HIS WIDE
DEVOURING
OVEN, the furnace of his maw, or belly.
Spenser - Faerie Queene - 1
ABOVE HIS HABLE MIGHT, beyond the strength of which he is capable.
172. HE SO DISSEIZED, etc. , i. e. the dragon being thus dispossessed of his
rough grip. The construction is nominative absolute.
185. AND GREEDY GULFE DOES GAPE, etc. , i. e. the greedy waters gape as if
they would devour the land.
187. THE BLUSTRING BRETHREN, the winds.
228.
HIS WIDE DEVOURING OVEN, the furnace of his maw, or belly.
235. THAT GREAT CHAMPION, Hercules. The charmed garment steeped in the
blood of the Centaur Nessus, whom Hercules had slain, was given him by his
wife Dejanira in order to win back his love. Instead of acting as a
philter, the poison-robe burned the flesh from his body. Ovid's
_Metamorphoses_, ix, 105.
xxviii. Observe the correspondence between the adjectives in l. 244 and the
nouns in l. 245. The sense is: "He was so faint," etc.
261. THE WELL OF LIFE. This incident is borrowed from _Bevis of Hampton_.
The allegory is based on _John_, iv, 14, and _Revelation_, xxii, 1.
267.
172. HE SO DISSEIZED, etc. , i. e. the dragon being thus dispossessed of his
rough grip. The construction is nominative absolute.
185. AND GREEDY GULFE DOES GAPE, etc. , i. e. the greedy waters gape as if
they would devour the land.
187. THE BLUSTRING BRETHREN, the winds.
228.
HIS WIDE DEVOURING OVEN, the furnace of his maw, or belly.
235. THAT GREAT CHAMPION, Hercules. The charmed garment steeped in the
blood of the Centaur Nessus, whom Hercules had slain, was given him by his
wife Dejanira in order to win back his love. Instead of acting as a
philter, the poison-robe burned the flesh from his body. Ovid's
_Metamorphoses_, ix, 105.
xxviii. Observe the correspondence between the adjectives in l. 244 and the
nouns in l. 245. The sense is: "He was so faint," etc.
261. THE WELL OF LIFE. This incident is borrowed from _Bevis of Hampton_.
The allegory is based on _John_, iv, 14, and _Revelation_, xxii, 1.
267.
