The Temple by George Herbert

PRIMARY SOURCE: The Temple (1633)
Context

• Publication: Herbert graduated Trinity and worked as a Reader, than as an orator, at Cambridge. In 1624 he was elected to represent Montgomery in Parliament. He become Rector of Fugglestone in 1630, and died of TB three years later. There is a popular narrative set in 1633, when a dying Herbert gave his manuscript to Nicholas Ferrar with orders to publish or destroy. The narrative explains several salient factors. Nicholas Ferrar founded Little Gidding as an Anglican community in 1625, and in 1633 a scribecreated the Bodleian manuscript Tanner 307.
  I read a diplomatic edition based on Tanner 307, the Bodleian manuscript of Herbert's poems. Thomas Buck published a version of Herbert's collection in 1633, referred to by Mario Di Cesare as "a deft kind of Tottelization." (WELL I NEVER.) The book was printed in eight editions by 1690. EEBO link.
• Scholarship: In the ODNB, Colin Burrow set Herbert among the "central figures" of metaphysical poetry, along with Cranshaw, Marvell, and Vaughan. TS Eliot shaped discussion of the metaphysical poets, so scholars commonly debate Herbert's high-church tendencies, or his use of conceits. Stanley Fish summarized this debate between the catechistic and chaotic Herberts. Fish promoted a synthesis that ultimately favors the chaotic Herbert, though he found The Church Militant to be anticlimactic.
• Why I'm reading it: The Canon, ekphrasis, figure poetry.

Content

• Form: The Temple is divided into the Church-porch, the Church, and the Church Militant. The Church-porch is entirely in six-line iambic pentameter stanzas (ABABCC) advocating (first) virtues of moderate living, (second) social virtues, and (third) virtues of devotion. The Church is a mixture of poems devoted to church architecture, Biblical geography, the liturgy, scriptures, virtues, parable figures, and other rhetorical figures. The Church Militant is a progressive history in iambic pentameter couplets.
• Genre: Devotional poetry, metaphysical poetry.
• Conceit: The three sections of The Temple describe the church before, during, and after Christ's reign. The Church is the most interesting within this scheme, since Christ's presence through metaphor suggests that Herbert endorsed an amillennial eschatology.
• Other notes: "The Window" is of unique interest to my project.

The Maid's Tragedy by Beaumont & Fletcher

PRIMARY SOURCE: The Maid's Tragedy (1619)
Context

• Publication: First performed 1610-11, by the King's Men, probably at the Blackfriar's, then at court. Fletcher is believed to have written 2:2, 4:1, 5:1-2, several notable for their sudden reversals. Registered to Richard Higgenbotham (2) and Francis Constable in 1619. There are two issues of the first edition, varying by the imprint: Higgenbotham (2) or Constable. DEEP has six editions. EEBO link.
• Scholarship: Scholars are interested in the representations of courtly politics and tyranny in the play, as well as the development of the tragi-comedy under Beaumont & Fletcher.
• Why I'm reading it: The counter-canon, ekphrasis, the court, tragicomedy, women.

Content

• Form: Play in five acts.
• Genre: Courtly/romantic tragedy.
• Conceit: Melantius returns from war to Rhodes, only to find that the King has given the hand of his sister Evadne to his friend Amintor, a courtier. The problem is that Amintor had already promised to marry Aspatia, daughter of old lord Calianax. Aspatia grieves, Calianax insults Melantius, and all watch a masque--the king bids Amintor to father a great warrior, and wishes all a good night. Evadne prepares for bed accompanied by Aspatia, who kisses Amintor while leaving. As Amintor regrets his reversal, Evadne reveals that she will never share her bed with him. Under threat from Amintor, she admits to being the queen's kept woman. Amintor will make the king's bastards appear to be legitimate children. Amintor sleeps on the floor to maintain the illusion.
  Aspatia commends her servants to never give away their hearts. For her broken heart, Calianax vows revenge. Vengeful Amintor casts aspersions on Evadne to Melantius, and makes the king doubt Evadne's loyalty as a kept woman. Amintor admits that Evadne has been faithful to the king, and vows non-violent vengeance. Amintor shares the truth with Melantius, who had just brushed off a threat from Calianax. Melantiaus threatens Amintor with death for this slander, which Amintor welcomes. Melantius is disabused, though Amintor threatens in order to die. They reconcile and plot against the king. Covertly, they plot with Calianax to secure the fortress as a faithful citadel. Melantius threatens Evadne into confessing her tryst, and she swears to kill the king. She reconciles with Amintor. Calianax leaks the plan to the king, who summons the conspirators. On the strength of his reputation, Melantius convinces the king that Calianax is a fool. They win control of the fortress, and Melantius persuades Amintor not to harm the sacred body of the king. Instead, Evadne puts the king in bondage, kills him with a knife, and forgives him.
  The king's brother Lysippus regroups to the citadel, under Melantius' control. Melantius and Lysippus agree to amnesty. Aspatia duels Amintor in disguise, on the pretense of avenging Aspatia's (her own) honor. Amintor stabs her, and Evadne enters with a bloody knife. She asks to be his wife, but he leaves in disgust. Evadne stabs herself and dies. Aspatia reveals her true identity before dying, and Amintor--bereft of all hope--kills himself. The bloody scene is uncovered by Melantius, Calianax, and Lysippus. Melantius tries to kill himself; Calianax stops him, and they are reconciled; Lysippus vows to be a chaste king.
• Sudden reversals by Fletcher:
• 4:1 Melantius pulls a double-reverse on Calianax before the king.
• 5:1-2 The bloody end.

• Other notes: In an extended ekphrastic section, Aspatia amends a number of classical allusions to make them match her sorrow.
• Mneumonic: Mel(antius) Ev(adne) Am(intor) Asp(atia) Cal(ianax) Lys(ippus)
  Melting evidence amounts (to) aspermous calamitous licensciousness.

The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser

PRIMARY SOURCE: The Faerie Queene (pub. 1590-6)
Context

• Publication: The Faerie Queene was written in Ireland, first, during the employ of Lord Grey of Wilson, then, in Kilcolman castle in Munster; partially published (three books) in 1590; rewarded with a pension from the Queen of fifty pounds per year; more fully published (six books with the Mutability Cantos) in 1596; ultimately published (seven books) in a 1609 edition (Greenblatt and Abrams 706). EEBO link 1, 2, and 3,
• Scholarship: Scholars read the poem for the complexity of its allegory, for the tension between its prophetic message and political production, for the formal inspiration taken from the Tasso and Ariosto, for the representation of Ireland and imperialism.
• Why I'm reading it: The Canon, book history, formalism, tapestries, and ekphrasis.

Content

• Form: 
• Spenserian stanza: eight lines iambic pentameter with an alexandrine, rhymed ababbcbcc. 
• Forty-eight stanzas per canto (432 lines per canto [12^2 x 3 = 4^2 x 3^3]), twelve cantos per book (5184 lines per book [72^2], 576 stanzas per book), and twelve announced books. 
• Genre: Epic. Moral allegory.
• Conceit: Six private virtues, six public virtues. Private virtues: Holiness, Temperance, Chastity, Friendship, Justice, Courtesy (mneumonic: Horses Try Chewing Fake Jello Carrots). Knights: Redcrosse, Guyon, Britomart, Campbell & Triamond, Artegall, and Calidore (mneumonic: Rudolf Gently Bathes Conneticut Army Captains).
• Other notes: 

Knight	Maid	Quest	Enemy	Squire / Ally
Redcrosse, of Holiness	Una (truth)	Free Una's parents from the dragon	Archimago & Duessa (idolatry & false faith)	Arthur (Britain is the ally of Holiness)
Guyon, of Temperance	Medina (moderation)	Destroy Acrasia's Bower of Bliss	Cymochles & Pyrochles (indecision & temper)	Palmer (trustworthy pilgrim)
Britomart, of Chastity	Artegall (like Arthur)	Return Amoretta to Scudamore	Malbecco, Busirane (jealousy, the captor of hearts)	Glauce (elderly woman)
Campbell & Triamond, of Friendship	Canacee & Cambina (healing & concord)	Aid the honor of Canacee & Cambina	Blandamour, Paridell, Duessa, & Ate (jealous friends, false faith & strife)	Each other
Artegall, of Justice	Eirene (peace)	Rescue Eirene from Grantorto	Grantorto (great wrong is the enemy of justice)	Talus (iron justice)
Calidore, of Courtesy	Pastorella (shepherdess courtier)	Slay the Blatant Beast	The Blatant Beast (slander)	Tristram (noble lineage)

(NB: Written with anthology notes.)
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2012. Print.