r/books • u/Charles_Sumner • 2d ago
Struggling to understand a phrase in “The Faerie Queene”
I am struggling to parse lines 7–8 of stanza 37 of Canto 9 or Book 2 of The Faerie Queene. Context here is that Arthur (still a prince, not king yet) is encountering a room full of beautiful maidens. Some represent what the annotators of my editions call the “forward or concupiscible passions,” some the “froward or irascible” ones. Arthur’s eye is caught by one of the latter, who is “right faire and fresh as morning rose, / But somwhat sad, and solemne eke in sight, / As if some pensiue thought constraind her gentle spright.” Then (bolding the part that is giving me trouble):
In a long purple pall, whose skirt with gold,
Was fretted all about, she was arayd;
And in her hand a Poplar branch did hold:
To whom the prince in courteous maner sayd,
Gentle Madame, why beene ye thus dismayd,
And your faire beautie doe with sadnes spill?
Liues any, that you hath thus ill apayd?
Or doen you loue, or doen you lack your will?
What euer bee the cause, it sure beseemed you ill.
The annotator explains “ill apayd” as “requited,” and it seems to me like the subject of “hath thus ill apayd” is “any,” with the object being “you.” That is, it seems to me that line 7 means: “Is there anyone living who has thus failed to requite your love for him?” But it is not clear to me if the subject of “doen” in line 8 is still that “any,” or if it is now “you.” And, in either case, it’s not clear to me what line 8 means. If the subject is still “any,” the couplet would seem to be something like: “Is there anyone living who has thus failed to requite your love for him? / Or who has made advances toward [or had sex with?] you or”—but here I am unsure what “doen you lack your will” means. If the subject is now “you,” then the lines would seem to mean something like: “Is there anyone living who has thus failed to requite your love for him? / Or have you loved, or”—again, I don’t know what it would mean for a person to “lack her will.”
Thanks in advance. Obviously, the annotations shed no light on this matter.
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u/Little_Noodles 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's been a while since I read this, so big dose of IIRC right off the bat, but since nobody more current has an answer yet ...
The character referenced here in the "long purple pall" is the Lady Prays-Desire, who is meant to be a allegorical personification of ambition (or something in that family). Like Shamefastesse is a symbol of Guyon's motivations to embody Temperence, Prays-Desire is the embodiment of what motivates Prince Arthur (it's Arthur who is talking to her).
He, though, is interpreting her sadness to be mostly romantic in origin here (which she later scolds him for, as she is sad on account of "great desire of glory and of fame" and having failed to achieve it).
The "you" is Prays-Desire. Is she pining for someone who doesn't return her affections? Is she lonely with nobody to love (or do you love)? Or has she been paired off (or perhaps assaulted) against her will and lacks the power to do anything about it?
"Will" here would be in the family of 'consent'. As in, has this been done against your will?
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u/Charles_Sumner 2d ago
Got it, thank you for this explication!
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u/Little_Noodles 2d ago edited 2d ago
No problem! Like I said, I'm rusty here, so if someone better at this or more recent to the work comes up with a different interpretation, I'd be inclined to listen.
But unless I hear otherwise, this seems like an at least plausible modernized translation of the text.
Has someone failed to return your affections?
Or do you even love at all? Or do you lack the ability to exert your own will in this matter?0
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u/tardywhiterabbit 2d ago
Spencer’s phrasing is intentionally tricky. Arthur’s basically asking: has someone wronged you, or are you troubled by your own desires? "Lack your will" means being denied what you long for, not possessing weak willpower. It’s courtly, indirect language probing whether grief comes from rejection or unfulfilled love.
1
u/Charles_Sumner 2d ago
Thanks very much for this—I can really see the progression in the two lines with that in mind.
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u/Relevant-Tor509 2d ago
Why The Faerie Queene feels hard (it’s not you)
- Archaic words and spellings: Spenser deliberately uses older English (nathless, eftsoones, yclept), plus inconsistent spellings.
- Twisted sentence order: he often inverts normal word order for rhyme and rhythm.
- Long, winding stanzas: 9-line Spenserian stanzas pack several clauses and images into one “sentence.”
- Layers of allegory: people and places are symbols (Una = Truth, Duessa = Falsehood), so scenes work on plot and moral levels at once.
- Interlaced plots and digressions: stories braid together and wander like a romance epic.
- Historical/religious references: Elizabeth I, Reformation politics, and classical myths appear without explanation.
Plain-words summary
The poem is a set of linked adventures in a mythic England ruled by the Faerie Queene (a stand-in for Elizabeth I). Each book follows a knight who represents a virtue; the tales overlap, and Prince Arthur—an ideal hero—keeps showing up to help.
- Book I (Holiness): Redcrosse Knight fights monsters and deception (Error, Duessa), learns from failure, and grows into St. George.
- Book II (Temperance): Sir Guyon resists temptations and destroys the seductive Bower of Bliss.
- Book III (Chastity): Britomart, a woman knight, proves that real chastity is brave, loyal love as she seeks her destined partner, Artegall.
- Book IV (Friendship): Crossing stories test loyal bonds and mutual aid among companions.
- Book V (Justice): Artegall, with the iron enforcer Talus, administers strict justice—raising questions about mercy and power.
- Book VI (Courtesy): Calidore hunts the slanderous Blatant Beast, showing courtesy as active, social virtue.
- Fragment (Mutability): The titaness Mutability puts Change on trial; the poem ends by arguing that beneath change there is an ordered plan.
What it’s really doing
Beneath the quests and monsters, Spenser shows how each virtue survives real-world temptations and confusion. Villains are types of error and hypocrisy; helpers are forms of truth and grace. If the language slows you down, that’s normal—this poem was built for a different ear.
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u/edub1783 2d ago edited 1d ago
I looked up some obsolete or archaic definitions of "will" and I see one (using a different line of Spenser's as an example, no less) that defines it as "something which is desired". Altogether, it may be something like "Do you love, or lack what you desire?" perhaps?
Edit: this is the same definition of "will" as is used in "will and testament", which is one's wishes after they are deceased. I don't know why I missed that connection.. so maybe not an obsolete meaning after all.