THAT DREADFUL DRAGON,
symbolical
of Satan.
Spenser - Faerie Queene - 1
).
The
soul is strengthened by the ordinances of religion: baptism, regeneration,
etc.
2. There is a hint of the long and desperate struggle between Reformed
England (St. George) and the Church of Rome, in which the power of the Pope
and the King of Spain was broken in England, the Netherlands, and other
parts of Europe. Some may see a remoter allusion to the delivery of Ireland
from the same tyranny.
13. BE AT YOUR KEEPING WELL, be well on your guard.
iii. This stanza is not found in the edition of 1590.
30. AND SEEMD UNEATH, etc. , and seemed to shake the steadfast ground (so
that it became) unstable. Church and Nares take _uneath_ to mean "beneath"
or "underneath"; Kitchin conjectures "almost. "
31.
THAT DREADFUL DRAGON, symbolical of Satan. Spenser here imitates the
combat between St. George and the Dragon in the _Seven Champions of
Christendom_, i.
32. This description of the dragon watching the tower from the sunny
hillside is justly admired for its picturesqueness, power, and
suggestiveness. The language is extremely simple, but the effect is
awe-inspiring. It has been compared with Turner's great painting of the
Dragon of the Hesperides.
42. O THOU SACRED MUSE, Clio, the Muse of History, whom Spenser calls the
daughter of Phoebus (Apollo) and Mnemosyne (Memory).
56. TILL I OF WARRES, etc. Spenser is here supposed to refer to his plan to
continue the _Faerie Queene_ and treat of the wars of the English with
Philip II ("Paynim King") and the Spanish ("Sarazin").
61. LET DOWNE THAT HAUGHTIE STRING, etc. , cease that high-pitched strain
and sing a second (or tenor) to my (lower) tune.
120.
soul is strengthened by the ordinances of religion: baptism, regeneration,
etc.
2. There is a hint of the long and desperate struggle between Reformed
England (St. George) and the Church of Rome, in which the power of the Pope
and the King of Spain was broken in England, the Netherlands, and other
parts of Europe. Some may see a remoter allusion to the delivery of Ireland
from the same tyranny.
13. BE AT YOUR KEEPING WELL, be well on your guard.
iii. This stanza is not found in the edition of 1590.
30. AND SEEMD UNEATH, etc. , and seemed to shake the steadfast ground (so
that it became) unstable. Church and Nares take _uneath_ to mean "beneath"
or "underneath"; Kitchin conjectures "almost. "
31.
THAT DREADFUL DRAGON, symbolical of Satan. Spenser here imitates the
combat between St. George and the Dragon in the _Seven Champions of
Christendom_, i.
32. This description of the dragon watching the tower from the sunny
hillside is justly admired for its picturesqueness, power, and
suggestiveness. The language is extremely simple, but the effect is
awe-inspiring. It has been compared with Turner's great painting of the
Dragon of the Hesperides.
42. O THOU SACRED MUSE, Clio, the Muse of History, whom Spenser calls the
daughter of Phoebus (Apollo) and Mnemosyne (Memory).
56. TILL I OF WARRES, etc. Spenser is here supposed to refer to his plan to
continue the _Faerie Queene_ and treat of the wars of the English with
Philip II ("Paynim King") and the Spanish ("Sarazin").
61. LET DOWNE THAT HAUGHTIE STRING, etc. , cease that high-pitched strain
and sing a second (or tenor) to my (lower) tune.
120.
