” (IV.xii.1) in book four provide evidence of this disillusionment.

The most notable example of Spenser’s new outlook on writing, however, would be the villain of

book six, the blatant beast who Spenser describes as “the plague and scourge of wretched men:/

Whom with vile tongue and venomous intent/ He sore doth wound, and bite, and cruelly

torment” (VI.i.8). Through the blatant beast, the reader sees Spenser working through a now

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contentious relationship with language, one that he approaches with little hope. Calidore’s failure

to capture the beast at the end of the poem speaks to this lack of hope and the pain which Spenser

believes language can and will inflict on its users. In a book devoted to impeding the use of bad

language, the appearance of Colin Clout as a true poet lamenting the disappearance of his

beautiful subject matter rings thematically relevant.

During his life, Spenser worked sometimes as a court poet and received a 50-pound

stipend every year from Queen Elizabeth from his work on The Faerie Queene, a significant sum

in 1590. His relationship with the court he served, however, does not appear to have been

completely rosy, with one of Spenser’s poems satirizing the court, “Mother Hubberd’s Tale”,

actually being removed from circulation due to its controversial content in 1591 (Hamilton xvii).

The censorship of Spenser’s work seems to have greatly impacted the poet as he wrote the

remaining books of The Faerie Queene as evidenced by the increasingly poor reputation of

writing seen in them.

In his book Pastoral Forms and Attitudes, Harold E. Toliver discusses the role of court

poets like Spenser, comparing them to chronicling servants. He writes,

“And whereas all men of vision may be equal in mythic dreams, they become handmaids

or servants or courtiers the stories of real history: poets of high archetypes become

chroniclers of feudal lords. The poem remains a romance and Queen Elizabeth a fairy

queen, but the poet includes the court panegyrist as well as the visionary” (Toliver 79).

In this passage, the reader sees how court employment restricted poets like Spenser as well as

their general service to society as entertainers. A poet, no matter how accomplished, must please

their patrons if they want to be read, often resulting in the poet becoming a chronicler of great

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ones rather than an artist attempting to capture true beauty. In Toliver, poets become historians

and in doing so lose a battle against the more brutal parts of society.

Spenser expresses this same struggle through Colin Clout on Mount Acidale. When

Calidore, a knight and representative of the court, invades Clout’s artistic space he must stop

playing as the true beauty around him disappears; he then must explain the recently vanished

sight to an awestruck Calidore, fulfilling his role as chronicler. In this episode, we see a parody

of the courtly poet who sees true beauty disappear through censorship and, after being drained of

his experience, ultimately disappears himself.

Despite its cynical tone, this episode shows Spenser’s understanding of the poet as a

historian. As Spenser dedicates the poem “to live with the eternitie of her [Queen Elizabeth]

fame”, it is likely that Spenser wanted to and had believed he could be remembered forever

through his poetry in The Faerie Queene. Spenser’s understanding of poetry’s permanence

explains his horror at censorship and forced content. If he is to be remembered forever, it should

be for his own words and thoughts, not those forced on him by the government or society. It also

explains Spenser dedication to temperance. Spenser wrote as a poet in a nation-defining age.

After years of political and religious strife in which most of England’s old ways vanished, the

peace of Queen Elizabeth’s nearly 50-year reign allowed for the country to redefine itself.

In The Faerie Queene, Spenser uses his role as a chronicler to cement his work in the

collective memory of a nation and through that placement advocate for temperance. Spenser

utilization of art and love to promote temperance shows his understanding of the writer’s

historical role. A society’s great loves and great artistic works are often what is remembered of

them. For instance, the Theseus myth Spenser invokes comes from Greek society nearly 3,000

years ago. The art of the Greek’s well documents this tragic love story, as does the art of their

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ideological successors. We see love remembered through art in many other cultures as well, with

Venus statues being some of the only surviving relics of many ancient societies. Humanity

clearly wants to remember love and uses art to do so, in turn making the art iconic as well.

Edmund Spenser lived in an intemperate time marked by a bloody history and an opulent

court. Through using the memory adherent elements of art and love, Edmund Spenser advocates

for Temperance in his own society while also attempting to cement a temperate reputation for

England in the future. Through his understanding of memory, art, and love Spenser placed a

temperate society in the firmament for us to gaze at, like so many stars, long after the realization

of its own mortality.

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 Works Cited

Augustine, Saint. Of the Morals of Catholic Church and On the Morals of the Manichaeans,

Newadvent.com, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1402.htm, 388.

Guth, Hans P. “Allegorical Implications of Artifice in Spenser's Faerie Queene.”

Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 1961

Lewis, C.S. The Allegory of Love. Oxford UP, 1971.

Plato. The Republic of Plato. Translated by Allan Bloom, Basic Books, 1986.

Toliver, Harold E. Pastoral Forms and Attitudes. University of California Press, 1971

Spenser, Edmund. The Faerie Queene. Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene, Edited by A.C

Hamilton, 2nd edition, Routledge, 2001.

Wofford, Susanne Lindgren. “Gendering Allegory: Spenser’s Bold Reader and the Emergence of
Character in The Faerie Queene III”. Criticism, Wayne State University Press, 1998

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