REFLECTIVE AND MORAL POEMS
From The Faerie Queene I ix 39, 1590
Who travailes by the wearie wandring way, To come unto his wished home in haste, And meetes a flood that doth his passage stay, Is not great grace to helpe him over past, Or free his feet that in the myre sticke fast? Most envious man, that grieves at neighbours good; And fond, that joyest in the woe thou hast ! Why wilt not let him passe, that long hath stood Upon the bancke, yet wilt thy selfe not pas the flood?
He there does now enjoy eternall rest
And happy ease, which thou doest want and crave,
And further from it daily wanderest :
What if some little payne the passage have,
That makes frayle flesh to feare the bitter wave,
Is not short payne well borne, that bringes long ease,
And layes the soule to sleepe in quiet grave?
Sleepe after toyle, port after stormie seas,
Ease after warre, death after life, does greatly please.
From An Hymne in Honour of Beautie, 1596
Soul is Form
But ah! beleeve me there is more then so,
That workes such wonders in the minds of men ;
I, that have often prov'd, too well it know,
And who so list the like assayes to ken,
Shall find by tryall, and confesse it then,
That Beautie is not, as fond men misdeeme,
An outward shew of things that onely seeme.
For that same goodly hew of white and red,
With which the cheekes are sprinckled, shal decay,
And those sweete rosy leaves, so fairely spred
Upon the lips, shall fade and fall away
To that they were, even to corrupted clay:
That golden wyre, those sparckling stars so bright,
Shall turne to dust, and loose their goodly light.
But that faire lampe, from whose celestiall ray
That light proceedes, which kindleth lovers fire,
Shall never be extinguisht nor decay;
But, when the vitall spirits doe expyre,
Unto her native planet shall retyre;
For it is heavenly borne and can not die,
Being a parcell of the purest skie.
For when the soule, the which derived was,
At first, out of that great immortall Spright,
By whom all live to love, whilome did pas
Downe from the top of purest heavens hight
To be embodied here, it then tooke light
And lively spirits from that fayrest starre
Which lights the world forth from his firie carre.
Which powre retayning still or more or lesse,
When she in fleshly seede is eft enraced,
Through every part she doth the same impresse,
According as the heavens have her graced,
And frames her house, in which she will be placed,
Fit for her selfe, adorning it with spoyle
Of th' heavenly riches which she robd erewhyle.
Therof it comes that these faire soules, which have
The most resemblance of that heavenly light,
Frame to themselves most beautifull and brave
Their fleshly bowre, most fit for their delight,
And the grosse matter by a soveraine might
Tempers so trim, that it may well be seene
A pallace fit for such a virgin Queene.
EDMUND SPENSER and SIR JOHN DAVIES
So every spirit, as it is most pure,
And hath in it the more of heavenly light,
So it the fairer bodie doth procure
To habit in, and it more fairely dight
With chearefull grace and amiable sight;
For of the soule the bodie forme doth take;
For soule is forme, and doth the bodie make.
From Orchestra, 1594-1622
The Dancing of the Elements
For that brave Sun, the Father of the Day,
Doth love this Earth, the Mother of the Night,
And like a reveller in rich array
Doth dance his galliard in his leman's sight;
Both back, and forth, and sideways passing light,
His princely grace doth so the gods amaze,
That all stand still and at his beauty gaze.
But see the Earth, when she approacheth near,
How she for joy doth spring, and sweetly smile;
But see again her sad and heavy cheer
When changing places he retires a while:
But those black clouds he shortly will exile,
And make them all before his presence fly,
As mists consum'd before his cheerful eye.
Who doth not see the measures of the Moon,
Which thirteen times she danceth ev'ry year?
And ends her pavin, thirteen times as soon
As doth her brother, of whose golden hair
She borroweth part and proudly doth it wear :
Then doth she coyly turn her face aside,
That half her cheek is scarce sometimes descry'd.
For when you breathe, the air in order moves,
Now in, now out, in time and measure true;
And when you speak, so well she dancing loves,
That doubling oft, and oft redoubling new,
With thousand forms she doth herself endue:
For all the words that from your lips repair
Are naught but tricks and turnings of the air.
Hence is her prattling daughter Echo born,
That dances to all voices she can hear :
There is no sound so harsh that she doth scorn,
Nor any time wherein she will forbear
The airy pavement with her feet to wear:
And yet her hearing sense is nothing quick,
For after time she endeth ev'ry trick.
For lo the Sea that fleets about the Land,
And like a girdle clips her solid waist,
Music and measure both doth understand:
For his great crystal eye is always cast
Up to the moon, and on her fixed fast:
And as she danceth in her pallid sphere,
So danceth he about the centre here.
Sometimes his proud green waves in order set,
One after other flow unto the shore,
Which when they have with many kisses wet,
They ebb away in order as before;
And to make known his Courtly Love the more,
He oft doth lay aside his three-fork'd Mace,
And with his arms the tim'rous Earth embrace.
Since when all ceremonious mysteries,
All sacred orgies and religious rites,
All pomps, and triumphs, and solemnities,
All funerals, nuptials, and like public sights,
All parliaments of peace, and warlike sights,
All learned arts, and every great affair,
A lively shape of dancing seems to bear.
SIR J. DAVIES
From Nosce Teipsum, 1599-1622
Why the soul is united to the body
This substance, and this spirit of God's own making,
Is in the body plac'd, and planted here,
'That both of God, and of the world partaking,
Of all that is, man might the image bear.'
God first made angels, bodiless pure minds;
Then other things, which mindless bodies be;
Last, he made man, th' horizon 'twixt both kinds,
In whom we do the world's abridgment see.
Besides, this world below did need one wight,
Which might thereof distinguish ev'ry part;
Make use thereof, and take therein delight;
And order things with industry and art:
Which also God might in his works admire,
And here beneath yield him both pray'r and praise; As there, above, the holy angels' quire
Doth spread his glory with spiritual lays.
Lastly, the brute unreasonable wights
Did want a visible king, on them to reign:
And God himself thus to the world unites,
That so the world might endless bliss obtain.
In what manner the soul is united to the body
But how shall we this union well express?
Nought ties the soul, her subtlety is such;
She moves the body, which she doth possess ;
Yet no part toucheth, but by virtue's touch.
Then dwells she not therein, as in a tent;
Nor as a pilot in his ship doth sit;
Nor as the spider in his web is pent;
Nor as the wax retains the print in it;
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