Epithalamion by Edmund Spenser

First published: 1595

Type of work: Poetry

Type of plot: Love

Time of plot: June 11, 1594

Locale: Southern Ireland

Principal characters

• The poem’s speaker, a groom
• The speaker’s bride,
• Various classical deities and spirits,

The Poem:

On the day of his wedding, the poem’s speaker calls upon the muses. They have often inspired him with verse, he says, so he now asks them to assist him in singing the praises of his love and preparing for the wedding. It is not yet dawn when he asks the muses to wake his bride after gathering lilies, roses, and flowers of all kinds to prepare her bower and her path for the moment when she awakes. The poet then calls directly upon the nymphs who care for various facets of nature’s beauty to come to help prepare his bride and to sing to her.

The groom next addresses his bride herself, urging her to awake. All nature is singing in affirmation, he tells her, of the day’s joyous event. Asking why she still sleeps, he invokes various divine attendants to assist in preparation. He prays to Phoebus Apollo, father of the muses, asking that this particular day be given to the poet and promising to then praise Phoebus with loud singing.

The groom turns his description to his bride’s procession and her beauty. Much music, singing, and dancing anticipates her coming forth. She appears, dressed in white that he says is so appropriate to her virginity that one might think she were an angel. The poet tells the daughters of merchants to consider his bride’s beauty: her golden hair, her modest countenance, her eyes, cheeks, lips, breasts, neck, and figure, shining in perfect purity so that other virgins stand in amazement to look at her. Her inner beauty, he tells them, is even more glorious. The virtues of love, chastity, faith, respect, and modesty rule her heart and keep temptation far from her mind. If only they could see those invisible virtues, he says, they would be filled with wonder and song.

The groom then calls for the church to be opened for the bride’s entrance to the ceremony itself. He instructs the attendant maidens to observe and learn from his bride’s reverence. The bride is brought to the altar for the ceremony, as music plays in praise of the Lord. She blushes as the priest blesses her; even the angels attending the altar are distracted by the beauty of her face. The poet asks his bride why she so shyly takes his hand in oath.

Once the ceremony is complete, the celebration commences. The new husband cries to all those in attendance, telling them to rejoice, to let the feasting begin, to pour the wine, and to ring the bells. He laments that this day, midsummer’s day, is the longest day and shortest night of the year; thus, the hours until they can consummate the marriage are passing too slowly. At last, the evening star appears, twinkling with gladness for their sakes.

The celebration concludes as darkness approaches. The groom calls for his bride to be escorted to the bower. He addresses the night, asking it to wrap the newlyweds together in peaceful darkness, free of fear or trouble or tears. He urges that nothing, whether whispers, dreams, evil spirits, birds, or frogs, make any disturbance, calling for complete silence as they spend their first night together. The groom next turns his song into a prayer for a blessing upon his bride’s womb and their offspring, petitioning various deities overseeing marriage or procreation, including Juno, Genius, and Hymen. He closes the poem by addressing the song itself, commissioning it to serve as a decoration for and monument to his bride.

Bibliography

Greenlaw, Edwin, et al., eds. The Works of Edmund Spenser—A Variorum Edition: The Minor Poems, Vol. II. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1947. This significant critical edition of the poem (along with all of Spenser’s works) offers detailed annotations with explanations, cross references, and analogues for key words in nearly every line of the poem. Appendixes provide excerpts from major critical and historical treatments of the poem, as well as its sources, poetics, and influence.

Hadfield, Andrew, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Spenser. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Includes a wide range of essays covering Spenser’s major poetry groupings, historical and cultural influences, biography, and influence. Epithalamion is discussed among the “shorter poems.”

Hieatt, A. Kent. Short Time’s Endless Monument: The Symbolism of the Numbers in Edmund Spenser’s “Epithalamion.” New York: Columbia University Press, 1960. A seminal study of specific numerical patterns in the poem as an essential elements of Spenser’s primary meaning. Includes an annotated text of the poem.

Larsen, Kenneth J., ed. Edmund Spenser’s “Amoretti” and “Epithalamion”: A Critical Edition. Tempe, Ariz.: Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 1997. This critical edition of the poem provides a useful introduction and a thorough commentary with excellent glosses, cross references, and a detailed explication. An appendix provides a listing of scripture readings and lessons from The Book of Common Prayer for 1594 for the dates covered by the two poems.

Oram, William A. Edmund Spenser. New York: Simon & Schuster/Macmillan, 1997. Accessible for students and other nonspecialists, this chronological overview of Spenser’s poetry offers a chapter on each major phase of Spenser’s career, including one on the Amoretti and Epithalamion that details sources, major themes, and specifics of genre.

Van Es, Bart, ed. A Critical Companion to Spenser Studies. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Collection of essays touching on various aspects of Spenser’s life and poetry, including his representations of politics, religion, and women. An essay titled “Shorter Verse Published 1590-95” includes detailed discussion of Epithalamion. A final essay on resources for Spenser studies and an extensive bibliography make the volume a useful starting point for further research.