Analysis of The Faerie Queene, Book VI, Canto X
Edmund Spenser 1552 (London) – 1599 (London)
THE SIXTE BOOKE OF THE FAERIE QUEENE
Contayning
THE LEGEND OF S. CALIDORE
OR OF COURTESIECANTO X
Calidore sees the Graces daunce,
To Colins melody:
The whiles his Pastorell is led,
Into captivity.
i
Who now does follow the foule Blatant Beast,
Whilest Calidore does follow that faire Mayd,
Unmyndfull of his vow and high beheast,
Which by the Faery Queene was on him layd,
That he should never leave, nor be delayd
From chacing him, till he had it attchieved?
But now entrapt of love, which him betrayd,
He mindeth more, how he may be relieved
With grace from her, whose love his heart hath sore engrieved.
That from henceforth he meanes no more to sew
His former quest, so full of toile and paine;
Another quest, another game in vew
He hath, the guerdon of his love to gaine:
With whom he myndes for ever to remaine,
And set his rest amongst the rusticke sort,
Rather then hunt still after shadowes vaine
Of courtly favour, fed with light report
Of every blaste, and sayling alwaies on the port.
Ne certes mote he greatly blamed be,
From so high step to stoupe unto so low.
For who had tasted once (as oft did he)
The happy peace, which there doth overthow,
And prov'd the perfect pleasures, which doe grow
Amongst poore hyndes, in hils, in woods, in dales,
Would never more delight in painted show
Of such false blisse, as there is set for stales,
T'entrap unwary fooles in their eternall bales.
For what hath all that goodly glorious gaze
Like to one sight, which Calidore did vew?
The glaunce whereof their dimmed eies would daze,
That never more they should endure the shew
Of that sunne-shine, that makes them looke askew.
Ne ought in all that world of beauties rare,
(Save onely Glorianaes heavenly hew
To which what can compare?) can it compare;
The which as commeth now, by course I will declare.
One day as he did raunge the fields abroad,
Whilest his faire Pastorella was elsewhere,
He chaunst to come, far from all peoples troad,
Unto a place, whose pleasaunce did appere
To passe all others, on the earth which were:
For all that ever was by natures skill
Devized to worke delight, was gathered there,
And there by her were poured forth at fill,
As if this to adorne, she all the rest did pill.
It was an hill plaste in an open plaine,
That round about was bordered with a wood
Of matchlesse hight, that seem'd th'earth to disdaine,
In which all trees of honour stately stood,
And did all winter as in sommer bud,
Spredding pavilions for the birds to bowre,
Which in their lower braunches sung aloud;
And in their tops the soring hauke did towre,
Sitting like King of fowles in majesty and powre.
And at the foote thereof, a gentle flud
His silver waves did softly tumble downe,
Unmard with ragged mosse or filthy mud,
Ne mote wylde beastes, ne mote the ruder clowne
Thereto approch, ne filth mote therein drowne:
But Nymphes and Faeries bythe bancks did sit,
In the woods shade, which did the waters crowne,
Keeping all noysome things away from it,
And to the waters fall tuning their accents fit.
And on the top thereof a spacious plaine
Did spred it selfe, to serve to all delight,
Either to daunce, when they to daunce would faine,
Or else to course about their bases light;
Ne ought there wanted, which for pleasure might
Desired be, or thence to banish bale:
So pleasauntly the hill with equall hight,
Did seeme to overlooke the lowly vale;
Therefore it rightly cleeped was mount Acidale.
They say that Venus, when she did dispose
Her selfe to pleasaunce, used to resort
Unto this place, and therein to repose
And rest her selfe, as in a gladsome port,
Or with the Graces there to play and sport;
That even her owne Cytheron, though in it
She used most to keepe her royall court,
And in her soveraine Majesty to sit,
She in regard thereof refusde and thought unfit.
Unto this place when as the Elfin Knight
Approcht, him seemed that the merry sound
Of a shrill pipe he playing heard on hight,
And many feete fast thumping th'hollow ground,
That through the woods their Eccho did rebound.
He nigher drew, to weete what mo
Scheme | ABCDDEXE XXEEEEEEXE FAGAAHAHH EFEXCIFDI JGJKBCKCC XCECCLCLL AMAMNCXCC NANAAOAOO APAPPQPQL RHRHHOHOO PSPSSF |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 0111011 1 010111 1111 110101 11100 011111 010100 1 1111001101 11110111 1111011 110111111 111101111 11111111 11111111 111111101 11101111111 1111111111 1101111101 0101010101 110111111 111111011 011101011 101111011 110111101 11001011101 11111011 1111111011 1111011111 01011111 0100110111 0111010101 1101010101 1111111111 10101010111 11111101001 11111111 01111111 1101110101 1111111101 1101111101 1111001 1111011101 01111111101 1111110101 111111 1111111101 10011111 1111010110 1111011101 111011101 011001111 11111110111 1111101101 1101110101 1111111111 011111101 0111010101 101010111 101101101 001101111 1011110010001 010110101 1101110101 111011101 1111110101 11111011 11011111 0011110101 101110111 010101101101 010110101 1111111101 1011111111 1111011101 1111011101 0101111101 1101111 11110101 11101111 1111011101 01111101 1011001101 010110011 1101011101 110011101 111110101 000110011 1001110101 1011110101 11110101 1011110111 010111011101 110111101 1111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 4,256 |
Words | 741 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 10, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 6 |
Lines Amount | 96 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 290 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 66 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 3:44 min read
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