A clownish opinion: why should (s)he have *lost her way* in shepherd's
weeds? "My muse" is a standard metonym for "my verse"; and if it whilom was
masked/dressed in shepherd's weeds, it was just doing the Vergilian
early-career-path moves for an ambitious poet by writing Shepheard's
Calendars, no? I think I'm agreeing with Sara Hillis. One possible
corroboration I discussed years ago in a conference paper is that the
topography of Kilcolman is startlingly similar to that of Vergil's estate --
I've often wondered if Spnser had a choice of 3000-acre properties and
*chose* to move bodily into an Irish Vergil-world?
Roger Kuin
York University, Toronto
-----Original Message-----
From: W.L. Godshalk <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: November 18, 2000 6:24 PM
Subject: What does Spenser mean by "maske"?
>What does Spenser mean when he says that his muse "did maske,/ . . . in
>lowly Shepheards weeds"? Does he mean that she masqueraded as a shepherd?
>That she was involved in a mask/masque?
>
>"Mask" could, in the 16th century, mean to "lose one's way." (I refrain
>from citing my source for this information, lest I be accused of being
>scholarly.) And that factoid leads me to think of Calidore's pastoral
>truancy. Could Spenser be hinting that his muse formerly lost her way in
>pastoral poetry?
>
>Yours, Bill Godshalk
>**********************************************
>* W. L. Godshalk
*
>* Professor, Department of English *
>* University of Cincinnati *
>* Cincinnati OH 45221-0069 * Stellar Disorder
>* [log in to unmask] *
>*
> *
>**********************************************
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