Spenser's version of the Venus and Adonis myth expresses his Neoplatonism. In very basic terms, Neoplatonists, taking their cue from the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato, believed that the soul was more real than the body. They believed that the eternal soul, which was the repository of truth, was effectively trapped inside the earthly body but would be released upon death to return back to where it once lived before taking on bodily form. There, in the realm of eternity, souls would await reincarnation.
In this particular canto of The Faerie Queene, the idyllic Garden of Adonis represents eternity. This is the place where all living souls are born. They then take matter from the pit of Chaos and descend to Earth in bodily form. Once every living thing has passed away, it returns to the Garden of Adonis, where it sloughs off its body like a snake skin, leaving only its soul, which awaits reincarnation. We can see here that, for Neoplatonists such as Spenser, the soul is prior to and superior to the body—which, unlike the eternal soul, is prone to decay and corruption.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
What is Edmund Spenser stressing in his version of the Venus and Adonis myth in "The Garden of Adonis" from The Fairie Queene?
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