Journal of Taibah University the first issue

Medieval and Renaissance Values in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
and Spenser’s Epithalamion
13
to the bride’s companions to awaken her, only when it is ready, “by
the spirits and the goddesses of the field.” 16 The bridegroom also
draws visual images of his beautiful bride, “my dove,” frequently
comparing her with doves: “How beautiful you are, my dearest, ah,
how beautiful, your eyes are like doves!” (“The Song of Songs” 1.15)
and with turtle dove: “and the turtle-dove’s cooing is heard in our
land” (2.12). From a Christian point of view, this piece can be
interpreted as representing a wedding song, of the marriage between
Christ and the Church. 17 The same passage has an emblematic
allusion to the Song of Songs in ‘turtle dove,’ symbolizing conjugal
fidelity. 18 In the fourth stanza, another petition by the poet is made to
Phoebus - Christ is implied - to awaken Spenser’s bride with Phoebus’
morning shining beams. The series of prayers and petitions continue
with the poet requesting the “fair Sun,” to “shew forth thy favourable
ray” (117). As in the Elizabethan convention, the pun on ‘Sun’ is
suggested to indicate that Christ is summoned to bless the wedding.
For the poet, this occasion is not only worldly but also sacred because
“this day for ever to me holy is,/ [so] Pour out the wine without
restraint or stay” (249-50). The association between ‘wine’ and
Christ’s blood cannot at all be ignored, given the obviously Christian
context of this stanza. In the mood of revelry and merriment, the poet
also reminds us of such Christian, sacred association: “And sprinkle
all the postes and wals with wine” (253), leaving no doubt that his
wedding is to be interpreted as a religious–social celebration.
Once again, contrary to Sir Gawain’s exclusively moral
representation, the spiritual and the worldly; the sacred and the secular
sides of the wedding, intermingle here as evident of the multiplicity as
well as universality of Spenser’s Renaissance poem. One intriguing
feature of Epithalamion’s multiplicity is Spenser’s interest in his
bride’s physical appearance. The poet portrays his bride’s physical
beauty in the ninth and tenth stanzas, perhaps as much as he describes
her inner, spiritual qualities. The bride, a “Queen in royal throne,”
(194) is given qualities of greatness and majesty by the poet. She is
not like any other bride, for she also acquires some ‘heavenly’
qualities. However, her timid behavior in the typically Christian
ceremony, attributes to her a rather human quality. She cannot help
but blush in such a solemn situation, as the priest blesses her “with his
two holy hands’ (225). Spenser’s emphasis on his bride’s beauty is
reinforced by an interesting allusion to Saint Barnabas’ Day (266),
implying that the day of his wedding is indeed the longest day in the
whole year.
The vivid religious background of Epithalamion shows that
Spenser inadvertently avoids the focus on, merely, Christian theology