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COMPLAINTS (1591) XXXlll
he Chaucerian spirit The gravely-drawn portrait of the formal priest,
who could not read or write .
Of such deep learning httle had he neede,
Ne yet of Latme, ne of Greeke, that breede,
Doubts mongst Divines, and difference of texts,
From whence arise diversitie of sects,
And hateful heresies, of God abhor*d
But this good Sir did follow the plaine word,
Ne meddled with their controversies vaine (11 386-91)
—as well as the sermon that follows,with its sublime excuse for the neglect
of all a pastor's duties by the text All shalbe taught of God, is in the best
vein of Chaucerian irony Like Chaucer too he does not labour his
moral, but tells his story vividly and in places with a real humour But
from this he can rise into the manner more essentially characteristic of
his own art His idealism finds voice in the brief appeal against the
degradation of poetry and in the picture of the brave courtier, his indignation
in the magnificent outburst of invective at the pitiful suitor's state
Mother Hubberds Tale is Spenser's only poem written with a definite
satiric purpose, it reveals a combination of qualities which are not
commonly attributed to him—a satiric power ranging from the slyest suggestion
to savage irony, a shrewd and humorous knowledge of the world,
and a certain primitive understanding of both animal and human nature
The Teares of the Muses and the Ruines of Time are far less interesting
The whole tone of the former, out of touch with the development of
poetry which finds such generous if somewhat uncritical recognition only
a little later in Colin Clouts Come Home Agamef suggests that it was
written at least before Spenser's return from Ireland, and perhaps earlier
still Passages in it recall the language of Cuddie in October of the
Sheptheardes Calender, but there is no Piers to give the antidote, and the
monotonous harping upon the degeneracy of the times does not ring
entirely true The Ruines of Time also contains early work, and in
the ' tragick Pageaunts' with which it closes we have a return to the
emblematic art of the early Visions. But from a lament which, for the
most part, is conventional both in style and setting, Spenser rises to
genuine feeling in his scorn for the ' courting masker' who fawned on
the great Leicester in the days of his prosperity, and now that he is dead
upbraids his deeds (197-224) , and in his tribute to Sidney's memory
(281-343) his verse takes on that peculiarly haunting melody in which
he is wont to voice an intimate emotion
Muiopotmos was written in 1590, it seems to have been printed
separately in that year and then added to the Complaints. Its tone is verydifferent
from the other contents of the book. The lines which Keats
borrowed from it as a motto for his first volume :
What more felicitie can fall to creature
Than to enjoy delight with hbertie ?