Chapter 29

Cebes in their dialogue on the immortality of the soul. Plato's _Phædo_, vi.

367. QUOTH HE, Despair.

403. THY DATE, the allotted measure or duration of thy life.

408. THY SINFULL HIRE, thy service of sin.

431. AS HE WERE CHARMED, etc., as if he were under the spell of magic incantation.

438. IN A TABLE, in a picture. The horrors of the Last Judgment and the torments of the lost were favorite subjects of the mediæval Catholic painters.

468. FIRE-MOUTHED DRAGON. The dragons of romance are all described as fire-breathing,

473. THAT CHOSEN ART, a reference to the doctrine of Election. _Mark_, xiii, 20.

476. ACCURST HAND-WRITING. A reference to Paul's letter to the _Colossians_, ii, 14, in which he declares that the gospel of grace has superseded the law of Moses.

484. HE SO HIMSELFE HAD DREST, he had thus attempted (to take his life).

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

(Canto IX)

1. Give an account of Prince Arthur's vision of the Faerie Queene. 2. Interpret his search for her as an allegory of the young man's quest after his ideal. 3. Observe in xvii an allusion to Spenser's patron, Lord Leicester, who was a favored suitor for Elizabeth's hand. 4. What presents did the Knights exchange at parting? 5. Characterize Sir Trevisan by his appearance, speech, and actions. What does he symbolize? 6. Note the skill with which Spenser arouses interest before telling of the interview with Despair. 7. What was the fate of Sir Terwin? Its moral significance? 8. Describe the Cave of Despair, and show what effects are aimed at by the poet. 9. Compare with Despair Bunyan's Giant Despair and the Man in the Iron Cage. 10. Trace the sophistries by which Despair works in the mind of the Knight, e.g. the arguments from necessity (fatalism), humanity, cowardice, discouragement and disgust on account of his past failures, dread of the future, of God's justice, and the relief of death. 11. Does Despair show knowledge of the Knight's past? 12. With what powerful truths does Una meet the arguments of Despair? 13. Where do you find reference to mediæval art?

14. Find examples of _Euphuism_, _metaphors_, _similes_, _Latinisms_, and _alliteration_. 15. Explain the verb forms in ll. 154, 321, 336.