Stories as a mode of thinking/5

by Richard Green Moulton

 

V, VI

The application of Story to thinking is most familiar to us in the form of Allegory. A colossal monument of this is seen in Spenser's Faerie Queene, where a whole system (Aristotelian) of Ethics is embodied in a narrative of Romantic Chivalry. But the appreciation of this depends largely upon a clear grasp of Spenser's original treatment of allegory—in itself a matter of the utmost literary importance—especially, the ever changing relation of the allegory to the other interests of the poem. This will be here treated in application to the second book, or Legend of Temperance.

 

SPENSER'S LEGEND OF TEMPERANCE

 

A.

Spenserian Allegory

Spenser's works will be accessible to all Students: amongst other editions may be mentioned the Globe (Macmillan, $1.25), the most correct.

For the present purpose it is essential that students should read the portion of the poem touched upon (Book II of the Faerie Queene) with some amount of rapidity, not allowing themselves to be stopped too long by difficulties of language, but seeking to get a general impression of the book as a whole. If this is found impracticable the book should be read a second time.

The point which it is sought to emphasize in the present treatment of Spenser is the various sorts of interest that are woven together in his poetry.—Besides beauties of a musical kind three main varieties of interest may be noticed.

1. Interest of Incident.

(a) General interest of Incident: the picturesque, the pathetic, &c.

(b) Romantic Incident: (l) unflagging interest in Chivalry and its three ideals, Prowess, Courtesy and Love—(2) Travel and Scenery—(3) Enchantment, Monsters and Marvels.

(c) Classic interest of Incident: Familiarity as a literary beauty, or interest attaching to details from their association with the literature of the past.

2. Interest of Allegory.

Students must avoid the opposite errors (a) of supposing the Allegory of the Faerie Queene to be something superfluous and outside poetic interest (b) on the other hand of searching for it in every detail, as if the purpose of the poem were simply to twist moral truth into the form of a puzzle-story. Observe:

(a) The Allegory is only one motive amongst many: pictorial effects, pure imagination. Romantic and Classic interest as above, &c.

(b) It is a peculiarity of Allegory as compared with other motives that it varies in intensity: sometimes so clear that for every pictorial detail there is a moral detail underlying it [this is 'Formal Allegory,' or it may be described as Mediæval, or 'Bunyanesque']—sometimes producing its effect by a general suggestiveness—sometimes difficult to trace at all without violence of interpretation [though its reappearance a little later will suggest that it has been present all the time].

(c) These variations put together give a sense of movement to the Allegory as a whole, a sort of rise and fall [compare effect of partial mist in landscape, the moon 'wading' amongst clouds]—and to fully appreciate it a sort of mental touch must be cultivated.

(d) Remember: the Allegory of the Faerie Queene is (at least) double: Moral and Political.

3. Interest of Movement.

(a) The Linking of each Scene or Incident to that which precedes and follows. A subtle agency in idealizing is to avoid natural concatenation of incident—e.g. scenes melt into one another as in dreams—or cross-linking [comp. game of Cross-tig].

(b) The Working together of the different Incidents to a common purpose.

 

B.

The Allegory Traced Through the Second Book

 

Incidents.	Moral Allegory.	Rise & Fall in Allegory.
Meeting of the Red Cross Knight with Sir Guyon [i.1-34].	Temperance in espousing causes. Also [by the Palmer 1. 7] Temperance connected with Religious Experience.	Flashes out at the end [i-32].
Incident of Mordaunt and Amavia [i.34-61]—leading to Marvel of the Bloody Babe [ii.1.11].	Temperance doubly contrasted with unbridled Pleasure and unbridled Agony. Intemperance and hereditary stain. Also [compare old Metamorphosis Stories] Purity as a Passion.	Lost in human interest till suddenly expounded [i. 57]. Expounded [ii. 5] and by implication extended to the whole world of Metamorphosis.
Scene: the Castle of Medina [ii.11-46]—with the Hero's Story [ii.39-46].	Main point of the whole Allegory: Temperance as the Golden Mean. Also: Temperance under petty vexations [ii. 12].	Rises to the pitch Formal Allegory.

 

Incident of Biaggadocchio and Belphoebe [iii].	Temperance set off by the falsely great and the falsely little. Old-world ideal of Temperance, the Maiden-Huntress.	In subordination.
Allegory of Furor and Occasion [iv.i]—including Episode of Phaon and Claribell [iv.16-36] leading up to Complex of Scenes connected with the First Encounter with Pyrochles and Cymochles (separately). Combat of Guyon and Pyrochles [iv.37-5.18]—Pyrochles and Furor [v. 18-24]—Cymochles in the Bower of Bliss [v.24-38]—the Idle Lake and Encounter with Cymochles [vi. 1-40]—Pyrrochles and the Idle Lake [vi.41-51].	Intemperance on the side of Anger. Intemperance on the side of Love: Jealousy. The names set off Temperance by suggesting the two irrepressible forces of External Nature—two types of Valour divorced from Temperance: Pyrochles on the side of Rage [compare iv.43], Cymochles on the side of Self-indulgence. Temperance as against Idleness and the stupour of Self-indulgence.	Rises to Formal Allegory The Allegory is being perpetually obscured and recovered.
Temptation in the Cave of Mammon [vii],—Prelude 1-27—Triple Temptation [wealth in store 28-34—wealth-making 35-39—worldliness 40-50]—Final temptation in the Garden: 51-66.	Wealth and Worldly Ambition as a further region for Temperance.	A steady undercurrent of Allegory felt through the predominating sensation of wonder.
Second Encounter with Pyrochles and Cymochles (together) [viii]—introducing the Ideal Knight, Prince Arthur.	Temperance in combat pitted against mere embodiments of force.	In subordination—almost lost.
The Castle of Temperance [ix]—including Digression: Chronicle of British Kings [x] and preparing for	Health as a phase of Temperance.	Rises to Formal Allegory [of Mediæval type]. Only the faintest thread of Allegory in the spirit of the Chronicle.

First Part of Double Finale: Raising the Siege of Temperance Castle [xi]. Allotted to Arthur the hero of the whole poem. Second Part of Double Finale: Journey through Mystic perils to the Bower of Acrasia and Capture of the Enchantress [xii]. Allotted to Guyon the hero of the second Book.

The Enemies of Temperance as identified with Health. Observe: Intemperance is made to include Intellectual as well as Moral monstrosity. [11.8—14, &c.] Accumulation of most varied types of Intemperance and Monstrosity—especially violations of the order of Nature.

In subordination to interest of combat. The Outer Meaning and the Allegorical coalesce in a sort of riot of the Imagination.