Love descending: A study of Spenser's Fowre hymnes and Milton's "Nativity ode"

Abstract

Although the close relationship between the works of Edmund Spenser and John Milton is a critical commonplace, the specific relationship between Spenser's Fowre Hymnes and Milton's "Nativity Ode" has been almost entirely overlooked. It is my contention that there is a basic affinity between these two works. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate this affinity in lyric and philosophical traditions and in theme. I first examine two lyric traditions that combined to shape the style of the Fowre Hymnes and the "Nativity Ode." The hymns of Spenser and Milton are a synthesis of the lofty grandeur of classical odes and the religious fervor of medieval hymns. The two works are likewise related in philosophical tradition. The second chapter of this study demonstrates that both poets are in the humanistic tradition of synthesizing classical learning with Christian faith. For Spenser and Milton, however, Platonism provides but an oblique approach to the Christian revelation which is the primary ordering principle for both. The basic truths of Christianity form the theme of the Fowre Hymnes and of the "Nativity Ode." Although many critics interpret Spenser's work as essentially Platonic or Neo-Platonic, I read it as distinctly Christian. The third and fourth chapters of this study are a detailed analysis of the Christian doctrines at the center of the two works. These doctrines include the infinitude of God, Original Sin, Divine Grace, and the Incarnation. The central statement of each is that because fallen man can never ascend to God, God descended to man in the form of His Incarnate Son. Spenser's Fowre Hymnes and Milton's "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" exist primarily to celebrate the Christ-event and its significance in human history and in Eternity.