Spenser and Virgil : The Pastoral Poems

Dubbed 'the English Virgil' in his own lifetime, Edmund Spenser has been compared to the Augustan laureate ever since. He invited the comparison, expecting a readership intimately familiar with Virgil's works to notice and interpret his rich web of allusion and imitation, but also his significant departures and transformations. This book considers Spenser's pastoral poetry, and the genre which announces the inception of a Virgilian career in The Shepheardes Calender. It also considers to which he returns in Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, throwing the 'Virgilian career' into reverse. The book first makes a case for taking seriously the allegorical mode of reading Virgil's Eclogues prominent in the commentary tradition from Servius to the Renaissance. It then examines how The Shepheardes Calender seeks to replicate the Virgilian dynamic of bargaining with power in its opposition to the D'Alencon match. When 'Colin Clouts Come Home Againe' is read in conjunction with 'Astrophel', it becomes clear that they have in common not only their central themes but also their major intertexts, both in Virgil and in Spenser's other works. They are in fact complementary parts of the same project, constructing their meaning and their poetic programme through allusive dialogue both with Virgil and with each other. Dubbed 'the English Virgil' in his own lifetime, Spenser has been compared to the Augustan laureate ever since. He invited the comparison, expecting a readership intimately familiar with Virgil's works to notice and interpret his rich web of allusion and imitation, but also his significant departures and transformations.This volume considers Spenser's pastoral poetry, the genre which announces the inception of a Virgilian career in The Shepheardes Calender, and to which he returns in Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, throwing the 'Virgilian career' into reverse. His sustained dialogue with Virgil's Eclogues bewrays at once a profound debt to Virgil and a deep-seated unease with his values and priorities, not least his subordination of pastoral to epic. Drawing on the commentary tradition and engaging with current critical debates, this study of Spenser's interpretation, imitation and revision of Virgil casts new light on both poets-and on the genre of pastoral itself Introduction -- Intertextuality And Allegory In Virgil's Eclogues -- Virgilian Negotiations In The Shepheardes Calender -- Virgilian Structure In The Shepheardes Calender -- Reshaping The Virgilian Cursus: Pastoral Vocation In 'astrophel' -- Reimagining The Pastoral Muse In 'colin Clouts Come Home Againe'. Syrithe Pugh. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. Electronic Reproduction. Baltimore, Md Available Via World Wide Web. Front matter Dedication Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Intertextuality and allegory in Virgil’s Eclogues Virgilian negotiations in The Shepheardes Calender Virgilian structure in The Shepheardes Calender Reshaping the Virgilian cursus: pastoral vocation in ‘Astrophel' Reimagining the pastoral muse in ‘Colin Clouts Come Home Againe’ Bibliography Index of works and passages General index An engaging study that offers new and provocative re-readings of Spenser's pastoral poems, with a focus on Spenser's acknowledged debt to Virgil and his Eclogues. Reception studies, politics and classical studies are interweaved to provide a greater understanding of both poets.