PROTHALAMION- EDMUND SPENSER

PROTHALAMION- EDMUND SPENSER

·         Prothalamion- spousal verse by Edmund Spenser.

·         Thalamion means wedding.

·         Marriage of twin sisters; Lady Catherine Somerset with  William Peter.

·          Lady Elizabeth Somerset with Henry Gilford

·         The poet to forget his domestic problems walks along the banks of River Thames.

·         Nymph means purity, is plucking flowers and shrewd  flowers on the swans.

·         Swans is whiter than Jupiter who disguised as a swan to win his love, Leda. But these swans are more beautiful and shinier than Leda herself.

·         Swans are usually to draw the chariot of Venus, the goddess of love.

·         Thames filled with flowers by nymphs looked like Peneus, the river of ancient fame rose from mountain Pindus and flows through the Vale of Temple and the Thessalian valley.

·         The poet prays to Cupid and Venus to bless the couple with love and care.

·         The river Lee, at Kent, flows with happiness in this occasion.

·         As the birds flew above the swans looked like moon (Cynthia) shining above the stars.

·         The Earl of Essex lived in the Mighty castle. His attack on Spain made him to fame.

·         Earl of Essex looked fresh with his lovely Golden hair.

·         He accompanied by two young men that resembled the twins of Jupiter namely, Castor and Pollux.

·         The men held the hands of the brides and their wedlock begun.

·         The poet uses the refrain.

·         Spenser’s Amoretti- A collection of 88 sonnets.