Spenser and Pastoral Poetry

Pastoral poetry as a genre is a proving ground for poets preparing to launch themselves into the world of epics. Also it is used as a platform to comment on contemporary politics and issues. In Spenser's the Shepheardes Calender these two facets of pastoral poetry are bound inexorably together. By mere definition an epic is about the nation and the nation about politics. In the period of the publication of the Shepheardes Calender Spenser's nation was under threat. The much loved and revered Queen Elizabeth was about to do the unthinkable and marry a French duke, Aleςon. Spenser's very literary career was under threat by the possibility of this marriage as he believed the union would cause England to dissolve into the empire of France and thereby result in the end of his inspiration and his epic. As a result Spenser has no choice but to combines the traditional twin concerns of pastoral in his piece the Shepheardes Calender.…