Evening star., 1925-06-17
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

To
The most high, mightie and magnificent
Empresse,
Renowned for pietie. vertue. and all
gratious government,
ELIZABETH.
by the grace of God
oueene OF England. Fraunce and Ireland,
and of Virginia,
Defendour of the Faith, etc,
her most humble servaunt
EDMUND SPENSER,
doth. in all humilitie,
ueulcate, present and consecrate
,r H.. these his labours
10 h'e with the eternite of her fame
so runs the dedication of 1.-The
Faerie Queene," published in 1890
since that date many things have
come to pass; but it is the eternitie
OF the fame of Spenser, Shakespeare
ana the others of that age that makes
Elizabeth live
Undoubtedly great ruler, she was
wise enough to foster, not hinder, the
lultpioWn genius of her age: and to
10y, III america, we understand and
appreciate, for this is the Eliza
oethan age of the United States.
Today this country stands. much
as old England did then, flushed with
NE, Vlgor, wealth, success. with the
luiiest appreciation of all the great
Things of old, and the deepest deter
mlnation to make the present and
coming years full to the brim.
AchleVement and happiness rule
now as they did then. Through the
humility of the fowery dedicatiop ~
the great poets poet" as Snense,
has been called. rightly enough, we
see the pride of the artist.
NO doubt. as he finished that dedi
cation. he smiled down over the ire
mendous ruff of his laced and frillef
collar chuckled up his sleeve and
said to himself: Elizabeth, old girl
II the truth were known, 1 should
oeoicate you TO live with the eternitie
OF the Fatrie Queene"
There has been a great deal Of tall
curing the past 10 or Is years of lima
glsts and lmagist poetry, a sort OF
iinpresslonism in which images nj
thlnss are thrown on paper in an eff
tort TO make the reader annrehand
them as the writer did.
one may be forgiven for believing
that the adherents of this school nl,t
their faith in images" because thew
are unable to write real descriptive
PROSE the sort that Dickens turned
out so tirelessly. That old n1aste,
took hundred pages to describe q
scene or person. but when he finished
you had most lively, living image
OF the scene or person.
Imagery, however, is no new thing
Edmund Spenser. whose "Faerie
Queene' was written entirely in the
stanZa named after him, was perhaps
the trst imagist. His lengthy. some
what duh and certainly little read
poem outside of the classroom is filled
with perfect images, struck off one
after the other.
There are images of knights. fair
ladles, strange professions of vices
ana virtues, dreamy caverns where
gold CLEANS like light. and fairy fields
where the asphodels blow and streams
run purling to far-off seas.
The general end therefore of all
the booke is to fashion d gentleman
or noble person in vertuous and gen.
tie discipline, Spenser said in his in.
troductory letter, addressed to the
right noble and valorous Sir Walter
Raleigh, knight, Lord Warden OF
the Stanneryes, and Her Maiesties
Liefetenaunt Of the County of Corne
wayll"
Right here let US pause to notice
the large number of letters used in
the old English. letters that time has
dropped for the general good of all OF
US. Also the spelling Of the word
lieutenant" showing where the
sometimes heard modern pronuncia
ton of "leftenant" comes from
4 + X
In looking over my old COPY OF
this monumental poem l find that
had underlined very few lines as
striking me particularly. The F'airie
Queene" is not what one would cal
quotable; it must be read in the mass