And is there Care in Heaven?
Sir Guyon lies in an enchanted swoon, but he is not without help.
Published in 1590
Queen Elizabeth I 1558-1603
Sir Guyon lies in an enchanted swoon, but he is not without help.
Published in 1590
Queen Elizabeth I 1558-1603
Sir Guyon, the Knight of Temperance, has been commissioned to help an old man whose land is troubled by a wicked witch. The journey is fraught with dangers, and Sir Guyon has been cast into an endless swoon by Mammon, the money-god, for refusing to be his slave. As the knight slumbers, Spenser reflects on God’s care for the helpless.
Original spelling.
AND is there care in heaven? And is there love
In heavenly spirits to these creatures bace,*
That may compassion of their evils move?
There is:— else much more wretched were the cace
Of men then* beasts: but O! th’ exceeding grace
Of Highest God that loves his creatures so,
And all his workes with mercy doth embrace,
That blessed angels he sends to and fro,
To serve to wicked man, to serve his wicked foe!
How oft do they their silver bowers leave
To come to succour us that succour want!
How oft do they with golden pineons* cleave
The flitting skyes, like flying pursuivant,*
Against fowle feendes to ayd us militant!
They for us fight, they watch and dewly* ward,
And their bright squadrons round about us plant;
And all for love and nothing for reward:
O, why should Hevenly God to men have such regard!*
Original spelling.
From The Faerie Queene Book II Canto VIII, in The Works of Edmund Spenser (1857).
* This is the word base, spelled with the same logic as cace (case), grace and embrace in the lines that follow.
* This is the word ‘than’. ‘Then’ continued to be written where we write ‘than’ for many years.
* This now archaic word, which we now spell ‘pinions’, means ‘wings’.
* A ‘pursuivant’ is a follower, and specifically one in the retinue of a monarch, similar to a herald but not of such exalted rank.
* Duly.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
According to Spenser, what has mankind done to deserve the angels’ care?
Nothing, it is all done for love.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
God’s angels help us. We do not deserve it. They get no reward.
See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.
IGood. IINeither. IIIReturn.