The aftermath of iconoclasm in Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene

Thesis

In the course of the reformation, many people in the sixteenth century attacked a range of religious objects, repurposing, damaging, or even obliterating all kinds of items, including paintings, statues, altars, and wayside crosses. These iconoclastic attacks left vestiges that many had to live with in the aftermath of reform. This thesis argues that the dilemmas inspired by these traces are repeatedly encountered in Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene, by both its characters and readers. Many of the interpretive challenges and pleasures of the poem arise from its ongoing exploration of these issues. The first chapter begins with an analysis of Redcrosse, who is eventually revealed to be St George. As a figure who symbolizes both Catholic sanctity and the triumph of the English reformation, this overdetermined figure embodies the tensions at the heart of the religious conflicts in the sixteenth century. I move on to discuss the ambiguity of religious and secular objects in the poem, highlighting the unstable and fluctuating material textures of many emblematic items. I then shift my focus to investigate the intersection of humanism and reform in the major marriage plots in the middle books, which frequently revolve around encounters with classical statues. Although the statues are intact, the problems they create resonate with the ambiguities of iconoclasm. My final chapter focuses on sacred spaces in the landscape, especially forests, holy wells, and caves, to show how colonialism, race-making, and theology are interrelated in the poem and in sixteenth century Ireland. In the conclusion, I broaden my scope to explore how the repurposing of space in the aftermath of iconoclasm illuminates the architectural metaphors in sixteenth century literary criticism and lyric poetry.

Authors: Martin, E

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-j2mmbnymq
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Faerie Queene; Catholicism; poetry; idols; classical statues; images; Saint George; icons; classical reception; early modern Catholicism; iconoclasm; English poets; English poetry; Renaissance humanism; English landscape; Edmund Spenser; Ireland; sixteenth century; Reformation; landscape; English Catholicism; materiality; idolatry; classical sculpture; Renaissance; Reformation theology; English Literature; saints; Reformation iconoclasm; icon; iconography; Irish Catholicism; early modern; landscapes; Irish landscape; Spenser
• Subjects: Folk festivals; Poets, English--Early modern, 1500-1700; Tapestry; Anglican church buildings; Iconoclasm in literature; Protestant church buildings; Allegory; Theology; Protestantism; Protestant churches; Folklore in literature; Poetry; Idols and images--Biblical teaching; Iconoclasm; Sixteenth century; Spirituality in literature; Protestant poetry, English--Early modern, 1500-1700; Ireland; Religion in literature; Anti-Catholicism in literature; Economics in literature; Space (Architecture) in literature; Religion; Humanism in literature; Idols and images--Worship; Space and time in literature; Religion in art; Idols and images in literature; Idols and images; Protestant literature; Protestantism and literature; Idols and images--Worship--Biblical teaching; Catholic Church; Anglican authors; Protestantism in literature; English literature--Anglican authors; Idols and images in art; Church furniture; Reformation; Renaissance; Sacred space in literature; Saints; Early modern, 1500-1700; Iconoclasm in art; Space in literature; Poets; Protestant poetry; Protestant poetry, English; Protestant authors; Humanism; English; Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599--Characters; Anti-Catholicism; Poets, English