I N T R O D U C T I O N

What’s The Bible Got To Do With It: A Stranger’s View After Visiting One Section of Spenser’s Garden of Adonis

Judging by the title, it is understandable why brevity is not considered my strongest quality. And after reading Spenser’s Fairie Queene (at least the first three books), an argument can be made that diversity is not one of Spenser’s literary attributes. This is merely an observation, not criticism. I mention this fact in an effort to show why I cannot, and will not, direct my work towards a specific group. Being that I am black, I am often expected to either diversify my work, or seek a diversified audience. However, black individuals in FQ are almost like Venus and Adonis-myths--, but without any power. That is, unless a reader considers the Palmer, introduced in the first canto of Book II, to be black. In Bk. II, I, 34, line 4, it states, “With his blacke Palmer.”

In any event, to look at Spenser’s FQ from the perspective of how racial diversity fits-if it does-into his passages would be futile. And any person whose race is not represented perhaps would feel like a stranger in a strange land when they read those passages. Also, this feeling of “strangeness” could be applied to a student who is studying Spenser for the first time, which may explain the abundance of commentary in the more recent editions of Spenser’s work. The commentary reveals the sources Spenser used to create FQ. Spenser relied upon no one in particular to gain inspiration. He branched out into various areas, including history, mythology, religion, and philosophy. Trying to grasp all of the ways in which he utilizes these elements in FQ would be overwhelming (and almost impossible) for a student who may only take Spenser for one semester.

Therefore, since I fall into that general category, I decided to limit my gloss to two stanzas in Book III. I only referred to the Bible. I figured if I can at least get part of it, time will not be wasted in my studying FQ.

I ventured into a tiny section of the Garden of Adonis. The stanzas I glossed, 32 and 33, I believe hold enough information for anyone to gain a comprehension view about a general idea of how the Bible played a big role in Spenser’s writing.
The answer to the question, “What’s the Bible got to do with it?” is “A lot.”
The Spenser Encyclopedia states Spenser used the Bible as a reference frequently. He especially relied on verses in Genesis and Revelation. He had various versions of the Bible at his disposal: The Great Bible, Bishop’s Bible, Geneva, and Rheims. Since Spenser was a learned man, he also read the Vulgate.

I used the 1599 Geneva and the 1618 Rheims, which includes confutations by Thomas Cartwright. The reason I include text from the Rhemists translation of the New Testament hinges on the fact that Spenser may have also used them. Thomas Cartwright read them so thoroughly (as did other Protestants), he could provide written confutations. Spenser may have also read the 1582 printed edition, if only out of curiosity.

Another reason for using the Christian aspect to gloss is this: many readers cannot easily recognize allusions to Virgil’s, Ovid’s, or Claudian’s symbolic gardens. This is why so much scholarly research has been done based on the Classical references, in order to eliminate individuals’ lack of knowledge. But in doing this, obvious biblical references have been left out in the cold.

Whether or not a person has been to college, or read Spenser, he or she usually knows at least one Bible story. And most everyone has heard of the Garden of Eden. A garden is where man originated and the place where the Son of Man was buried, and resurrected. Beretta notes, “Gardening was considered Man’s first employment, Adam being the first gardener” (1993: 116). Beretta also states: “The Greek Garden of Adonis, which was not a garden in the traditional sense as it simply consisted of seeds cultivated in pots and vases” (The World’s A Garden, 1993: 19). Beretta concludes in the same text the paradise found in Spenser’s FQ is “false”. Thus, the reader finds paradise is neither lost nor regained here.

My focus is only one branch out of many that reaches into the Garden of Adonis. With the help of intratextual references, I demonstrate how Spenser uses a word or phrase in other parts of FQ. As A.C. Hamilton points out, “the first and essential context for understanding any stanza of the poem is the rest of the poem” (Hamilton: 2001).