The
description
of the
House of Sleep in st.
House of Sleep in st.
Spenser - Faerie Queene - 1
She is identified with Shakespeare's
Hecate, the goddess of sorcery, and with Milton's Cotytto, goddess of lust.
To this latter sin the knight is tempted.
332. GREAT GORGON, Demogorgon, whose name might not be uttered, a magician
who had power over the spirits of the lower world. The poet is here
imitating the Latin poets Lucan and Statius.
333. COCYTUS, the river of wailing, and STYX, the river of hate, both in
Hades. There were two others, _Acheron_, the river of sorrow, and
_Phlegethon_, the river of fire.
335. LEGIONS OF SPRIGHTS. In this stanza and the preceding Spenser follows
Tasso's _Jerusalem Delivered_, xiii, 6-11, where the magician Ismeno,
guarding the Enchanted Wood, conjures "legions of devils" with the "mighty
name" (l. 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.
Hecate, the goddess of sorcery, and with Milton's Cotytto, goddess of lust.
To this latter sin the knight is tempted.
332. GREAT GORGON, Demogorgon, whose name might not be uttered, a magician
who had power over the spirits of the lower world. The poet is here
imitating the Latin poets Lucan and Statius.
333. COCYTUS, the river of wailing, and STYX, the river of hate, both in
Hades. There were two others, _Acheron_, the river of sorrow, and
_Phlegethon_, the river of fire.
335. LEGIONS OF SPRIGHTS. In this stanza and the preceding Spenser follows
Tasso's _Jerusalem Delivered_, xiii, 6-11, where the magician Ismeno,
guarding the Enchanted Wood, conjures "legions of devils" with the "mighty
name" (l. 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.
