Dr. Quitslund,
You are indeed correct. I don't think the allusion to "Hobgoblin" suggests
an implication that Spenser's project was considered childish, which is
why I'm sure there must be another source that's gotten stuck in my head.
In addition to the Hobgoblin/Hobbinol word play that you've mentioned, I
also wonder if there isn't a suggestion that, in Harvey's opinion, Spenser
had abandoned the learned and classical sources for peasant folklore?
Hobgoblin and trickster figures seem more the stuff of popular tales than
aristocratic romance or classical tradition. And that is the only way I can
imagine I myself might have linked "Hobgoblin" with "nursery," since it would
have been lower class nursemaids employed to care for the children of the
wealthy, and telling "fairy stories" to pass the time. Spenser and Harvey
would not themselves have had such a nursemaid, but certainly "old wives'
tales" already had a dubious reputation (cf. Juliet's Nurse, for example).
Well, at least that's the argument I would like to make. 8^)
Another interpretation of this line might be teased out of "garland of Apollo."
I believe the garland of Apollo, or laurel, was awarded to epic poets. Could
"Hobgoblin" then be a metaphor for pastoral poetry? Harvey's criticism might
have been intended to push Spenser from his pastoral oeuvre on to something
more worthy.
I don't know that I really have a good sense of Harvey's personality yet, or
at least I don't want to give in to my suspicions too soon. This is just my
first encounter with Harvey's writings. But, do you think he was the type of
man who would have called himself "Hobgoblin" in comparison to Spenser as
"Apollo"? (in which case, the garland might be interpreted literally as a FQ
manuscript?) Harvey makes numerous claims to a lack of ability in his letters,
but I get the sense that this is pure sprezzatura.
Thanks for your response!
jean
Jean Goodrich
English Department
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ USA
Quoting [log in to unmask]:
> Dear Jean Goodrich (et al.),
>
> I can't help much with your attempt to track down 'matter of the nursery,'
> but having spent a good
> deal of time with the Spenser / Harvey letters, I'm not sure what Harvey
> meant by the 'Hobgoblin'
> phrase but I doubt that he was suggesting Spenser was writing childishly, or
> for children. Quite
> possibly, some later critic put that spin on the allusion to Hobgoblin:
> either to fault what he took to
> be Harvey's misreading, or to enlist the learned man on his side in a
> criticism of Spenser. In the
> 1580 correspondence, there's some obscure connection between 'Hobgoblin' and
> 'Hobbinol,'
> and as in the 'Calender' to which the letters form a pendant, Harvey /
> Hobbinol and Spenser /
> Colin are doing an elaborate dance fraught with rivalry, affection,
> insecurity, all of it in a campy
> sort of masquerade, juggling open secrets and empty secrets.
>
> Cheers, Jon Quitslund (Geo. Washington U., emeritus)
> > Dear Spenserians,
> >
> > I know that early on, Gabriel Harvey dismissed Spenser's "faerie project"
> > as "Hobgoblin runne away with the garland of Apollo." However, is anyone
> > familiar with a criticism that Spenser's topic was the "matter of the
> > nursery," (paraphrase) either by Harvey or a later critic (like C.S.
> Lewis)?
> >
> > I know I've read this somewhere, and I'd like to relocate the source. Alas,
> > I am too young to be having "senior moments"... 8^)
> >
> > Thanks for your help,
> >
> >
> > Jean Goodrich
> > English Department
> > University of Arizona
> > Tucson, AZ USA
>
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