“EPITHALAMION” By SPENSER Summary

➥Elizabethan Poetry

“EPITHALAMION” – SPENSER

About the Author:

Edmund Spenser was born sometime between 1552-1553 in the city of London. His father was a clothmaker for Merchant Taylor’s Company. In 1561, he entered the newly founded Merchant Taylor’s School, admitted as a ‘poor scholar’ which cut the cost of fees and payments. There he studied and suffered under the cruel teacher Richard Mulcaster.Spenser was taught both Latin and more importantly English, as Mulcaster, “who was a strong defender of the English language [said], ‘I honor the Latin, but I worship the English.’” Mulcaster’s approach to education may have had a strong impact on Spenser’s later work. Although it was common to be a prominent Latin poet in this period, Spenser’s work is overwhelmingly and thoroughly English.

Summary of the Text

Introduction:

• Epithalamion is an ode written by Edmund Spenser to his second wife, Elizabeth Boyle, on their wedding day in 1594.
•  It was first published in 1595 in London by William Ponsonby as part of a volume entitled Amoretti and Epithalamion.
• The volume included the sequence of 89 sonnets (Amoretti), along with a series of short poems called Anacreontics and the Epithalamion.

• Only six complete copies of this first edition remain today, including one at the Folger Shakespeare Library and one at the Bodleian Library.
• Epithalamion is a poem celebrating a marriage.
•  An epithalamium is a song or poem written specifically for a bride on her way to the marital chamber.
• He is spending the day anxiously awaiting to marry Elizabeth Boyle. 
• The poem describes the day in detail in 24 stanzas.
• It has 433 lines.

Stanza -1

Inviting muses for his song:

“You learned sisters”—The author talks about how great the muses are here. He says that the muses have been with him and other people by teaching them how to sing beautiful songs. In this line, the author talked about the other writers. In their prayer songs, most of the artists have talked about you. Some writers have written prayers of happiness, while others have written songs of sadness about bad things that happen, like death, love, and lucky losses, etc. They use your names in sad songs, which shows that the muses can change depending on the poets’ ideas. People have used the names of the gods in both happy and sad times, says the poet. But the artist doesn’t want to talk about that sadness. He gives the muses wreaths to wear and asks them to help him write a love song. The artist wants to have the things that Orpheus had. He wants to write his own song for his bride, just like Orpheus did.

Stanza-2

Get Ready Bride:

From the hill, the sun shines out to the rest of the world before it even gets there. It’s not as cold or wet at night when there is light around. This is because Hymen, the god of marriage, is already awake and ready. He tells the muses to go to her room and wake her up. All the single men are waiting for him in neat clothes. He tells the muses to get her ready because today is the day they’ve all been waiting for. No more pain or sadness for them, and now they can enjoy themselves. The poet tells the gods to sing for her.

Stanza-3

Inviting Muses & Nymphs for floral decoration:

The author tells the muses to bring all the nymphs. He asks the nymphs of the rivers, woods, and sea, as well as any other nymphs they can call with a pretty wreath. As he speaks, he tells the nymphs to bring the flower arrangements and lilies and roses. He tells them to use a blue silk ribbon to tie the garlands together and put them away in wedding poses. He tellsthem to bring more flowers to make their wedding bower look nicer. He tells the nymphs to put flowers everywhere his bride walks on the grounds. He says the flowers should have a nice smell. He asks the nymphs to decorate her door room so that she can see right away when she wakes up. He asks them to sing a song for her while they do this.

Stanza-4

Nymphs, to be careful and invite to decorate:

The poet asks the Mulla nymphs to be careful because there are silver-skinned fish in the water where people fish with pikes. He tells the nymphs to keep fishermen from fishing in the Lake. He asks the gods to make sure the water is clear; it should reflect their faces and be as bright as glass so that his bride can see it and see that there are no marks on her face. As they watch over the deer on a grayish mountain with towers, the author talks with maids with light feet. He tells the maids to use their steel darts to guard the deer from the wolves. He tells them to be careful, but he also wants them to come to his wedding to sing a song and dress his bride.

Stanza-5

Poet asks the sleeping bride to wake up hearing birds singing:

He asks his bride to wake up. In this stanza, he called the Rosy Morne the Goddess Aurora, who was married to Tithonus. She is the dawn goddess. The poet says Aurora has already left Tithonus’s bed, which means it’s almost dawn and you’re still asleep. The sky starts to turn silver before dawn, and the aurora is ready. The Sun God Phoebus starts to show his beautiful head. In this picture, the birds are singing a happy song of love and praise. The artist talks about the birds. The lark birds are singing Christian church songs. The thrushes playing the songs again and again. There is more noise from the mavis birds than normal. There are screams from ouzel birds. There are soft songs from ruddock birds. For today’s party, they are all singing together. My sweet lady love, you’ve been asleep for a long time. You should wake up now because it’s finally a happy day. Can’t you hear the bird singing? The author asks. The birds are sitting on the wet leaves and singing you a happy, sweet song.

Stanza-6

The bride is awake and the poet seeks help to make his bride up:

The poet is glad that his bride is finally awake. During the night, her eyes are dim, like dark clouds. But when she’s awake, they shine brighter than Hesperus, the Venus star. He asks the girls to help her get ready. After that, he asks Jove’s fertile days and nights to fill their days with good times so they can live a productive life. He wants fair days so that he can enjoy his life. The artist asks three of the Cyprian Queen’s maids to make his bride look beautiful. Euphrosyne, Agalia, and Thaila were Venus’ three maids who took care of her looks and clothes. He asks them to give him a makeover like they do for Venus because of how beautiful she is.

Stanza-7

The bride and groom are ready:

The poet informs that his bride is ready. The virgins, the bride maids are waiting for her, and the fresh boy, the groom’s men, are waiting for him. He asks them to be prepared as he is coming. He asks them to look upon every matter whether it is correct for the beautiful day. On this joyful day, the poet is looking at the Sun. He is asking the Sun God to do him a favor. He asks the sun god to produce less heat because it may burn the beautiful face of his bride, which may spoil her beauty today. He is requesting Phoebus, the Sun god, that he sings the song of praise, which may enter at least at the corner of the head of God. He represents himself as a servant who wishes to boon the Sunlight for his wedding day alone and let all the days shine brighter. If he does so, the poet will sing a song of praise for him.

Stanza-8

The wedding Music:

The poet asks to hear the singers out loud. From far away, you can hear their happy song. He says that the sounds of the pipes and tabors match the voices of the people singing. The songs are making all the young women happy. The tumbrels are making a sweet sound that makes everyone want to dance so much that they lose their minds, which means they focus on the sound. The boys are running down the street and making a noise that sounds like Hymen, the god of marriage. This noise could reach heaven and fill the sky. When they answer that, the people standing cheer with them. They seem to be singing for Hymen.

Stanza-9

The Bride is on her way to the Bridal chamber:

The poet says that his love is coming to the wedding bower, making it sound like Phoebe, the Moon Goddess, is coming from the East. He says she’s like the Moon Goddess. As the moon rises and spreads its white light, his bride wears white, which shows that she is a virgin and therefore pure. Because she looks like an angel, it might make all men weak. She has pearls and fresh flowers in her blonde hair that makes it look like golden wire. She wears a green garland crown and a dress that looks like a golden robe, which makes her look like a queen. Everyone is looking at her, which makes her feel bad about looking up, so she fixes her eyes on the ground and blushes as she hears the praise song. As the author is far from being proud, a loud wedding song plays in the background.

Stanza-10

Praise of bride’s external beauty:

Now, the poet asks the daughters of traders who travel the world if they have ever seen such a beautiful creature as his bride. She is lovely, sweet, and gentle, and she is full of beauty and goodness. The author then starts to compare his bride’s beauty: her eyes are like sapphires, her forehead is like ivory, her cheeks are like apples, her lips are like cherries, her breasts are like bowls of cream, her pap’s or nipples are like lilies buds, her snowy neck is like a marble tower, and her whole body is like a white palace. All of her beauty on the outside is rising to respect, but her purity is sitting even higher in a bower. When the virgins look at her, he asks them why they forgot to sing the wedding song.

Stanza-11

Bride’s inward beauty:

Poet says that eyes can never show how beautiful his bride is on the inside. She is very beautiful on the inside, with gifts from heaven, which is more than anyone could see. Astounded, people would stand there as if they had seen Medusa’s head. She loves sweetly, stays pure all the time, and has unwavering faith in women’s hood. Some rules need to be broken because of how good she is, like a queen on the royal throne. She shows love in certain ways. Anyone who thought about getting her to change her mind had already seen her divine gift of chastity. He asks everyone at the wedding to sing about the fun things she hasn’t told anyone about being chaste.

Stanza-12

Bride arriving at the wedding altar:

The poet asks someone to let his lover through the church gate. He asks you to let her in by opening the gates wide. The women look at her and forget what they are doing. There are flowers on the pillars to welcome a creature that looks like a holy saint that is coming. In a nervous and humble way, she walks inside. In the church, she stands before Jesus Christ. When the poet asks them to enter the holy place, he tells them to take off their proud faces and learn how to obey from his bride. He tells them to take her to the altar, which is where the wedding is happening. The instruments begin to play out loud to praise Jesus Christ. The band starts to sing the Joy Anthem as they sing the chorus.

Stanza-13

Bride’s shyness at the Altar:

The holy priest says the wedding prayers and blesses the bride with his two happy hands while she stands at the altar. Her cheeks turn rose-red, which makes them look like vermeil marks in the snow. (Golden white), and her blush looks like dark red dye. Angels are mistakenly ignoring their tasks at the altar to look at her beautiful face. But she still looks at the ground with her eyes, which shows how humble she is. All eyes are on her, even though she has nothing to look at. This might make her angry. She turns pink when the artist asks for her hand in marriage. When angels look at her, he tells them to sing Alleluya.

Stanza-14

Post-wedding party:

It’s over with the wedding. They are to bring the bride home, he says. She is what made their win possible. Asking the bride to bring her glory, the poem says. He says that God has given him so much happiness that he is happier than any other guy. He tells everyone to enjoy the feast because the day will always be special to him. He tells everyone to fill up on wine. He tells everyone to have fun at the party until they’re completely drunk and hot. Because they have watched over the day so well, he wants to crown Bacchus, the God of wine and Hymen, and all the other Gods and Goddesses. The girl needs to sing a song now.

Stanza-15

Description of the wedding day:

Because today is a holy day, the poet tells the young men to ring the bell and take a break from their normal work. This will be put down so that it will never be forgotten. This was his wish for the Sun to moderate because it was Barnaby day, which isn’t like other days. As he had hoped, the Sun gave off less heat and light. He doesn’t like that the priest picked this day. Because he picked the longest day of the year, he must have been looking behind him when he made his choice. He thought it was unlucky, which means he didn’t know much about religion. It’s a long day today, but only a short night, and the author can’t wait to be alone with his wife. He tells the bells to ring to get the day back to normal and start the fire. He tells everyone to sing and dance about the day.

Stanza-16

Poet’s impatience and arrival of the evening:

The poet asks when the long day will end. He wants to spend time with his love. He thinks that the timing is running slowly like feathers moving. He asks the Sun to go west and set because he has been riding all day and he may rest. After a long wait, the poet sees Venus, in the golden Crest appears on the west. He praises Venus as the fair child of beauty and the glorious lamp of love, who has been ranked as a host in heaven and guiding lovers to the beautiful night. you look cheerful above and laughing between the twinkling light. The site is joyful and the poet is glad to sing about it.

Stanza-17

Poet asks the bridesmaids to leave:

She asks the girls to leave her alone because they’ve been with her all day. Today is over, and now it’s getting dark. He tells them to get his wife from the bridal chamber, take off her wedding dress, and get her ready for the bed. The singer now talks about their wedding bed. It has flowers and violets on top of a silk curtain. If you use an Arras bed cover, the sheets will smell good. His bride is shy and humble now. He says she’s like Maia, who is shy but chills out with Jove on the green grass. She got pregnant after they woke up. Now, the bridesmaids may have left my love alone, just like they do when they sing the wedding song in the morning.

Stanza-18

Poet wishes for an undisturbed Night:

They have been looking forward to this night for a long time, and the author starts to welcome it. As of now, they have paid for the longest day of work, which means they no longer have to suffer. After she said yes, he stopped his soft love and gathered all of his care and cruel love into one. He tells the night to cover them with its wings so no one can see them. He doesn’t want any commotion to happen under the mantle because he is afraid that something might happen. He hopes that there is no treason that could catch them. Fear shouldn’t get in the way of their happiness. He wants the night to be quiet and calm, with no storms or fights on the roads. He doesn’t want anything to happen like when Jove had Alcmena because of her husband Amplitron, Triynthian’s groom. He lied and said he was her husband and slept with her. He doesn’t want anything bad to happen, so he asks the young men and girls to sing.

Stanza-19

Poet afraid of mishappening:

The poet wants to stop crying and wailing over sad things. His dislike of false words or any other sound that makes them feel scared wakes them up and makes them feel uncomfortable. He hopes they don’t have any bad dreams or scary pictures that make them nervous. It shouldn’t catch on fire or lightning strike, and no evil spirit should hurt them. They shouldn’t have any witches or goblins putting charms on them or making noise with their evil. He wants to get away from everything. There shouldn’t be any scary sounds or Raven’s yells. Vultures and ghosts shouldn’t hurt them. He wants to choke all the frogs so he doesn’t have to listen to their croaking. Lastly, the author doesn’t want any dull accents, which means they don’t want any annoying sounds to bother them.

Stanza-20

Poet asking for help from Cupid:

He wants people to be quiet all night long so that they can be at peace. The author wants to go to sleep soon. He talks about Cupid as a hundred little angels flying all over the bed on feathers that look like doves. No one could speak against his desire to be with his bride at night. He wants to enjoy the wedding night like a thief, which makes everyone happy. It should hide their secret night. Now the artist wants Cupid, the son of Venus and the god of love, to help him. He asks him to help him with his wedding night so that he can give his wife endless pleasure in the paradise of joys. He doesn’t care if the game is good or not; he just wants to keep playing because dawn is coming. He wants to sing a song that won’t get in the way of them..

Stanza-21.

Poet seeks the help of Cynthia:

The poet can now see Cynthia, the goddess of the moon, from the window. Her pretty face makes her shine. She walks through heaven all night and never sleeps. She should not be jealous of their marriage on their wedding night, he tells her. He talks about her relationship with a Latmian shepherd. She fell in love with him and had fifty children with him. So, he asks her for a favor: she helps women get pregnant, which makes their family bigger. The artist asks her to bless his wife and her reformed womb so that they can have a child. He is going to sing to her until he hears good news.

Stanza-22

Poet-seeking Gods & Goddess help:

He asks Juno, the Goddess of marriage, to bless them. Juno’s name is in the law of marriage. In all the ceremonies of marriage, her name is there. People often call her a “woman of art” because she is so smart. He asks Goddess Juno to bless and unite them. The poet asks the genius, who was a guardian angel who often prayed at weddings to assist the couple in getting pregnant, especially the men, to gently bless their fertility. Problems with getting married shouldn’t come up. He asks them to give him a lot of pleasure and to bless them with children who will have lots of children. He tells them to bless the baby with those fruits on the night they get married. He asks Hebe, the goddess of youth, and Hymen to let them live together as a married couple. Until that happens, the couple will praise them.

Stanza-23

Poet seeking the blessing of all God and Goddess:

The poet asks all the gods and goddesses in heaven to bless him or her. He says that the temple of the gods has a lot of lights that put out bright light for people when they are in the dark. He wants them all to bless the couple so much that it rains from heaven, so that they can live forever and bring more people into the world. His prayer is for the Gods to bless their whole generation with happiness forever. They should get great rewards from heaven to help their people grow. He tells his wife to rest, and the two of them pray that God will bless them at the right time.

Stanza-24

The poem is immortal:

Instead of any decorations, the poet wants to show this song in which he talks about his true love. You can destroy or replace even landmarks because they only last for a certain amount of time. The poem he wrote in a short amount of time is a nice gift that he is giving her.