The Implication of Form for The Shepheardes Calendar

The Implications of Form for The Shepheardes Calender VEHE Shepheardes Calender is the most avowedly eclectic 2 masterpiece in English. Spenser acknowledges several e fg. à borrowing» in the names of the speakers and in the <Q > Pre as well as in the lines of the poem themDI ON selves; and E. K. points to many more. The only =, really new ingredientis the form, a framework which links the separate eclogues into a connected series.! Everything elseis ybayk 2\ae conscious imitation of a convention, or at least of a precedent. Therefore the implications of the form become salient in any attempt to assess the distinctive genius of the work. The calendar form is pointedly announced in the title, and pointedly stressed by the subtitle, ‘twelve Æglogues proportionable to the twelve monethes’. A handbook of popular astrology was also sold as a Calendar of Shepherds, but the relation between these publications should not be overworked. They are two quite different things, and in actual fact share little except their titles. Spenser certainly would not proclaim affinities with the other Calendar of Shepherds, that vulgar, clumsy, oldfashioned manual sold in quantity to the untutored, unlike anything approved by the Areopagus. Spenser chose his title, instead, to announce its pastoral nature (then a relatively untried mode in English) and its calendar form. These were the two most notable qualities which the work exhibited. We clearly must ask, then, why so much emphasis on physical form, and why the choice of the twelve-part form in particular? None of Spenser's predecessors in pastoral had published precisely twelve ec- 1 Only W. W. Greg has made anything of this framework, offering criticism based on its ‘architectural design . . . [its] geometrical pattern’; see Pastoral Poetry and Pastoral Drama (London, 1906), pp. 84 ff. See also A. C. Hamilton, ‘The Argument of Spenser's Shepheardes Calender’, ELH xxm (1956), 171-182, who suggests that the arrangement of eclogues reveals Spenser’s ‘rejection of the pastoral life for the truly dedicated life in the world’ (p. 181). [309] ws. STUDIES UN THE a. A Lasa) REVUES ANTE aq — ás

really borrowings selves; new ingredient in andthe E. names K.ispoints the of the form, to speakers many a framework more. and The inwhich only the The Implicationsof Form for TheShepheardes Calender ,kWt HE Shepheardes Calender is themostavowedlyeclectic '\g masterpiece in English.Spenser acknowledges several 1W/ Z > emblems,as well as in the linesof thepoemthemlinkstheseparate ecloguesintoa connected series.lEverything elseis conscious imitationof a convention, or at leastof a precedent. Therefore the irnplications of the formbecomesalientin any attempto assessthcdistinctive geniusof thework. Thecalendar formis pointedlyannounced in thetitle,andpointedly stressed by thesubtitle, 'twelveSEglogues proportionable to thetwelve monethes'. A handbook of popularastrology wasalsosoldasa CalendarofShepherds, buttherelationbetweenthesepublications shouldnot be overworked. Theyaretwo quitediSerent things,andin actualfact sharelittleexcepttheirtitles.Spensercertainlywouldnot proclaim ai1nities withtheotherCalendar ofShepherds, thatvulgar,clumsy,oldfashionecT manualsoldin quantitytO the untutored, unlikeanything approved bytheAreopagus. Spenser chosehistitle,instead, to announce its pastoral nature(thena relatively untriedmodein English)andits calendar form.Thesewerethe two mostnotablequalities whichthe workexliibited. We clcarlymustask,then,whyso muchemphasis onphysical form, andwhy the choiceof the twelve-part formin particular? None of Spenser's predecessors in pastoralhadpublished preciselytwelveec1 Only W. W. Greghasmadeanythingof thisframework,offeringcriticismbased on its 'architectural design. . . [its]geometrical pattern';seePastoral PoetryandPastoral Drama(Lolldon,I906), pp. 84 f5. SeealsoA. C. Hamilton,'TheArgumentof Spenser's Shepheardes Calender', ELHXXIII (I956), I7I-I82, who suggeststhatthearrangement of ecloguesrevealsSpenser's 'rejectionof thepastorallifefor thetrulydedicated lifein the world'(p. t8I).

FORM IN THE SHEPHEARDES CALENDER singlywith andhis eclogueswerepresented loguesexceptPetrarch, to suggestinterrelationships. noframework a series hadneverbeforebeenusedto organize Althougha calendar form.Even wasitselfa wellestablished calendar of eclogues, theliterary two liesonlyin combining hisoriginality hereSpenser is borrowing; by Ovidin the hadbeeninstituted aliengenres.Theliterarycalendar in onlysixbooks.And fortwelvemonthsbutsurviving Fasti,planned Cuddy's emblem mind,because in Spenser's thisworkwasindisputably whichclosesthe 'October'ecloguecomesfrombookVI of theFasti. Ovidliststhe Romanholy daysmonthby monthwith day-by-day arethemementries, butoftenpausesto digress andthesedigressions in Ovid'spoem:historiTherearethreemajorstrands orablepassages. andreligiousthreestrands (casualandincorrect), cal, astronomical Calender. Shepheardes thefabricof Spenser's whichalsointerweave formto theirownpoetic werereadyto adapthecalendar Christians wrotea Martyrolomonk,Wandalbert, purposes, andc. 850a German saintsratherthanpagan gium usingtheformof theFasti forChristian intothecorpusof Bede, hadbeenassimilated sinners. Thesehexameters to withoutattribution wherethe Martyrologiumregularlyappeared Moreto the point,perhaps,is a lengthycalendarof Wandalbert.2 the modelof the by BaptistaMantuanus, saints'daysin hexameters composedtwelve it. Mantuanus satiriceclogueas Spenserpractised of theFasti.Butin hispoetic booksDe sacrisdiebus,in obviousimitation warnedthe readerthathereareno heathen prefacehe sententiously deities; instead, Liberiste docetquo tramitead astra Pervenereilli Heroesquibusannuitarcem AethereamPateromnipotens.3 hadbecomea tradition,then,the literarycalendar In the Christian of pointingoutthepathwayto heaven instruction, meansof religious of OurFatheromnipotent. blazedby thesaintsundertheguidance formin theI570S wasPalinpoemin calendar Themostconspicuous to the in twelvebookscorresponding genius'Zodiakeof Life, arranged thesecondcompleteditionof Barnabe signsof thezodiac.InEngland in the in I576. It is not a calendar hadappeared Googe'stranslation Opera(Basle,I563), I, 243-265. Wandalbert's 2 CE.,for example,BedaVenerabilis, in J.-P. Migne,PatrologiaLatinaCXXI, 586-623. Martyrologiumostrecentlyappears aiii. 3 In Ultimaparsoperis(Lyons,I5I6),

strictsense,butratheranencyclopedia of morality, exemplified in classicalmythology, natural philosophy, homelyadage,andreligious satire. Itsappealfor Spenser is inherent in thetitlepageof the I576 edition: TheZodiakeof life. . . Whereinareconteined twelveseverall labours, painting out mostelively,the wholecompasse of the world,the reformation of manners, the niiseries of mankinde, thepathwayto vertueandvice,theeternitie of theSoule,the courseof the Heavens,the mysteries of nature,anddiversothercircumstances of greatlearning, andno lessejudgement. RosemondTuvehaspointedout the importance of Palingenius for manydescriptive passages in TheFaerieQueene,4 buthisworkwasan evenmoreformative influence on TheShepheardes Calender. Thesepoemsin twelvepartssharea commonimplication: because alltwelvemonthsareincluded, because theentireyearis coveredfrom beginningto end,thereis a feelingof completeness. As Palingenius advertised, theysetforth'thewholecompasse of theworld'.Despite theindividuality of eachmonthwithits distinctive characteristics, the calendar framework providesanall-inclusive unity.Thereis thegreatestpossible variety,whichby exhausting infinityleadsparadoxically to oneness. Thisimplication of theliterary calendar is madeevenmoremanifest in ananalogous literary tradition likewisedependent uponnumberfor form,in thehexaemerathosecompendia of knowledge basedon the sixdaysof creation. Theusualformis a poeticdescription of thephenomenacreateddayby day,so thatthe discussion of manculminates theexposition of allphilosophy, bothnatural andmoral.Godappears as7ronrns, andthemortalpoettriesto reproduce in smalltheharmoniousamplitude of Hismaking. The hexaemeron, if anything,is a morevigorousgenrethanthe literarycalendar. It is as old as the earlychurchfathers,andenjoyed muchvoguein the Renaissance.5 Prominent examplesarePicodella Mirandola's Heptaplus, Tasso's Le Settegiornate, andJohnSwan'sSpeculummundi.The mostimpressive poemin the hexaemeron tradition, 'Spenserandthe Zodiakeof Life',JEGP xxxrv (I93 5), I-I9. Thehexaemeral traditionfromclassicaltimesto the Renaissance hasbeenoutlined by FrankE. Robbins,The HexaemeralLiterature:A Studyof the GreekandLatin Commentarieson Genesis(Chicago,I9I2). Seealso The Worksof Guillaumede SallusteSieur Du Bartas,ed. UrbanT. HolmesJr.et al. (ChapelHill, N. C., I935-I940), I, III-II6; andMauryThibautde Maisieres, Les Poemesinspire's du detbut de la Getnese a l'etpoque de la Renaissance(Louvain,I93I).

FORM IN THE SHEPHEARDES CALENDER however,is du Bartas's La Sepmaine, whichappeared embarrassingly closeto TheShepheardes Calender. In I578 duBartasofferedhismonumentalpoemto the public,andit wasan immediate sensation. Not onlywasit encyclopedic in scope,not onlywasit poeticin treatment, butalsoit wasProtestant inpointof view. Harveyrecorded on theflyleafof oneof hisbooksthatSpenserGabriel conceived particular pleasure in tllLe FourthDayof theFirstWeek,whichcontains a forty-eight-line description of the seasonsin mythological terms, interlaced with an accountof tllezodiac.6 Thepointof thehexaemeron tradition was,literally,hereis God's plelltypresented in dueorderasGodintended. Theheavens in particularmanifested His handiwork; as Sylvestertranslated du Bartas into English: There'snothingpreciousin Sea,Earth,or Ayr, Bllt hathin Heav'nsomelike resemblance fair.... And sacredpatterns,which,to serveall Ages, Th'Almightyprintedon Heav'nsamplestages.7 Thecircleof thezodiacwithitsconcretion of mythologyandallegoricalmeanings wasthemostobviousexampleof the'sacred patterns ... toserveallAges'. Mydiscussion sofarhasbeenlittlemorethanamplification of a comment madeby Alexander Pope,who composed four eclogues corresponding to thefourseasonsa truncated calendar form accompanied by'ADiscourse of Pastoral Poetry'.Inthistributeto andanalysis of the vellerated pastoral tradition, PopeextolsSpenser's Shepheardes Calender (with reservations, of course),andthenwithunerring directness pinpoints itsclaimto greatness: The additionhe hasmadeof a Calendarto his Eclogues,is very beautiful;sinceby this, besidesthe p;eneral moralof innocenceandsimplicity,whichis commonto other authors of Pastoral,he has one peculiarto himself;he compareshumanLife to the several Seasons,andat onceexposesto hisreadersa view of thegreatandlittleworlds, in theirvariouscharlgesandaspects.8 Gabriet Harvey's Marginatia, ed. G. C. MohreSmith (Stratford-upon-Avon, I9I3), The book is DionysiusPeriegetes'Surveye of volume bearsHarvey'signatureandthe dateI574, the Wortd.The titlepageof thiV thoughthisseemstoo earlyfor a reference to du Bartas'sSepmaine. 7Bartas hisDevineWeekes andWorkes (London,I608), 8 Works, ed. WilliamWarburton(London,I75I), I, p. 388. 43.

Popemakestwo majorpoints:(I) Spenser's useof thecalendar is the distinguishing innovation in his useof pastoral, and (2) by meansof thecalendar Spenser providesa literarymicrocosm, 'hecompares humanLifeto theseveral Seasons, andatonceexposestohisreaders aview of thegreatandlittleworlds'. Thellextfocusof discussion mustbe the question,how in specific termsdidthe calendar implya microcosm-macrocosm analogy? The answer,thoughesoterictoday,wasomnipresent in Spenser's time.The signsof thezodiacnaturally fellintoa circular arrangement aroundthe terrestrial globe,anarrangement whichwithequalnaturalness suggested theendlessrepetition of a finitecycleas thesunmadeits ceaseless journey.Moreover, in themiddleagesa characteristic activityhadbeen associated witheachmonth,so thata circleof theoccupations of man hadappeared repeatedly asa decorative motifin churcharchitecture.9 It wasalsoa commonplace in almanacs andhandbooks of astrology. TheoldCalendar ofShepherds itselfhasa representative example: in the outermost circlearethezodiacal signs,in theinnercirclearemendoing thingsappropriate to eachof the twelvemonths.l°The multifarious activities of manarepresented in theirwidestvariety. Thisdiagram isinrealitya medieval adaptation of afigurepurportedly devisedby Pythagoras to represent thecosmos.Pythagoras, accordingtoPlutarch andotherancients, firstconceived thenotionofcosmos,ll andhe presented hisconceptcharacteristically in a geometrical form, in a tetrad.l2 Spenser in theMutabilitie cantos(VII.Vii.25.7-9) agreesto thetetradarrangement of thefourelements propounded byPythagoras, theircolltrarieties andyet theirunification intoa stablesystem: . . . Water fights With Fire, and Aire with Earth approachingneere: Yet all are in one body, and as one appeare.l3 9 See Rosemond Tuve, SeasonsandMonths:Studiesin a Traditionof MiddteEngtish Poetry (Paris, I933), passim,esp. pp. I22-I70. There is a bibliography on this welldocumentedsubjectin Nils Erik Enkvist, The Seasonsof the Year:Chapterson a Motif from Beowftfto The Sliepherd's Calendar(Helsingfors, I957), p.I84. loTheEalesderof Shepherdes,ed. H. OskarSommer (London, I892), h7t. 11Moralia,tr. Philemon Holland (2d ed., London, I657), p. 670 [Opinionsof Phitosophers,II, I |. 12 For complete descriptionof the Pythagoreantetradand severalRenaissanceexamples of it, see my article, 'Some Renaissance lTersionsof the Pythagorean Tetrad', Studiesin theRenaissance vrn (I96I), 7-33. 13 Cf. Spenser,An Hymneof Love, 11.78-9I.

In thisconfiguration, thereis a reconciliation of opposites, an orderly arrangement of a diversified whole.Thisis concordia discors. The elements,asMiltonputit, 'inquaternion runIPerpetual circle'(Paradise Lostv, I8I-I82). Thistetradpatternwasthoughto subsistat alllevelsof creationin allstrataof nature's hierarchy, andin alllinksofthegreatchain and therefore it providedtheideologicalbasisfor the entiremicrocosmmacrocosm analogy.Foranexample, Isidoreof Sevillein hisDe natura rerunexplains howthepattern interrelates thecosmoiof mundus, annus, andhomo.l4 Foranotherexample, particularly pertinent herebecause it showshow thesignsof thezodiacwerefittedto thisscheme, Johann Eckin his editionof Aristotle's Meteorologica (Augsburg, ISI9) diagrarnmed a wind-rosewhichdisplays not onlythefourprimepoints of thecompass andthetwelvecardinal windsarranged in fourgroups, butalsothetwelvesignsof thezodiacarranged in fourgroups,thefour basicqualities, thefourhumors,thefouragesof man,thefourseasons, andthefourelements.l5 The old Calendar of Shepherds delineates this pattern in prose: Someshepoherdes sayethata manis a lytellworldeby hymselfeforthelykenesses andsymylitudes thathe hatheof thegreteworldewhicheis theaggregacyon of the .ix. skyes.iiii.elementes andallthyngesin themconteyned. Fyrstemanhathesuche a lykenes inthefyrstemobyleyt iS thesoverayne skye&pryncypall partyof thegrete worldeforlykeasin thisfyrstemobylethezodyakeis devydedin .xii.partyes that benthe.xii.sygnesomanis devydedin .xii.partyes.... of ye whichethrebenof natureof fyreyt iS Ariesleo & sagittarius & .iii.of natureof theayre.Geminilibra &aquarius. Andthreof thenatureof water.Cancerscorpioandpisces.Andthreof thenatureof erth.Taurus virgo& capricornus.l6 Thesamecorrespondences, including thezodiac,aredesignated by the tetraddiagram offeredby ThomasWaLLington in TheOptick glasseof humors (London,I607),17 so thetradition waspersistent. Seefigureg of 'Renaissance Rrersions ofthePythagorean Tetrad' (cf.noteI2 above) . SeefigureI2 of'Renaissance Rrersions ofthePythagorean Tetrad' (cf.noteI2 above). 16 Kalender of Shepherdes, ed. Sommer, , 99-I00. Cf. The Compost of Pthotomeus (London, I532?) [S.T.C. 20480], C2; Godfiridus, Bokeof knowtedge (London, I530>) [S.T.C. II93I], G4 ff*.; andErraPater, Pronostyracion Jorever(London, Is4o?)[S.T.C. 14 15 I05I7], A3 -A7 s cf. Charles F. Mullett, 'Thomas Walkington andHis"OptickGlasse" ', IsisXXXVI (I946), 99. Thesame cutembellishes thetitlepageof RobertAnton'sThe Phitf:sophers Satyrs(London, I6I6); reproduced by Allardyce Nicoll,TheElizabethans (Cambridge, 17 Fol. 39t;

Turningagainto thewoodcutof thezodiacin theold Calendar of we canseethattheintentionto depicta reconciliation Shepherds,l8 circleshowsa man heretoo.Theinnermost is mademanifest opposites winterand besidea fireanda ladywithflowers,clearlyrepresenting withina perfect maleandfemale,integrated summer,thealchemical sphere. androgynous of the cosmictetradarealsofrequentin poetry.The Delineations of Achilles' is Homer'sdescription firstexamplein westernliterature In singledoutforspecialpublication. shield,whichGeorgeChapman beginsby Chapman his translation, preceding the epistlededicatory microshieldis a literary to theeffecthatAchilles' quotingSpondanus Artist,buttheuniby ourmiraculous cosm:'Whatis hereprefigurde one andalmostunmeasurable, versallworld,whichbeingso spatious Chap19CitingEustathius, andimbraceth?' circletof a Shieldrepresentes 'bytheOrbiHomerintended theanalogy: to explicate mancontinues mettalles, by the foure the world: of guitieof theShieldtheroundnesse . . . thatwhichhe calsavTvza Tpr;\aKa ,uap,uaperlv, thefoureelementes thezodiacproperlyentheZodiak'.So for Chapman he understands of thegreatworld. closesthissymbolicrepresentation of In a directliterarylinefromAchilles'shieldis Ovid'sdescription the doorsto the Sun'spalace,openingbookII of theMetamorphoses. andoverallshine andthefourelements, Thereagainarefourmaterials thistext,Arthur the signsof the zodiac(11.S-I8).Whentranslating 'Fortherea perfectplat,I Had Goldingtookthelibertyof inserting: the Ovidmoreovertlyexpounds Vukanedrawneof alltheworlde'.20 wherePythagoras notionof cosmosin bookxv of theMetamorphoses, it, as Goldingtranslates is citedat length(11.6S478). In onepassage, exclaimsto his pupils: Pythagoras What seest thou not how that thy yeere as represenJangplayne The age of man, departsit self in quartarsfoure.2l and theanalogybetweentheseasons to elaborate Andthenheproceeds the agesof man. bestknownto Spenser, authors oneof themedieval AlanusdeInsulis, 18 See note IO above. The woodcut is reproducedas figure I3 of 'RenaissancelTersions of the PythagoreanTetrad' (cf. note I2 above). 19(London, I598), A2. fol. I7. 20 (London, I575), 21 Ibid.,fol. I9O. Levinus Lemniuscites Pythagorasfrom this passagein the Metamortr. ThomasNewton, 3d ed., London, I58I, fol. 30V). of Comptexions, phoses(Touchstone

FORM IN THE SHEPHEARDES CALENDER relied heavilyuponPythagorean 316 numerology in andoftenspecifically evokedthetetrad;e.g., hisDe planctunaturae, Natureinstructs us: I amshewhohave fashioned theformandeminence of manintothelikeness original mundane mechanism, of the naturemayappear.Forjust thatinhim,asinamirrorof theworlditself, as, of the fourelements, combined singleplurality,the the concordant discord,the dissonant consonance, the dissenting structures of thepalaceof earth, producethe so, of fouringredients agreement, unequal thesimilarunsimilarity, equality,the unformed the conformity, the separate building of thehumanbody.And identity,firmlyerectthe those qualities whichcome among theelements-these establish a firmpeaceamongthe togetherasmediators fourhumors.22 Jollll Lydgatedidactically setforththese ofKnowledge'.23 commonplaces in 'A Pageant Anotherexampleof the poetic pertinent tetrad, because perhaps it is morepreceptive andalsocloserin timeto more ser, is du Bartas's Spendiscussion of the winds,as oepznaane: Sylvestertranslated La ,8 . IntheirefEects I findefower FoureTimes,foureAges, Tempraments, andfoureElements. Th'East-windein working, Fire,Choller,Summer, followsproperly andsoftInfancy: That,whichdries-up wildAffricEwithhiswing, Resembles Aire,Bloud,Youth, That,whichblowesmoistly andlivelySpring: fromthe Wesfernstage, LikeWater,Phlegme, Winter,andheavieAge: That,whichcomes hiv'ring fromcoldClimates Earth,withered solely, Eld,Autumn,and Melancholy.24 One famousNeolatinpoem,the Quatuorlibriamorumof (Nuremberg, Conrad I502), wasconstructed Celtis according title to thisscheme,andits pageexhibitsa well-wrought tetradwhichincludesthe at the geographical fourcities extremes of Germany, the fourbodiesof water which markitsboundaries, the partsof theday,andthe of rnan.25 In I603 JohnDaviesfour fourages of Hereford tetrad inMicrocosmos; eloquently elaborated andin I63 8 a Scotsman, the The RobertFarley, Kalender of Mans Life, published undeniably in the shadowof Spenser's 22 Tr. lL)ouglas M. Moffat(NewYork, I908, Yale Studies in English36), Prosem, See Poems,ed. Henry N. MacCracken 729-734. Cf.Tuve,Seasonsand (London, I934, E.E.T.S. Months) I92), pp. 24 Devine Weekesand Workes,p. 42. p. 68. 25 SeeI5 figure of'Renaissance versions ofthePythagorean Tetrad' (cf.noteI2 above). 23Minor

withaneclogueforeachmonthbutclassified Calender, Shepheardes to theseasons.26 fourgrotlpsaccording Thepointto be madeby thiswelterof evidenceis simplythis:the tetrad,implied fromthePythagorean form,by its derivation calendar unity.One factorsintoa singlewell-ordered of alldisparate a synthesis whole. intoanall-inclusive kindwasto beincorporated of eachradical Thisaccountsfor the carefulvarietywith whichSpenserinfusedhis includedeverysortof eclogueHe scrupulously literarylaicrocosm. the dirge,the encomium,the the singing-match, thelove-complaint, moralfable andhe took equalpainsto offervarietyin hismetrics. varifor suchmetrical tradition in pastoral hadno precedent Spenser possiblemulteityintotheunityof his thegreatest ety.27He crammed calendar. becauseit is a comprehensive is a naturalmicrocosm Thecalendar eternity.And Spenser unit,a patternrepeatedendlesslythroughout The'Decemforhiscalendar. repetition tookstepsto suggestunbroken complainton the same is a melancholy ber'eclogue,like 'January', by Colin;andSpenasa monologue love,presented theme,unrequited by and'January' between'December' thecontinuity stressed serfurther usingthesamemetricsforboth.Thewheelhascomefullcircle,asE. 'ThisiEglogue(evenas to 'December': in theargument K. proclaims of Colinto GodPan'. thefirstbeganne)is endedwitha complaynte willcontinue toitsstarting-point, thewheel,havingreturned Orrather, envoyat of Spenser's Thisis theintimation to rollwithoutdisruption. theendof thework: Loe I havemadea Calenderfor everyyeare, Thatsteelein strength,andtime in duranceshalloutweare: An(lif I markedwell the starresrevolution, It shallcontinewetill the worldsdissolution. it is microcosmic. to eternitybecause canbe extrapolated Thiscalendar says,hewillhave Spenser revolution', wellthestarres Ifhehas'Inarked pattern. . . to serve of truth,a 'sacred statement aneverlasting recorded and a notionof 'inmyendis mybeginning', allAges'.Thereisperhaps cycleby of therepeated significance thereligious hasreinforced Spenser detailby ElbertN. S. Thompson,'Bein considerable 26 Thisvolumeis described Calenderandthe Seasons',PQ I (I922), 23-30. tweenthe Sllepheards ed., Tlle PoeticalWorksof EdmundSpeslser(Oxford, I9I2), p. 27 Ernestde Selincourt,

FORM IN THE SHEPHEAFtDES CALENDER ratherthan withthebirthof Christ,28 inJanuary hiscalendar starting of months procession in the he does as March, conventional the more in asoneof theten graphically cantos.Theideaappears in theMutabilitie emblemsadorningthe title pageof John Case'sLapisphilosophicus figurelaidouton (Oxford,I599): thezodiacarchesovera full-length in thewest,whilea a tombwiththesunin thesignof Leodeclining To exvergitvivitquesepultus'. 'Casusin occasum captionproclaims, its own demise;Death,thou thethought,decayapproaches trapolate shaltdie. then,with religiousimplicais a naturalmicrocosm, The calendar themacroisdoublyusefulto exemplify calendar tions.Andashepherds' inhabitheidealworldof thegoldenage,and shepherds cosm,because idealizeanyconceptof its perfectstatement. by association therefore a unipresents Calender Beillga literarymicrocosm,TheShepheardes symbolism the number about commented Recorde As Robert versal. of thehexaemeron: In whicheis contained,not onely the secretesof the creationof all thynges:andthe of the whole worldeagaine,with the stateof eternitie:But alsoby it consummation is ihe Sabbothesreste,and therbythe full life and conversationof godlie persones, andinsinuate.29 reprcsented is plural, whereshepherds Calendar a Shepherds' So Spenserprepared includingallmen. tracedancycles,Spenser Butin additionto thepatternof repeated This decline. pattern of continuous apattern pattern, other,straight-line emergesmostclearlyfromthelove of ColinforRosalind,embodied June,andDecember, in the threeecloguesforJanuary, prorninently middle,andendof at thebeginning, andsignificantly spacedskillfully himself the Spenser perhaps thework.Colinis thespecificshepherd, where Calendar, as a singleShepherd's titlecanbe readambiguously to the correspond theseasons in question30_and Colinis theshepherd butleading man,goingnotin anycyclicpattern, agesof thisparticular to deathin 'December'. relentlessly of pastoraland the Nativity ('Argumentof 28 Hamiltonsuggeststhe associations p. I74). Calender', Shepheardes Spenser's of witte(London,I 5 57), bIV. 29 Whetstone in EdmundSpenser,Workes,ed. Edwin 30 See the editor'snote on 'Shepheardes' MinorPoems,I, 235. The ambiguouspelling Greenlawet al. (Baltimore,I932-I949), is essential,I say,to retainingthe ' or 'shepherd's', ratherthan'shepherds' 'shepheardes', doublereferencehereto botha universalandanindividual.

Poetshadmeasured managainsttheseasons eversinceHorace(Odes, IV.Vii.9-I 6): Frigora mitescunt zephyris, verproteritaestas . . mterltura, . slmu. . pomiferautumnus frugesefEuderit, et mox Druma recurr1t ]ners. . . damnatamenceleres reparant caelestia lunae; nosubidecidimus, quopiusAeneas,quoTullusdiveset Ancus, pulviset umbrasumus. Hoszto,lilied1111US, goesthrough a pattern of seasonal change.Butunlike theyear,mallwhenhe reaches thefinalstagecannotrepeathecycle. Asanap;ed shepherd in Sidney's Arcadia laments: Timeeverold,andyongis stillrevolved Withinit selfe,andnevertastethende: Butmankind is forayeto noughtresolved.3l Thisstatmentof man'smortality, hisfiniteness, is thesobering sideof themutcibility theme. TheShepheardes Calender elaborates thesetwo patternsoperating simultanously:the cycliccalendar, and the straight-lille demiseof Colin.Withastounding poeticimagination, Spenser delineates therelationbetweentheuniversal andthespecific,betweentheeternaland thefinite,betweenthemacrocosm andtheindividual. Hehasprovided objective correlatives fortheparadox whichT. S. Eliotposesin Murder intheCathedral: . . . thatthewheelmayturnandstill Be foreverstill. Theindividual followshisinexorable coursethroughgeneration and corruption, but the beneficentOne, encompassing the continuous change,tmknowing of alphaor omega,remainsunmoved,undiminished,un.lltered. Thesummation of infinitechangeis stasis,sothateach item,thoughinconstant, partakes of permanence. Thisis theoptimistic viewof lnutability. Spenser returned to thisparadox in theMutabilitie cantos,because in 31Sir Philip Sidney, Complete Works, ed. Albert Feuillerat(Cambridge,I922), II, I4I.

FORM CALENDE:R of how ordercan of mutability, essencetheproblemis anexplanation of time. changewroughtby thepassage persistdespitethecontinuous openwith an imagevery much like The TwoCantosof Mutabilitie Eliots (FQVII.Vi. I . I-2): wheele . . . theever-whirling Of Change,thewhichallmortallthingsdothsway. thedominionof whohaschallenged asa titaness Cha1lge is personified is in the universe, Jovein thisworld.Nature,the ultimateauthority asa seriesof paradoxes andsheappears thedispute, calledto adjudicate by the Pythagorean of the oppositequalitiesreconciled reminiscent tetrad(VII.Vll.I3.2-4): . . . everyoungyetfullof eld, Stillmooung,yetunmovedfromhersted; Unseeneof any,yetof allbeheld.... the integrated shehassuccessfully powerbecause Natureis thegreatest Shehasfulfilled is stalDle. opposingforcesin thecosmos,andtherefore fixed.However, the conditionof alwaysmoving,andyet remaining ontheapparent basesherargument Changein herclaimto sovereignty is subject up is unstable, factthateverythingfromthefourelements Changeasks herdemand forrecognition, To substantiate to mutability. of theyeare'(VII.V11.27). Natureto callin witnessthe'timesandseasons the fourseasonsandtwelvemonths As a resultof thissummoning, AfterthemonthscomeDayandNight,the parade in vividsuccession. eachof thesevenplanets Hours,LifeandDeath.ThenChangexamines to herrule.Finally arealsosulDject spheres to showthatthesupralunary unexa decision in thecase,a somewhat Natureis forcedto announce educedby Challge. testimony in viewof thepersuasive pecteddecision ButNaturedecrees(VII.Vii.58.2-9): doehate . . . [I]findthatallthingstedfastnes Andchanged be:yet beingrightlywayd fromtheirfirstestate; Theyarenot changed Butby theirchangetheirbeingdoedilate: atlengthagaine, Andturningto themselves perfection so by fate: Doeworketheircowne ThenoverthemChangedothnotruleandraigne; anddoetheirstatesmaintaine. Buttheyraigneoverchange,

goes througha cycleof constant Natureadmitsthatthe individual results in a returnto theoriginal of thispattern butcompletion change; in theGardenof of thestatusquo.Elsewhere, point,in anailrmation waitto be Adonis,soulscaughtin theeternalcyclesof transmigration 'Solikea wheelearoundtheyrunnefromoldto new'(FQ embodied: to realization changeis essential thecontinuous Evidently, III.vi.33.g).32 of the design.In thissense,the wheel of the pattern,to fulfillment of mutability, foreverturns,yet stillis foreverstill.Thisis theparadox is optimistic. andin thesecantosSpenser writesin theelegiac however,Spenser Calender, In TheShepheardes hasrunthroughevery ego.Whenhumanexperience EtinArcadia strain. extremeandreturnedto its pointof origin,tllentherecan be the theperfectlybalwhichmakesmana microcosm, thoroughsynthesis tetrad,thefourseaimpliedby thePythagorean discors ancedconcordia alas! themomentof perman'slife.Butironically, sonsof thecomplete melancholy fectionis alsothemomentof death hencetheinescapable in 'Deccmber'. with itsassociation through formbecause, chosethecalendar Spenser to hismoral overtones decorandsaints'days,it gavereligious cathedral themeaningof incorporated thecalendar Moreimportant, didacticism. backdropof therebyprovidingthe necessary a literarymicrocosm, cyclicpatternagainstwhichhislineartaleof Colincouldbe properly Thepastoral to theuniverse. of man'srelation asanexpression displayed to thisprimarypurpose,was chosen mode,perhapsitselfsecondary knewthat'eclogues' plan.Spenser withthisgeneral it accorded because tradition evenif E. K. didnot,andhe sawin pastoral mean'selections' forhisaim.Whatfirststrikesusin of moodsrequisite themultiplicity of style,sources,andsubCalender is its eclecticismTheShepheardes Thereis on firstreadinga confusingmulteity.Andyet, ject-matter. pictureof anorganized to theplanof presenting thevarictyis essential of man: theparadox a picturethatreveals lifein itsinfinitecomplexity, to thelimitaGod,subjected createdin theimageof aninexhaustible tionsof mortality. s . K . H E N I N GE R, J R . DukeUtliversity 32 On the context for this image of the wheel, see the notes for this line in Spenser, Works,ed. Greenlaw,III, 257.