From The Shepheardes Calender: October
BY EDMUND SPENSER
Maritza Rodriguez
PIERCE
&
CUDDIE
Cuddie, for shame hold up thy heavye head,
Cuddie, lift your head
And let us cast with what delight to chace,
we’re finally going home
And weary thys long lingring Phoebus race.
After a long day under the sun
Whilome thou wont the shepheards ladde to leade, Sometimes, you don’t have to lead
the young shepherds
In rymes, in ridles, and in bydding base:
with rhyme and riddles you get what
you
desire
Now they in thee, and thou in sleepe art dead?
tired that
After a long day of work you’re so
you sleep like dead.
Works Cited
"Edmund Spenser." The Poetry Foundation: Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry. Web. 30
Sept. 2010. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=6467>.
"The Shepheardes Calender: October." Renascence Editions. The University of Oregon, 12 Apr.
2005. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.
<https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/833/shepheardes.pdf>.
Jaime Davis
CUDDY
A gift or bribe
Piers, I have pyped1 erst so long with payne,
with pain,
Piers, I have played my pipes so long
That all mine Oten2 reedes bene rent and wore:
down:
That all my oat pipes have been worn
And my poore Muse3 hath spent her spared store,
dwindled.
And my poor muse’s supply has
Yet little good hath got, and much lesse gayne,
gained –
I have gained little good, and have
-
even less.
Such pleasaunce makes the Grashopper4 so poore,
poor,
Such pleasure makes the Grasshopper
And ligge5 so layd, when Winter doth her straine6.
rest?).
And in winter his forebears are laid (to
1. Pyped: pipe shaped, in this instance a flute type instrument.
2. Oten reedes: A pipe made of oat straws.
3. Muse:
4. Grasshopper: A name for orthopterous insects of the families Acridiidæ and
Locustidæ, remarkable for their powers of leaping, and the chirping sound
produced by the males
5. Ligge (liege): The superior to whom one owes feudal allegiance and service.
6. Straine: Pedigree, lineage, ancestry, descent.
Citation - All definitions were found at:
Oxford English Dictionary: The Definitive Record of the English Language. Web. 30
Sept. 2010. <http://dictionary.oed.com/>.
Leonardo Leal
According to Edward Dowden, in the “Resolved Debate of Spenser’s October”, the poem,
October, is Spenser’s dialogue with himself. The point of view of the author is indicated several
times in this brief stanza. For example, the use of the pronoun “I” four times gives the poem a first
person point of view (in this case Cuddie’s point of view). Also, the author questions himself in the
last line when he exclaims”What good to Cuddie can arise?” In the first four lines Cuddie(the
shepherd-poet) evaluates the benefit of writing poems to feed the fantasies of the youth and the
crowds of people “…youthe, and the flocking fry”, and the benefit of not writing anthying at all ”that
I wont devise…delighten[me] much”. Finally, in the last line, he powerfully exclaims,” how do I
benefit from writing?”. Also, the third line gives us the impression that the author is disgusted when
he says that people only ”hand the pleasure” (or have fun) while they only see him as a “sclender
prise” or like an unknown entity.
Summary: The shepherd poet, Cuddie, “wont devise” “dapper ditties”(strong dictates or poems)
because the audience fails to pay attention to the significance of the poems and to the importance
of the author himself.
Citations:
"dapper,ditties, devise, fancie, flocking, fry, delighten, bett, sclender, fries, beate the bush." Oxford Dictionaries
Online. Cotemporary-2010 ed. 2010. Oxford University. Web. 29 Sept. 2010. <http://oxforddictionaries.com/>.
Harding, Richard F. "The Resolved Debate of Spenser's October." JSTOR: Modern Philology. The University of
Chicago Press, 19 Feb. 1976. Oxford University. www.google.com. Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
<http://www.jstor.org/pss/435979>.
Meaning of words:
Dapper: (typically of a man) neat and trim in dress, appearance, or bearing
late Middle English: probably from a Middle Low German or Middle Dutch word meaning'strong, stout
Ditties: Middle English: from Old French dite 'composition', from Latin dictatum (neuter)'something
dictated', from dictare 'to dictate'
Devise: plan or invent (a complex procedure, system, or mechanism) by careful though
Fancie: late Middle English: contraction of
Flocking: (flocks) large crowds of people
FANTASY
Fry: young fish, especially when newly hatched
Delighten: please (someone) greatly, great pleasure
Bett: late 16th century: perhaps a shortening of the obsolete noun abet 'abetmen
To encourage or assist (someone) to do something wrong, in particular, to commit a crime or other offense
Han:Hand
Sclender: late Middle English: of unknown origin, thin
Prise: Middle English: the noun, a variant of
PRICE;
the verb (originally in the sense 'estimate the value of')
from Old French pris-, stem of preisier 'to praise, appraise' (see PRAISE)
Beate the bush: informal search thoroughly
Brutus
Cuddie, the prayse is better, then the price,
Cuddie,the praise is better, then the price
The glory eke much greater then the gayne:
The glory addition is much greater than
the gain
O what an honor is it, to restraine
o what an honor is it, to restrain
The lust of lawlesse youth with good advice:
The lust of lawless youth with good
advice
Or pricke them forth with pleasaunce of thy vaine,
or provoke them forth with pleasant of
my vaine
Whereto thou list their trayned willes entice.
Where to you list their trained willies
Cuddie- A supper and night's entertainment due to the lord from his tenant.
Oxford Dictionary. Oxford English Dictionary . Oxford University Press, 2009.
Web. 29
Sep 2010. <http://dictionary.oed.com/
Soone as thou gynst to sette thy notes in frame,
O how the rurall routes to thee doe cleave:
Seemeth thou dost their soule of sence bereave,
All as the shepheard, that did fetch his dame
From Plutoes balefull bowre withouten leave:
His musicks might the hellish hound did tame.
Leslie
Brianne Briggs
CUDDIE
So praysen babes the Peacoks spotted traine,
And wondren at bright Argus blazing eye:
But who rewards him ere the more for thy?
Or feedes him once the fuller by a graine?
Sike prayse is smoke, that sheddeth in the skye,
Sike words bene wynd, and wasten soone in vayne.
Line one talks about a peacok which is a bird symbolizing a path or traine that the
bird is walking down.
In line two Argus means a pheasant which is another bird, so once again the author
is referring to a bird wondering around. ”Wondren at bright through an Argus
blazing eye” could be referring to someone looking at life through a bird or Mother
Nature.
Line three is asking a question looking for where the reward comes from. Who
rewards the man or bird since lines one and two are referring to a bird maybe it
means who rewards the bird.
Line four is asking who feeds the bird. Birds eat grains so who feeds the birds that
are full by the grains. A man is maybe looking for answers about life using Mother
Nature as his symbolism.
Line five is stating that smoke is covering the sky, giving the poem a gloomy outlook.
So I would assume that maybe the speaker is looking at his life and the dark sky is
representing hard times.
Line six means that just like smoke that shields the sky the smoke soon evaporates
or leaves. Like the hard times that the speaker was facing in his life they soon faded
and time moved on just like the clouds.
Works Cited:
Glencoe, McGraw-Hill.British Literature Florida treasures.Columbus,Oh: Glencoe,
McGraw-Hill,2010.
Oxford English dictionary.2009.Oxford University Press.28 September, 2010.
<http://oed.com/general/search.html>
Kiersten Brauner
Abandon then the base and viler clowne,
Lyft up thy selfe out of the lowly dust:
And sing of bloody Mars, of wars, of giusts.
Turne thee to those, that weld the awful crowne,
To doubted Knights, whose woundlesse armour rusts,
And helmes unbruzed wexen dayly browne.
Relenqiush then the fundamental principles and despicable countrymen,
Lift yourself up out of the inferior earth:
And sing of bloody Mars (Mars was the God of war of ancient Romans),
of wars, of jousts.
Turn yourselves to those events, that hold the awful sovereignty
To uncertain Knights, whos armour free from wounds rusts,
And helmets undamaged sit unused everyday becoming brown
The Oxford English Dictonary. State College of Florida library resources, 2010. Web.
9/29/2010.
Hudson Taylor
There may thy Muse display her fluttryng wing,
And stretch her selfe at large from East to West:
Whither thou list in fayre Elisa rest,
Or if thee please in bigger notes to sing,
Advaunce the worthy whome shee loveth best,
That first the white beare to the stake did bring.
Works Cited:
Oxford Dictionaries. 29 September 2010 <
http://oxforddictionaries.com/search?searchType=dictionary&isWr
itersAndEditors=true&searchUri=All&q=muse&contentVersion=
US>.
Dale Mattern Stanza 9
And when the stubborne stroke of stronger stounds,
Has somewhat slackt the tenor of thy string:
Of love and lustified tho mayst thou sing,
And carrol lowde, and leade the Myllers rownde,
All were Elisa one of thilke same ring.
So mought our Cuddies name to Heaven sownde.
1. stound means blows
2. this line is a metaphor from string of lyres, which plucked strongly would become
slacker in tension and produce a note of lower pitch.
3.lustified means pleasure
4. Myllers rownde is a kind of dance
5. can’t find anything for the word thilke
6.mought is a form of might
1.and when the persistent stroke blows stronger
2.and the pitch has become lower
3.of love and pleasure you should sing
4. sing loud and lead the dance
Stephanie Martinez
CUDDYE
Indeed the Romish Tityrus, I heare,
*Romish=characteristic of Rome Tityrus=name of shephard. A
fictitious monster supposed to be bred between a sheep and a goat.
Through his Mec{oe}nas left his Oaten reede,
*Mec{oe}nas=Roman knight, friend of Augustus, and patron of
Horace and Virgil. Oaten reede=a musical pipe made from a plant.
Whereon he earst had taught his flocks to feede,
*Earst=first time.
And laboured lands to yield the timely eare,
*eare=air
And eft did sing of warres and deadly drede,
*eft=again warre=having knots? drede=fears
So as the Heavens did quake his verse to here.
*quake=shake verse=to tell, to say.
Works Cited:
Oxford English Dictionary. 2010. Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
James Given
But, ah Mecoenas is of cloth in hurdle
And great Augustus is long ago dead:
And all the wonders lie wrapped in lead,
That matter made for poets on to play.
Forever, who in manhood and chivalry were dread
The proud verse of hem was loved, a.
Source
"OED online." Oxford.oed.com. Oxford University, n.d. Web. 28
Sep 2010.
<http://dictionary.oed.com/entrance.dtl>.
Dylan Averso
When virtue begins to decline and weaken with age
When courage, strength, and sexual potency begin to wither with death
All of the poets who boasted have nothing to show of value
To remove all hostility within the poets
They must cease to arguing over so many opinions
And the great honor go to he who earned it via shameful assault.
“Manhood.”Oxford Reference Online Premium. Oxford English Dictionary,2010
74Web. 29 Sept. 2010.\
“Vertue.” Oxford Reference Online Premium. Oxford English Dictionary,2010eb. 29
Sept. 2010.
“Stoupe.”Oxford Reference Online Premium. Oxford English Dictionary,2010
Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
“Vaunting.”Oxford Reference Online Premium. Oxford English Dictionary,2010
Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
“Nought.”Oxford Reference Online Premium. Oxford English Dictionary,2010
Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
“Troupe.”Oxford Reference Oline Premium. Oxford English Dictionary,2010
Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
“Sonne.”Oxford Reference Online Premium. Oxford English Dictionary,2010
Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
“Pend.”Oxford Reference Online Premium. Oxford English Dictionary,2010
Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
Rebecca Stracener
And if that any buddes of Poesie,
Buds of flowers
Yet of the old stocke gan to shoote agayne:
Old lifeless person wants to inflict
pain using a projectile again
Man’s mistakes are allowed to be
pardoned it the church
Continue with….
Or it mens follies mote be forst to fayne,
And rolle with rest in rymes of rybaudrye:
Or as it sprong, it wither must agayne:
Tom Piper makes us better melodie.
As the flowers came forth, they
must die again
The town musician will entertain
them with a new melodie that is
cheerier.
Madeleine Farhat
PIERS
O pierlesse Poesye, where is then thy place?
Oh pierlesse poem, where is your right place?
If nor in Princes pallace thou doe sitt:
If you do not reside in the Prince’s palace:
(And yet is Princes pallace the most fitt)
(Although the Prince’s palace is the most suitable)
Ne brest of baser birth doth thee embrace.
The meaner men of lower birth do you embrace.
Then make thee winges of thine aspyring wit,
Then make yourself wings out of your aspiring intellect,
And, whence thou camst, flye backe to heaven apace.
And, from the place which you came, fly back to heaven quickly.
Works Cited
Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2009. Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
Spenser, Edmund. “from The Shepheardes Calender: October.” The Poetry Foundation.
N.p. 2010. Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
Spenser, Edmund. “The Shepheardes Calender: October.” Renascence Editions. Risa S.
Bear. N.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
Jillian Quinn
Ah Percy it is all to weake and wanne,
So high to sore, and make so large a flight:
Her peeced pyneons bene not so in plight,
For Colin fittes such famous flight to scanne.
He, were he not with loue so ill bedight,
Would mount as high, and sing as soote as Swanne.
The fifteenth stanza of the poem “October” is a response from Cuddie to Piers. In
the first line of the stanza Cuddie begins to dispel Piers’, (also known as Percy in this
line), previous suggestion that Cuddie should abandon his pastoral poetry for a more epic
style of poetry that will make Cuddie renowned. Cuddie refers to his pastoral, poetic
abilities as too weak and wane to write such dramatic poetry. In the second line of the
stanza the words high and large modifying the words sore (soar) and flight suggest
Cuddie thinks it would be too large of a feat for him to write the way Piers’ advises. In
the third line, Cuddie regards himself as having “peeced pyneons.” The Oxford English
Dictionary translates these words as “patched or imperfect bird’s wings.” (n pg). Cuddie
is saying that his pastoral poetry, or “imperfect wings”, could not make so large of a
poetic flight. According to footnote number eleven in Renascene Editions publication of
this poem, the fourth line of this stanza is interpreted as Cuddie stating that Colin, another
character who is featured in the poem “January” in Spenser’s “The Shepheardes
Calendar”, would be fit to scanne (attempt) such epic poetry. (n pg). In the fifth and sixth
lines of the stanza, Cuddie describes Colin as too afflicted (ill bedight) by love to create
such grand verses; but if he were not sick with love he would become accomplished in
this form of poetry and would mount as high, and sing as sweet as a Swan.
Works Cited
“peeced, adj.” The Oxford English Dictionary. Web. 29 Sep. 2010
“pyneons, n.” The Oxford English Dictionary. Web. 29 Sep. 2010.
“The Shepheardes Calendar – October.” Renascence Editions. Web. 29 Sep. 2010.
PIERS
Ah fon, for love does teach him climbe so hie,
And lyftes him up out of the loathsome myre:
Such immortall mirrhor, as he doth admire,
Would rayse ones mynd above the starry skie.
And cause a caytive corage to aspire,
For lofty love doth loath a lowly eye.
Daykey
David Stensland
All otherwise the state of Poet stands,
For lordly love is such a Tyranne fell:
That where he rules, all power he doth expell.
The vaunted verse a vacant head demaundes,
Ne wont with crabbed care the Muses dwell.
Unwisely weaves, that takes two webbes in hand.
But for everything else, the poet’s situation does not change.
For honorable love is such a Tyrant killer:
He lets all power go, wherever he rules.
That proud verse requires an empty head
The muses dwell with irritable, burdened minds.
These unwise/foolish situations grab their two participants.
Meaning: No, love is not a desirable influence on a poet. I would have to be quite
daft to believe that it was a good thing. It’s a burden, and pulls all involved into a
bad situation.
"from The Shepheardes Calender: October." Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 29
Sep 2010. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=174486>.
Walker, Steven. ""Poetry Is/ Is Not a Cure for Love:" The Conflict of Theocritean
and Petrarchan "Topoi" in the "Shepheardes Calender"." Studies in Philology.
76.4 (1979): 363. Print.
Who ever casts to compasse weightye prise,
And thinks to throwe out thondring words of threate:
Let powre in lavish cups and thriftie bitts of meate,
For Bacchus fruite is frend to Phoebus wise.
And when with Wine the braine begins to sweate,
The nombers flowe as fast as spring doth ryse.
Nicole
Amber Albright
1.
2. Thou kenst not Percie howe the ryme should rage.
2 O if my temples were distaind with wine,
3 And girt in girlonds of wild Yvie twine,
4 How I could reare the Muse on stately stage,
5 And teache her tread aloft in buskin fine,
6 With queint Bellona in her equipage.
1. In line one the person talking is saying that Percie doesn’t understand how
writings should be filled with emotion. (Rage)
2. They go on to say IF their temples were filled with wine (alluding to drinking wine)
3. And if they had belts of wild vines
4. THEN she could call upon the gods who are noble
5. And they would teach her how to be perceived as royalty
6. Alongside Gods such as the beautiful Bellona
Definitions:

Muse: Each of the nine goddesses regarded as presiding over and inspiring
learning and the arts, esp. poetry and music.

Aloft: In the ascendant, ruling, prevailing

Equipage: Apparel, attire, costume, dress, ‘get up’

Rage: Of a poet: to be seized by inspiration, to be in the grip of a creative
frenzy.

Stately: Of personal appearance or demeanour, and of persons with reference
to these. In early use, Befitting or indicating high estate, princely, noble,
majestic. In later use, Imposingly dignified.
Citations:
"Oxford English Dictionary ." Oxford English Dictionary: The definitive record of the
English language. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
<http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/00319020?query_type=word&queryword=
Muse&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=1&search_id=38M
a-UkTaKB-11513&hilite=00319020>.
"Oxford English Dictionary Sign In." Oxford English Dictionary: The definitive record
of the English language. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
<http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50006381?single=1&query_type=word&que
ryword=aloft&first=1&max_to_show=10>
"Oxford English Dictionary ." Oxford English Dictionary: The definitive record of the
English language. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
<http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50077274?query_type=word&queryword=e
quipage&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=1&search_id=38
Ma-GRuR7L-15832&hilite=50077274>.
"Oxford English Dictionary Sign In." Oxford English Dictionary: The definitive record
of the English language. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
<http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50196382?query_type=word&queryword=r
age&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=3&search_id=38MalOhcEx-15974&hilite=50196382>.
"Oxford English Dictionary ." Oxford English Dictionary: The definitive record of the
English language. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2010.
<http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50236395?single=1&query_type=word&que
ryword=stately&first=1&max_to_show=10>.
But ah my corage cooles ere it be warme,
For thy, content us in thys humble shade:
Where no such troublous tydes han us assayde,
Here we our slender pipes may safely charme.
PIERS
And when my Gates shall han their bellies layd:
Cuddie shall have a Kidde to store his farme.
CUDDIES EMBLEME
Agitante calescimus illo
A.J.