Imitative Design and Secret Design in The Faerie Queene, 2.12

Abstract

<p>This thesis examines two aspects of The Faerie Queene, 2.12: its use of Tasso and its structural patterns.</p> <p>Chapter I re-examines the dependence of the Bower of Bliss episode on Tasso's account of Armida's Palace. Unmistakably modelled on Tasso, Spenser's canto takes a distinctly different direction, subjecting its Italian source to a generally ironic treatment. Spenser's subtle changes, simultaneously reminiscent of Tasso and indicative of his own originality and superiority, suggest that the total meaning of the canto can only be apprehended by knowing the passage it imitates.</p> <p>The remaining chapters show that The Faerie Queene, 2.12, sets up demonstrable symmetries not yet discussed in Spenser scholarship. Chapter II demonstrates two distinct pieces of structural symmetry within canto 12 itself, the first converging from stanzas 1 and 34, the second from stanzas 35 and 87. In each of these patterns, the stanzas are symmetrically aligned through verbal, imagistic, and thematic correspondences, so that the matched stanzas converge upon a central stanza or stanzas. Chapter III reveals that canto 12 simultaneously sets up at least eleven demonstrable symmetries with other parts of the poem. Such architectural patterns, so hidden that they cannot be readily discerned, augment and confirm familiar critical positions (e.g. the Bower of Bliss is a perverted Garden of Adonis) and operate to engrain the poem's meanings into its secret design. These discoveries, providing insight into Spenser's conception of composition and of his role as a poet, present striking examples of the Renaissance poet's intense concern with complex structures.</p>