Edmund Spenser the Social Critique

Edmund Spenser

The Social Critique in Edmund Spenser's Pastoral Epic: The Shephearde's Calendar

The pastoral tradition of poetic verse is driven by a touch of romanticism for the common man. Indeed, by its very design, the style is intended to glorify the connection between peasantry and the land in its mythologizing of those who tended to the flocks. The 'pastoral' implications of this style of poetry genuinely referred to its content concerning those who wandered the meadows as pastors to a flock, often in solitude, as their charge of sheep grazed. It is worth speculating for the purposes of the research conducted here that the shepherd became a suitable subject for this type of glorification because he remained both productive and yet deeply connected to nature, a simplicity of lifestyle and a strength of character. To the poets who elaborated on the lives of such representative figures, there was something valuable and fleeting in this profession and lifestyle, as though the works of the pastoral poets somehow prefigured the invasion of modernity, industrialization and urban blight.

Quite in fact, by the time that the English pastoral works which contextualize this research had been composed, it had become increasingly less likely that the figure represented in literature was to be found in demonstration. In the Medieval period which contextualizes much of this compositional work, our research denotes that "Pastoral' (from pastor, Latin for 'shepherd') refers to a literary work dealing with shepherds and rustic life. Pastoral poetry is highly conventionalized; it presents an idealized rather than realistic view of rustic life." (Schwartz, 1) the purpose of this may well be seen as a political one, with myriad examples suggesting that the shepherd is used as a figure to be connected with an older set of values, a more steadfast relationship to the land and a bucolic simplicity all of which should be seen to elevate the common man. So was this the perception that is carried throughout Edmund Spenser's landmark 1579 composition, the Shepheardes Calendar.

A work that is often seen as the most prominent, important and representative pieces of its genre, the pastoral epic is constituted of twelve separate 'Eclogues,' a term borrowed from the template-setting pastoral work under that title by Virgil. These segments of the work are designed to represent the months of the year and constitute a reflection on the seasonal flux that forms the experience of a man well connected to the ebb and flow of nature. In this simple but evocative framing, Spenser succeeds even from his position of preeminent and courtly stature, in crafting a work that is sensitive to the plight of the peasantry. Indeed, at a time of monarchical inherency, Spenser provides a markedly populist perspective. The work in question is constituted of historical reference, linguistic approach and content choice all of which demonstrate both Spenser and the pastoral style of poetry to be distinctly minded toward a critique of the social and political structure defining 16th century European life.

Background on Spenser:

Perhaps we may deduce that though Spenser would express lifelong dedication to the crown and to Queen Elizabeth, the hazy mist surrounding his birth and early life might suggest more humble beginnings than many who had achieved the stature of court poet. To the point, much uncertainty persists in relation to his birth and parentage, which instead of being produced by a matter of public record or family reputation, is generally affirmed by the report of the poet himself. Of course, there is cause therefore to speculate as to the accuracy of the narrative account of one professionally given over to compositional fabrication. However, that which may be reported as a product of Spenser's own writing denotes that he was probably born in 1552 or 1553, and that this probably occurred in London. This is claimed in his own work entitled Prothalamion, where he refers to the city as 'Merry London, my most kindly nurse, / That to me gave this life's first native source.' (NNDB, 1)

From this claim, many historians have placed his birth in the capital city. However, it is also quite reasonable to cast a shadow of doubt on such an interpretation. Various abstractions in this concept of the city as a 'nurse' and 'native source' may be taken to suggest a more symbolic or artistic perception of birth. This scrutiny applies essentially to the understanding that little information exists to fully confirm what could be seen as Spenser's claim of a birth in London. The doubt which is cast upon his birth helps to suggest that Spenser was in fact of a more modest familial background, especially to the extent that his parentage remains up to doubt. All that we can conclude from his own remarks is that, like his wife and his queen, his mother was named Elizabeth. Beyond that, it could be suggested that the simple fact that so little is clear about his early life is in itself a fairly compelling reflection of his relative socio-economic commonness.

However, by his own elaboration once again, there is some shadow over the question of his socioeconomic status. This is a worthwhile feature of his biography to capture our focus, primarily for the reason that it feeds well into the argument made here concerning his position on the political, social and economic vagaries of the Medieval era. Thus, the lack of clarity which is cast upon this by his own report may suggest that in addition to commenting on it in his writing, Spenser was deeply conscious in general of the nature of socioeconomic inequalities in his time and place. This may function effectively as an explanation for the lengths to which he went to suggest himself as being of high birth, in spite of much evidence to the contrary. So is this noted in the profile provided to us by NNDB (2008), which referring again to Prothalamion, indicates that "in the same poem he speaks of himself as taking his name from "an house of ancient fame." Several of his pieces are addressed to the daughters of Sir John Spencer, head of the Althorp family; and in Colin Clout's Come Home Again he describes three of the ladies as 'The honor of the noble family / of which I meanest boast myself to be.' R.B. Knowles, however, is of the opinion that the poet's kinsmen must be sought among the humbler Spencers of northeast Lancashire." (NNDB, 1)

Indeed, his numerous biographers would go on to generally agree that his education at Cambridge, a step which helped to launch him into a different socio-economic echelon, would be made possible by a wealthy benefactor. This is to note that he was not by himself possessed of the means to pursue such an education, but would be on the receiving-end of a unique opportunity. Quite so, economic mobility in his time would be rarified to say the least. Even still, in reflection, it cannot be said with any certainty that Spenser distinguished himself at this most competitive of institutions. Research denotes that "little is known of Spenser's Cambridge career, except that he was a sizar of Pembroke Hall, took his bachelor's degree in 1572, his master's in 1576, and left Cambridge without having obtained a fellowship." (NNDB, 1) Again, we are reinforced in the perspective that Spenser may have straddled an economic line and a line in terms of stature both of which produced a unique duality of perspective. At once devoted to the crown and simultaneously aware of the inequities produced by its reign, Spenser would come to combine an elite scholar's education with an economically grounded vantage point.

His graduation from Cambridge would be followed by another three years of relative anonymity, all of which were most assuredly spent developing the manuscript for Shephearde's Calendar. During this intervening time, historians place him in the continued patronage of close friends, particularly a literature professor at Cambridge named Gabriel Harvey. (NNDB, 1) This man of high social standing and professional reputation helped to bring Spenser before individuals of influence, particularly in the face of his impending first manuscript. Indeed, Spenser's fast rise to the awareness of the court of London from a state of almost total anonymity highlights the unusual path taken toward distinction. NNDB indicates that following his marriage to a farmer's daughter, Harvey "introduced him to Sir Philip Sidney; that Sidney took to him, discussed poetry with him, introduced him at court, put him in the way of preferment -- are ascertained facts in his personal history. Grosart conjectures with considerable plausibility that he was in Ireland in 1577. The words "for long time far estranged" in the preface to the Shepherd's Calendar point that way. Spenser undoubtedly entered the service of the earl of Leicester either in 1578 or a year earlier." (NNDB, 1)

It would be under these terms that Spenser would channel his affections for the Greek pastoral tradition and such influences as Plato and Virgil, creating a work that would intercede with his rising social status to effective obscure the commonness of his background. Still, his union with a woman also of common birth leaves us to reflect that in all likelihood, Spenser himself would enter the court after an upbringing of modestly. This denotes the distinction of Spenser as a critique of reigning structures of authority in his time and place. This also helps to introduce our discussion to the historical context into which he deposited his first important work of poetry.

Language:

The choice of language in the poem is a curious one, at least insofar as it can be regarded as somewhat misleading of the work's time of origin. Its composition in 1579 and the poet's declared affection for and indebtedness to the works of Geoffrey Chaucer are facts submerged beneath the linguistic affectations which Spenser felt were necessary to carry the pastoral form. (Bear, 1) Indeed, the prologue which is composed by an otherwise anonymous writer signing as E.K., provides some measure of insight into the decision to use an older English tongue.(Bear, 1) it is the conclusion of Bear (2006) that this decision was made in an attempt to bypass what Spenser felt was a pointedly bastardized mode of English. But we also understand from E.K.'s prologue that a significant interest was taken in emulating the Greek writers which had broken ground on the pastoral form of lyricism.

Accordingly, the prologue offers something of a catalogue of the literature towers that hovered over the work, telling that "...and as young birdes, that be newly crept out of the nest, by little first to proue theyr tender wyngs, before they make a greater flyght. So flew Theocritus, as you may percieue he was all ready full fledged. So flew Virgile, as not yet well feeling his winges So flew Mantuane, as being not full somd. So Petrarque. So Boccace; So Marot, Sanazarus, and also diuers other excellent both Italian and French Poetes, whose foting this Author euery where followeth, yet so as few, but they be well sented can trace him out. E.K. predicts that Spenser, "our new Poete...shall be hable to keepe wing with the best." (Bear, 1) the prologue indicates that this is to be Spenser's entry into a literary tradition of acolytes. Of course, this may also be suggested as a shameless device of self-promotion, as the anonymous E.K. is quite often presumed to be an alter-ego of Spenser himself.(Bear, 1) Lacking any evidence to the contrary, it may be perceived that this is Spenser's disclaimer both justifying the linguistic decisions there made and pointed to the many from whom he had drawn inspiration for the project in question. His dedication to topics of relative historical importance is also perhaps softened to the point of being palatable by being couched in an outmoded English linguistic approach and in a Greek allegorical device of presentation such as the pastoral series of eclogues.

Certainly, it is not a coincidence that such social critics as Plato and such cultural contexts as the democratizing and simultaneously imperial Greek would provide the groundwork for Spenser's work. These are features not just of the aesthetic and stylistic decisions made. They also provide some cloaking for the otherwise explicit philosophical and social protestations in the work itself. Still, this is perhaps the most problematic feature of Spenser's work, causing it to run afoul of the taste or sentiment of many critics who found the linguistic approach to be disingenuous and fundamentally inauthentic with respect to the pastoral tradition. To this point, NNDB asserts that "a reader not already interested in Spenser, or not already familiar with the artificial eclogue, would find little to attract him in the Shepherd's Calendar. The poems need a special education; given this, they are felt to be full of charm and power, a fresh and vivid spring to the splendid summer of the Faerie Queene. The diction is a studiously archaic artificial compound, partly Chaucerian, partly North Anglian, partly factitious; and the pastoral scenery is such as may be found in any country where there are sheep, hills, trees, shrubs, toadstools and running streams." (NNDB, 1)

Such is to say that the linguistic conceits of he work do not make it easily read or interpreted. Thus, it is probably less accessible than one might desire of a work with pointed social critique. However, the artifices that make this such an academic labor of reading would also be those same that would catapult it to a high status amongst the literary denizens of the royal court, if not for its message, than for its fashionable nature. Indeed, the text was a significant piece of popular literature for its time, with the verse there presented coming into vogue by the recommendation of such aforementioned patrons to Spenser as Harvey and Sir Phillip Sidney. (NNDB, 1) Their endorsements produced no small following for Spenser, which helped to catapult an otherwise abstruse piece of literature into the mainstream.

As this concerns the language, there is some merit to the claim that its details are rewarding upon close inspection. The metaphor addressed in the section hereafter reveals the depth and emotional acuity of Spenser's writing, even as it is dulled somewhat by the distance that we may feel from his style of English. To be sure, this is similar to the distance experienced by his first readers.

As this approach concerns the nature of social critique, perhaps we can deduce that there is a far greater value in targeting the elite with such messages as perhaps it in only this conscience which can effect change. The assurance that academics would be reading this work also strengthened the likelihood that its message would hit home. In a sense, Spenser was an outsider making his entrance into this world. It can be deemed as fairly appropriate, then, that this first foray would take a linguistic voice itself quite alien to the 16th century court of England. Spenser would wear his social status as an 'other' on his sleeve, producing an altogether more tangible critical perspective as a result.

Content:

The commentary provided by Hales (2004) introduces us to the general content of Spenser's epic poem. Its structure is a familiar literary and metaphorical device which describes the life of man in parallel to the passing of the seasons. As Hales outlines, "It consists of twelve eclogues, one for each month of the year. Of these, three (i., vi., and xii.), as we have seen, treat specially of his own disappointment in love. Three (ii., viii., and x.) are of a more general character, having old age, a poetry combat, 'the perfect pattern of a poet' for their subjects. One other (iii.) deals with love-matters. One (iv.)

celebrates the Queen, three (v., vii, and ix.) discuss 'Protestant and Catholic,' Anglican and Puritan questions." (Hales, 1) This is a useful outline as it helps us to clarify some of the themes which are constructed to align with individual seasons. Though such themes become self-apparent with a fuller reading of Spenser's poem, this is a constructive guide for understanding the implications of individual passages. It also helps us to isolate some individual stanzas that, when left on their own, provide some stark positions on the social order and economic structure of Spenser's time.

Indeed, the degree to which Spenser's work functioned as a social critique may perhaps best be discovered in his sympathies. In his work, he extended these with an unflinching description. The poetic devices borne of his old English affectations help to make palatable an otherwise brutal description of the fate of the poor. In the Eclogue for the month of Maye,, the speaker observes from the comfort of his doorstep, an old impoverished man struggling in what may be his last wretched moments of life:

"all as a poore pedlar he did wend,

Bearing a trusse of tryfles at hys backe,

As bells, and babes, and glasses in hys packe.

A Biggen he had got about his brayne,

For in his headpeace he felt a sore payne.

His hinder heele was wrapt in a clout,

For with great cold he had gotte the gout.

There at the dore he cast me downe hys pack,

And layd him downe, and groned, Alack, Alack.

Ah deare Lord, and sweet Saint Charitee,

That some good body woulde once pitie mee." (Spenser, Maye)

Here, Spenser provides an observation that in the composition of Enlightenment writers and Marxist ideologues several centuries hence would become quite commonplace. But recalling that in fact, at the time of this work's release, Spenser had only recently invited to make an appearance before the court of the queen, this type of empathetic portrayal is hardly to be seen as the normative. The suffering man in the Maye description is neither a beggar or a transient. He is a peddler of honest but limited means. The agony, illness and harshness of the elements which factor into this description evoke a sense of moral outrage. Indeed, for the 16th century, to describe a poor man without contextualizing this in some rationalization justifying the man's pitiable condition. This is instead a rather unforgiving segment of the human life cycle presented by the whole piece of work. The struggles of the peddler denote a significant departure from the treatment imposed upon the poor by the feudalist caste system. Of course, the resolution of this depiction is the rather shocking outcome that the peddler is a villain in disguise who has taken advantage of the kindness of a stranger in order to kidnap her child. The troubling outcome suggests also some shrouded commentary on the variations of the wretched which are produced by poverty and despair.

It also strikes a sharp contrast from the bright imagery of springtime which is denoted in the celebration of the shepherds at the start of this Eclogue. It here that the idealization of the shepherd's lifestyle comes to take on symbolic value to our discussion. The pitiable condition of the peddler does nothing to recommend the common life. And to this point, it suggests a clear critical slant against the economic structures of Medieval Europe. But there is also a glorification in this work of the life of simplicity, such that the shepherd's lack of want and the modesty of his need functions as something invoking both individual pleasure and a shared good fortune. So tells Spenser through Maye's primary speaker, Palinode:

"I sawe a shole of shepeheardes outgoe,

With singing, and shouting, and iolly chere:

Before them yode a lusty Tabrere,

That to the many a Horne pype playd,

Whereto they dauncen eche one with his mayd.

To see those folkes make such iouysaunce,

Made my heart after the pype to daunce.

Tho to the greene Wood they speeden hem all,

To fetchen home May with their musicall." (Spenser, Maye)

As moving as this lush imagery is, there is nothing in it so compelling as the resolution. The merriment which depicts the shepherds and their wives dancing, drinking and engaging in untold debauchery tells that in closing, "home they bringen in a royall throne, / Crowned as king: and his Queene attone." (Spenser, Maye) to refer to the celebrations of the two figures as royal in nature is both to confirm the claims of pastoral poetry as glorifying the lives of shepherds and to provide a fairly bold social proclamation. In this simplicity of lifestyle and the joy which is produced by this celebration, Spenser celebrates the capacity of all men and women to live in happiness and comfort. Once again, as with the sympathies evoked for the peddler, this appears to be a fairly simple statement but in truth, provides a sharp departure from the reigning conditions of the time.

Ironically, it would also be one in a long litany of literary examples where the shepherd did occupy this mythologized status in spiritual iconography. So tells Hamilton (1990), whose Spenser Encyclopedia is regarded as one of the foremost documents of insight into the body of work produced by Edmund Spenser. Hamilton remarks that "the shepherd was taken as the type of contemplative life as opposed to the active plowman; and this symbolism was combined with the metaphorical link between shepherd and priest, and with the fact that shepherds in their night vigils could watch the course of the heavens, to make the shepherd also the source of authoritative wisdom." (Hamilton, 531) for Spenser to combine this prominent role in literary expression with provocations of royalty would be to introduce his own political intonations to a device with its specific evolutionary timeline.

To an extent, in fact, the history of the shepherd as a figure of value to allegorical literature suggests that Spenser could not have chosen a more fitting conduit for his sense of critical scrutiny. Hamilton reports that "the notion that the shepherd could be the mouthpiece of instruction lies behind the work that gives the Shepheardes Calender its title. The Shepherds' Kalendar, based on the French Compost et Kalendrier des Bergers, was a kind of moral almanac loosely cast in the form of teaching by a master shepherd." (Hamilton, 531) Thus, Spenser's education and humble beginnings would allow him to approach the symbolic figure with a greater appreciation for the opportunity to direct moral observations toward the economic realities of his time.

Indeed, following this depiction of the springtime is his characterization of the summer as presented in the Eclogue for July. This features a discussion between the priest, Morrell, and the Shepherd, Thomalin. As per the nature of the pastoral poem, a distinction is made in their respective bodies of wisdom which speaks far more favorably for the shepherd. We may deduce that this is almost certainly designed as a critique of the manipulative authority of the Church in his time. For the poet to criticize the religious structures of his time just as he was beginning to gain access into an upper echelon of the courtly society would be thought provoking and daring. But when Morrell speaks in condescension to Thomalin, urging him to ascend from his 'lowly playne' to join him on a hill. (Spenser, July) This imagery immediately shows the pastor as a haughty and self-indulgent figure, a fact only further magnified by Thomalin's response, where he admonishes the preacher:

"Ah God shield, man, that I should clime, and learne to looke alofte,

This reede is ryfe, that oftentime great clymbers fall vnsoft.

In humble dales is footing fast, the trode is not so tickle:

And though one fall through heedlesse hast, yet is his misse not mickle." (Spenser, July)

In the midst of the growing season, the reposing priest strikes a contrast to the laboring shepherd. The symbolic proximity of the etymology of the terms 'shepherd' and 'pastor' highlights the perception that these are two figures operating on different points of the same moral spectrum. The criticism offered by the shepherd suggests that the priest has come to abuse his status and has forgotten to be humble. The shepherd predicts a tragic fall for his conversational partner. This underscores what may be seen as Spenser's discomfort with the machinations of power as represented by the Church.

This is a sentiment only intensified with the presentation of autumn and the connections here made with the iniquities of the crown. In the month of October, and through the words of the narrator Piers, Spenser provides among his more explicit declarations concerning the connection between socioeconomic inequities and the inspiration for this first work. Here, the autumnal atmosphere is painted by such phrases as "smoke, that sheddeth in the skye, sike words bene wynd, and wasten soon in vayne." (Spenser, October) the decay of the fall months is captured here in stark and compelling utility. It also provides a setup for what could be taken as an admission on the part of Spenser as to his position on the social and economic realities of his time. Here, Piers declares:

"Abandon then the base and viler clowne,

Lyft vp thy selfe out of the lowly dust:

And sing of bloody Mars, of wars, of giusts,

Turne thee to those, that weld the awful crowne.

To doubted Knights, whose woundlesse armour rusts,

And helmes vnbruzed wexen dayly browne.

There may thy Muse display her fluttryng wing,

And stretch her selfe at large from East to West." (Spenser, October)

Spenser presents an aggressive stance on the contrast between the 'base and viler clowne' in 'lowly dust' and the 'awful crowne' and 'doubted Knights.' It is almost as though the concept of revolution has been espoused in this statement. And to its resolution, which refers to a Muse, we may either take Spenser at his word that this is an inspiration provided by the Queen or we can instead deduce that the inspiration is the act of retaliation against unequal systems. In either regard, the couching of this point of discussion in the month of autumn bears its own pertinence to the critical message of Spenser's work.