Epithalamion (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Edmund Spenser
- First Published: 1595
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Love or romance, Sex or sexuality, Music or musicians, Marriage, Singing or singers, Gods or goddesses, Rites or ceremonies, Weddings
The Poem
Epithalamion is a poem of 433 iambic lines of varying lengths, divided into twenty-three stanzas and an envoi—twenty-four sections in all. The title means, literally, “at the nuptial chamber,” from the Greek (epi and thalanos); the poem celebrates the twenty-four hours of the poet’s wedding day. The poem is written in the first person, and much of it is addressed to the Muses, nymphs, other bridal attendants, and wedding guests. The twenty-four sections do not correspond precisely to the twenty-four hours of the wedding day, yet the poem...
[The entire page is 1579 words long]
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