An Interpretation of Spenser's Colin Clouts Come Home Again

324 Pages·2016·17.15 MB·English

by  Sam Meyer

LLooyyoollaa UUnniivveerrssiittyy CChhiiccaaggoo
LLooyyoollaa eeCCoommmmoonnss
Dissertations Theses and Dissertations
1960
AAnn IInntteerrpprreettaattiioonn ooff SSppeennsseerr''ss CCoolliinn CClloouuttss CCoommee HHoommee AAggaaiinn
Sam Meyer
Loyola University Chicago
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Copyright © 1960 Sam Meyer
.
INtERPRETATION 0' COLIN CLOUTS
~~ S~NSERfS
A Dl •••" .~10D Subrdtte4 to the Pao.l~1 ot the Cho .......t tI a.bool
.r Loyola Uni. .r 81t1 1n Partial Fultillment ot
the RequinMnt. tor the DeC.... of
1I00tOl" of Ph11ol.pt!7
1960
LIFE
Sam Meyer wa. born in Decorah, Iowa, on April 20, 1917.
He was graduated tram Decorah High Sohool on May 24, 1934. He attended
Luther College, Deoorah, trom 1934 to 1936. From 1938 to 1940, he attended
---
the State University ot Iowa, 10. .. City, Iowa. He was graduated oum laude
tram the State University on June 3, 1940, reoeiviag the degree ot Baohelor
ot Soienoe in Oommeroe.
The writer enUsted in the United Sta~es Navy a8 a yeoman in the Intelli
genoe Branoh. He began active duty on August 9, 1941. On January 1, 1943,
he was oommissioned an ensign in the Supply Corp'. He was separated tram ao
tive Naval .ervioe on April S, 1946, in the rank ot lieutenant. He i8 now a
lieutenant oommander in the Reserve, attaohed to Naval Reserve Supply Company
9-7, Chioago.
The author started graduate study in English in April, 1948, at the
.a.
University ot Chioago. On Deoember 16, 1949, he awarded the Master ot
Arts degree. The three Muter's paper. whioh he wrote are entitled "History
and Interpretation ot Vihitman's Ana.rer,· "Addiaon" Critioilm
~.!!..:!'!.
ot the Aeneid in the Speotator Papers," and "Arti.tic Unity in Melville'.
!h!. ~noantada •• "
The author began his studies tor the dootorate at Loyola Univeraity,
Chicago, in June, 1954. The requirement ot a year ot residenoe was tultilled
during the aoademio year 1955-56.
11
iii
The author taught English in two Illinois high schools, St. Charles and
Bensenville, from 1949 to 1955. At present he teaohes English and serves a8
adviser to the oollege weekly at Morton Junior College, Cioero, Illinois,
where he has been a member of the .faolllty sinoe 1956.
TABLE OF CONtEN'l'S
Chapter Page
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I. INTRODUCTION • • • • • • 1
Statement of general purpoae--Beed for new study--Speoitio
aim and soope ot dissertation--Some highlights of finding ••
II. COLIN CLOUT. THE BOOK .AND THE POEM • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 13
Mystery of non-registry of original quarto--Relation between
title poem and other poems in volum.--The two Itatea ot the
original qaarto--Standard modern text of poem (Spenser
Variorum) oompared with text of revised 1595 quarto-.History
of 1Il&terial book of minimal value --tor purposes of interpre.
tation.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
III. RHETORICAL FIGURES • • • 40
Abundanoe of rhetorioal figure.--Spen.er'. employment of
figures oompared with that of modern authors--Uee ot figure.
to till out detail. of a passage--U.e ot figure. to adjust
style in aooordanoe with demands ot deoorum--U.8 ot figures
to generate emotive toroe--Funotional employment of figures.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IV. DICTION AND VERSIFICATION .. ,
Ditfioulties of olassifying element. of Spenser'. diotion-
Resume ot modern studies oonoerIling Spenser's poetio vooab
ulary--Speoiall,ed diotion. arohai«m8, dialeot worda,
oOinagea, borrowing', variations, adoption., and compounds-
Common word atock--Reoiprocal relation 01' versifioation and
diction--Strophio oharacter ot verae l speeoh units and sohemes
01' rhetorio--General desoription of verse form--Analy8is ot
speoimen paasage--Overall affect of language and versifioation.
v.
L'\WlERY 93
• • • • • • • • /I • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Classifying image.--lmaf,es based on appeal to physioal senses-
Images based on appeal to oonoeptual assoolationa--Image. based
on appeal to emotion--Generalilationa ooncerning images.
iv
v
. . . . . . . .
VI. TONE A1~ FEELING •••••••••• 159
Relation of attitudinal aspects to style and prosody-
Lnportance of attitudinal plexus for understanding of poem-
"Peeling" and "Tanu" defined--Volaes in the poem and meoh
anism of address--Role of interlooutors--Interlooutora and
tone--Colin t s tone and address eOlltpared with those of other
oharaoters--"Feeling" as manifested in Colin disoourse.
til
. . . . . . . . .
VII. THE USE OF PERSONAL lUTERIAL IN COLIN CLOO'l 203
Poem taotual or tictive in orientation?--Narrative episodes.
oa.e for and against aoceptanoe as literal b10graphy--Equa
tion between author and title oharacter in respect to their
thoughts and attitudes, oase for and against direct equa
tion--Pabrioation of Colin Clout from variations on an
autobiographio theme--Partioulars ot persons, plaoes and
event. verifiable trom outside souroe.--Colin Clout as a
vehiole tor the expression ot arttstl0 .rnoer1ty.
VIII. UNl'l'Y • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 241
Allegation. regarding laok of unity--Speoser's oonversanoe
with 01a8s10al theories of unity--Struotural unity-
Conoeptual unity--Univerllality of poem--Intended oourtly
audienoe--Observanoe ot deoorum--Overall oOllsistenoy.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CONCLUSION 292
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., .
BIBLIOGRAPHY 291
APPENDIX I. THE FIGtrdES ILLUSTRATED FOR THE FIRST .AND LAST ONE
BUNDRh~ LINES OF COLIN CLOUT •••• • • • • • • • • :508
, i>
APPENDIX II. CRITICAL RESUME OF SCHOLARSHIP APPOSITE TO ARCHAISMS
IN COLli CLOUT ••••••• • • • • • • • • • • •• 313
LIST OF TABLES
Table
Page
I. COLLAfION OF REVISED (Qb) AND UNREVISED (Qa) OUTER FORME. O.F .
SHEgT C, COLIN CLOUT I 1696 • • • • '!' • • • • • • • • • • 32
II. COLLATION OF VARIORUM' 'lEXT WITH TF.A! OF QUARTO, 1595,
NEWBSRRY COP! lQb), COLIN CLOUT • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 31
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The writer's purpose in this dissertation i. to lupply an interpretative
Itudy of one of Spenser" important poem., Colin Clouts
~~Againe,
. 1
bearing a dedioation, under date of Deoember 27, 1591, to Sir Walter Raleigh,
and published in London by William Ponsonby in 1595. Such a study hal long
been needed because of the paucity of critical treatment dealing directly
~
with this poem. As for interpretation ~.~ there i8 virtually none.
One looks in vain for an interpretative study whioh one find. almo.t at
random for the separate books of the Faerie Queene and moat of the other
poems. There are, for example, three full-soale interpretations of Muiopot-
mo., a poem of half the length of Colin Clout, from April, 1928, to Deoember,
lThe writer's ohoice in spelling the name of this oolorful and ver.atile
EliJabethan as "Raleigh" is lamewhat arbitrary. The main justification for
it is that the name i. so spelled in all of Spen.er's referencel to hil fel
low poet and neighboring planter which occur in editionl of Spen.er's writ
ing. published during the author'. lifetime. The name ia spelled in thi.
manner in the Dedicatory Letter, prefixed to Colin Clout and addressed to
"Sir Walter Raleifh, Captaine of her Maie.tie. Guard," etc. The spelling i.
"Raleigh" in tb8wo referenoe. contained in the 1590 edition of the Faerie
Queene: the "Letter of the Authors" explaining the intention of the work,
and the Dedioatory Sonnet addressed ~o the "s~~er. Nightingale."
Contemporary document. spell the name in a variety of ways, a8 did the
owner of the name him.elf. For example, the Calendar of State Pa;irs tor
Ireland, 1588-1592, has the name spelled al tollow81 Rawley, Rai~gh,-a&legh,
and Raleigb;7:OOOument. included in the Calendar of Carew Manusort;ts, 1689-
~, contain spellings ot the name in these waYI,~alergh, la1ig , RaIigh,
1
2
1934. In the single year 1930 there are two lengthy interpretations of Book
I of the Faerie Queene.
There exist in print, aside from editions, no books and only a handful
of artiolel dealing exolusively with Clout. The article. relate, for
~.011~
the most part, either to identifioations ot veiled personage. and other top-
ioal matters ot limited aspect, or to souroe. and analogue.. Such oardinal
literary aspeot. of the poem as diotion, imagery, tone and teeling, have
hitherto reoeived no oonsideration in the soholarship. Other central literary
pha ••• such a8 rhetorioal tigures, versifioation in relation to diotion, ule
of personal material, and unity, are the subject of only inoidental mention
...
in oonneotion with tbe disoussion of similar matters in other Spenser poema.
The ensuing ohapters oontain as part ot their speoifio ooverage a fairly
detailed presentation on the nature and soope of extant soholarship on eaoh
of the cardinal literary aspeots named in the ohapter title.. Sinoe the
matters referred to in the lalt lentenc. of the preceding paragraph eaoh have
a ohapter devoted to the., there i. no need to be more explioit here with
respeot to the statuI of previous investigations on these topios. But a di8-
oussion oonoerning the prior general interpretative treatments ot Colin Clout,
Ra1eghe, Rawlie, Rawleighe, Rawley. Aooording to Philip Edwarde, Sir Walter
Rale,h, Men and Books Seri.8 (London, (1963), p. Tii, the knight hime.lt
used "Rauleyn or "Rawleyghe" up to 1684, and atter that, "Ralegh" only.
The two favored spelling. ot the twentieth oentury, "Raleigh" and
"Ralegh," both have scholarly sanotion. The great Variorum edition ot Spon
uni
ser's Works, is.ued fro.. 1932 to 195T under the aegl. ot John. Hopkins
versity, employa the spelling "Raleigh" throughout, whereas the equally
!!
authoritative sUFb!jment to the Cambr1d6! Bib110lraihl Enflish Literature,
published by the versity Pre •• at bambrldge, ng and, in 961, uses
ttRalegh.1t
3
to whioh this study may invite oomparison, is oertainly in order.
There are only three works whioh oan at all be oonstrued as interpreta-
tiona of Colin Clout. the first can be disposed of briefly because ot the
oursory treatment imposed by its type and purpose. The ohapter of seTen
~al8s in H. S. V. Jone., ! Spenaer Handbook (1930), 18 hardly more than &
synopsis presenting introduotory data and suggesting oertain line. of ap-
proaoh.
The seoond. .uoh work 'beoause of it. importanoe to Spenaerian oritioiem
deserve, more extended notice. This is the Minor Poems, Volume 1(1943), the
.eventh volume of the Varior_ edition of Spenser" Complete l'Jorks. This
...
magisterial volume, bringing together the greater part ot the soholarship
trom the time of the original publioation ot Colin Clout in 1696 to the year
1942, must remain the foundation of all 8ub.equent work on that poem. The
Commentary on Colin Olout i. a veritable mine ot m1.oellaneoua information on
the poem.
The bulk of material in the Commentary i. quotationa and •• tram
.~i
the oolleoted and single editions of the Tariou, oommentators and trom & few
key books and article.. These edition. la1d the groundwork tor present-day
8oholarship_ Muoh of the data touJ1d therein and reproduoed in the V:ariorUl!l
..
has never been 8uper.eded. Of these editions, J)apbnaida !!! Other Poem.t
(1929), by \". L. Renwiok, 11 the most aooura" and valuable tor the modern
soholar' ••t udy of Colin Clout. In general, howeTer, before acoepting the
note. of earlier oommentators, ODe mu.t purl' away a great deal of dross.
The leading books and article. inoorporated in part in the Variorum
Commentary concentrate almost entirely on identifying allusions to the poet.