Edmund Spenser, Prothalamion

Tamsin Theresa Badcoe (University of Bristol)

Ed. by J A Roe, University of York
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1596

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

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A novel variation on a marriage hymn, Spenser’s

Prothalamion

is an innovative “spousal verse” that anticipates the double wedding held on November 8th 1596 of Elizabeth and Katharine Somerset, daughters of the Earl of Worcester, to Henry Guildford and William Petre. Printed by William Ponsonby, the poem depicts a betrothal ceremony, which fuses the representation of movement through a natural landscape with preparatory rites that speak of love, renewal and fulfilment. It is possible that the poem figuratively maps an actual river pageant, in which the future brides, who are depicted in the poem as a pair of luminous swans, “floating on the Christal Flood” (57), sailed along parts of the Lea and the Thames to Essex House, where the wedding was also held. Essex House was…

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1682 words

Citation: Badcoe, Tamsin Theresa. "Prothalamion". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 November 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16049, accessed 24 November 2024.]

Edmund Spenser, Prothalamion

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