While the title of “Epithalamion” comes from a traditional term for a song celebrating a marriage, the word “Prothalamion” is a Spenserian coinage. It is unsurprising, therefore, that, although both poems celebrate marriage, and often do so in rather similar terms, “Prothalamion” is a more personal poem.

“Epithalamion” begins with a formal invocation to the Muses. It is a long and highly allusive poem, formally divided into twenty-four stanzas, each of which represents an hour of the wedding day. The references to Greek mythology are many and complex, and Spenser seems to be attempting to “marry” Greek and Christian culture together in the poem. There is also a great deal of symbolism, much of which involves birds, such as the turtledove, the owl, the stork, and the raven.

“Prothalamion” is a shorter and less complex poem. Spenser refers to himself far more frequently. As in the longer poem, he ends each stanza with a formulaic repeated line, but here there is a reference to the poet and his song, with direct apostrophe and personification of the Thames. Although “Prothalamion” is a more personal poem, it also has a public element in the concluding stanzas. However, while “Epithalamion” is cosmopolitan in its allusions, “Prothalamion” refers to “Great England’s glory” triumphing over Spain. The way in which the poet has stressed the personal element in the poem up to this point makes him seem all the more sincere when he celebrates his queen and country, while the allusions in “Epithalamion” are more conventional.

Spencer's Epithalamion and Prothalamion both highlight the theme of marriage. However, the Epithalamion celebrates Spencer's own marriage to Elizabeth Boyle, while the Prothalamion is a nuptial song celebrating the respective marriages of Elizabeth and Katherine Somerset (the daughters of the Earl of Worcester) to Henry Gilford and William Peter.

The Epithalamion celebrates the groom and bride's preparations on the day of their marriage. Both the Epithalamion and Prothalamion highlight the importance of nymphs to the wedding preparations. In the Epithalamion, the nymphs cover the bride's path to the bridal bower with flowers. They protect the sanctity of the woods and the lakes so that the bride will have a perfect wedding day. Likewise, in the Prothalamion, the nymphs gather a profusion of flowers in order to braid Katherine and Elizabeth's bridal crowns. Spencer makes full use of pagan images of fertility in both poems.

However, Spencer also celebrates the marriage act in very Christian terms in both works. In the Prothalamion, he wishes Katherine and Elizabeth pleasure in the marriage act and "fruitfull issue" from the consummation of their marriages. The Epithalamion goes still further by describing the bride's physical attractions, and the 10th stanza's paean to the bride's beauty is evocative of the sensual passages from the Song of Solomon.

Her goodly eyes lyke Saphyres shining bright,

Her forehead yvory white,

Her cheekes lyke apples which the sun hath rudded,

Her lips lyke cherryes charming men to byte,

Her brest like to a bowle of creame uncrudded,

Her paps lyke lyllies budded,

Her snowie necke lyke to a marble towre,

And all her body like a pallace fayre,

A epithalamion is a poem written for a bride that is usually presented on her wedding night. It is of Greek deviration. The word prothalamion was coined by Edmund Spencer and was the title of a poem he wrote for the weddings of Katherine and Elizabeth Somerset in 1596. Prothalamion is derived from epithalamion.