The
allusion
is to the story of Diana and Endymion.
Spenser - Faerie Queene - 1
332).
339. CHOSE. Imitation of Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_, ii, 15, in which a
false spirit is called up by a hypocritical hermit. The description of the
House of Sleep in st. xxxix _seq_. is modelled on the same poet, _Orlando
Furioso_, ii, 15 _seq_. The influence of Homer's _Odyssey_, xi, 16 is seen
in st. xxxix, ll. 348 _seq_.
348. TETHYS, the ocean. In classical mythology she is the daughter of
Uranus (heaven) and Gaea (earth), and the wife of Oceanus.
349. CYNTHIA, the moon.
The allusion is to the story of Diana and Endymion.
See Lyly's play _Endymion_.
352. WHOSE DOUBLE GATES. Homer, _Odyssey_, xix, 562, and Vergil, _Aeneid_,
vi, 893, give the House of Dreams a horn and an ivory gate. Spenser
substitutes silver for horn, mirrors being overlaid with silver in his
time. From the ivory gate issued false dreams; from the other, true ones.
361. SLUMBER SOFT. This stanza shows Spenser's wonderful technique. His
exquisite effects are produced, it will be noticed, partly by the choice of
musical words and partly by the rhythmical cadence of the verse phrases. It
is an example of perfect "keeping," or adaptation of sound to sense. Cf.
Chaucer's description of the waterfalls in the Cave of Sleep in his _Boke
of the Duchesse_, 162.
376. WHOSE DRYER BRAINE, whose brain too dry.
339. CHOSE. Imitation of Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_, ii, 15, in which a
false spirit is called up by a hypocritical hermit. The description of the
House of Sleep in st. xxxix _seq_. is modelled on the same poet, _Orlando
Furioso_, ii, 15 _seq_. The influence of Homer's _Odyssey_, xi, 16 is seen
in st. xxxix, ll. 348 _seq_.
348. TETHYS, the ocean. In classical mythology she is the daughter of
Uranus (heaven) and Gaea (earth), and the wife of Oceanus.
349. CYNTHIA, the moon.
The allusion is to the story of Diana and Endymion.
See Lyly's play _Endymion_.
352. WHOSE DOUBLE GATES. Homer, _Odyssey_, xix, 562, and Vergil, _Aeneid_,
vi, 893, give the House of Dreams a horn and an ivory gate. Spenser
substitutes silver for horn, mirrors being overlaid with silver in his
time. From the ivory gate issued false dreams; from the other, true ones.
361. SLUMBER SOFT. This stanza shows Spenser's wonderful technique. His
exquisite effects are produced, it will be noticed, partly by the choice of
musical words and partly by the rhythmical cadence of the verse phrases. It
is an example of perfect "keeping," or adaptation of sound to sense. Cf.
Chaucer's description of the waterfalls in the Cave of Sleep in his _Boke
of the Duchesse_, 162.
376. WHOSE DRYER BRAINE, whose brain too dry.
