The mother of Spenser's earthborn giant, or geaunt, is Mother Earth, Gaia or
Gea Tella -- otherwise, as oft noted, present in the name Georgos, for our
foundling hero, exposed in a furrow: after the etymology given in Caxton's
trans. of Voragine's Golden Legend. Orgoglio might punningly be a "rogue,"
but perhaps more in the direct line of his fairytale existence, is ogre,
with Duessa as witch ("the false which" of Fradubio's account of trying to
decide which of his two dames was more fair, Fraelissa or Duessa).
On Orgoglio's gianthood, halfway on the way to Redcrosse's Eden, and thus on
the threshold of the second half of a duodecimal epic -- such thresholds
being marked in the Odyssey, Aeneid, and the twelve book Par. Lost -- see
also AnFQ, 180, "Israel is also a land blocked off by giants like Og; or
usurped [better to have said: occupied] by Philistines, who include Goliath;
or threatened by invaders like Ezekiel's Gog and Magog. The possessing of
Britain by Brute also traditionally required the subduing of giants,
inluding Goemagot (II.x.10). Spenser's Orgoglio surely belongs in this
company." [[For various allegorically appropriate meanings for the
scriptural giants' names, see AnFQ 266.]] In lecturing on Spenser in the
earlier seventies I called Orgoglio an anxious "threshold bogey" and
compared the Anakim-like statues that guard or impede the way into Samuel
Butler's _Erewhon_, which are terrifying in prospect, and deflated
retrospectively. Thus Orgoglio's body loses its "monstrous mas[s]," yet
retains its "monstrous length" (I.viii.24, 45). (The main idea, minus the
Butler reference, gets reproduced in an article on romance in Spenser
Encyclopedia, p. 609.) For the Anakim in question, see Deut. 2:10f., "The
Enims dwelt therein [in Moab] in times past, a people great, and many, and
tall, as the Anakims: which were also accounted giants, as the Anakims..."
with vss. 20f, "That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt
therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; A people great,
and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the Lord destroyed them before them
[i.e., before the Moabites]; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their
stead:..."; this to be read with the Israelite spies' reporting Canaan, and
discouraging invasion, in Numbers 13:28ff.: "Nevertheless the people be
strong that dwell in the land and the cities are walled, and very great: and
moreover we saw the children of Anak there ... We be not able to go up
against the people, for they are stronger than we ... The land, through
which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants
thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And
there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we
were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." The
last of these giants was named Og -- "long-necked, giant": Deut. 3:11 [cf. 1
Kings 4:19]; compare Disdain, sib to Orgoglio, at FQ VI.vii.42, "stalking
stately like a Crane ... on tiptoe"). If there was an "Og" (or "Jr.") -- as
Thomas Herron has just suggested to me -- in the name of those Irishmen who
had a father of the same given name, were they all craning their necks and
straining their hereditary stature to look down on their conquerors and
occupiers?
-- Jim N.
On Wed, 30 May 2007 12:25:32 -0400
anne prescott <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Yes, and Spenser uses the older form, but the newer form Gogmagog was, as
>I recall, also available. In any case "Gog" as a tribe or area or
>personification or whatever is an ancient enemy. The two giants "Gog" and
>"Magog" that stood (stand) near the Guildhall have modern
>names--originally there was Gogmagog and his slayer Corineus. Or so I
>recall from doing "giants" for the Spenser Encyc. Anne.
>
> On May 30, 2007, at 12:16 PM, James C. Nohrnberg wrote:
>
>> Except there's an old form Goemagot.
>>
>> The shift (of accentual emphasis) to the antepenult seems to occur
>> with an increase in familiarity (or within a knowing in-group) and
>> a will-to-an-economical-acceleration: I've seen it happen with New
>> Haven and and even paper-bag. There is of course a possible
>> difference in meaning: "The Faerie QUEENE" says that the Queen
>> (i.e., of England) is a racially a fairy, while "The FAERie queen"
>> says that the queen meant is the particular one that is the monarch
>> of the fairies (and not, say, the Queen of Scots).
>>
>> On Wed, 30 May 2007 11:50:46 -0400
>> anne prescott <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> A fascinating text--it includes a foldout, as I recall, with a
>>> "bees madrigal" or swarming song. Linda Austern tells me it's
>>> famous in musicological circles because the words in the madrigal
>>> are "bzzzz bzzzz" etc. I like Charlie's namesake also because he
>>> notes that the ruler is female and that those (e.g. Aristotle?)
>>> who refer to a bees' king are just . . . and then he uses a word
>>> I can't remember but we would say "sexist." Right on.
>>> As for "Furry Queene" I've noticed an interesting
>>> generational shift. I say "Faerie Queene" giving both words an
>>> equal stress; I've noticed that a great many younger scholars (OK,
>>> OK, most are younger than I am these days) say "FAErie Queene."
>>> Fascinating to see such things evolve. There's also a difference
>>> between folks who say "or-gog-lio" and those who say "or-goh-
>>> lio"--I go for the latter, being so snobby and wanting to show
>>> I've been to Italy, but I'm not sure Spenser did. After all the
>>> (to my snooty ear) less sophisticated pronunciation has "Gog" in
>>> the middle, which goes with giants, being part of "Gogmagog," or
>>> at least with (in the Bible) God's enemies. Anne P.
>>> On May 30, 2007, at 2:37 AM, Charles Butler wrote:
>>>> Then there's my namesake's *The Feminine Monarchie. Or a
>>>> Treatise Concerning Bees, and the due ordering of them* (1609) -
>>>> which does sound rather like an apiarist's *FQ*.
>>>>
>>>> Charlie
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 30/05/07, James C. Nohrnberg <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>> An early design for the cover of AnFQ was suggested by Darcy
>>>> Thompson's On
>>>> Growth and Form re the hexagonal structures of the honeycomb
>>>> (which are
>>>> dictated like the pattern of crated oranges and some forms of
>>>> rose windows
>>>> in mediaeval cathedrals).
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, 29 May 2007 20:17:04 +0100
>>>> [log in to unmask] wrote:
>>>> > It's not exactly a nickname but when I was lectured to by the
>>>> late Dr
>>>> > Thomas Matheson of the Shakespeare Institute of Birmingham
>>>> University, I
>>>> > recall that he had a residual Liverpudlian accent. Hence he
>>>> referred to
>>>> > The Furry Queene, or perhaps it was The Furrie Queene. Anyway,
>>>> for me it
>>>> > evoked the image of a large Queen Bumble Bee.
>>>> >
>>>> > Best wishes,
>>>> >
>>>> > Richard Ramsey
>>>>
>>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>> James Nohrnberg
>>>> Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219
>>>> Univ. of Virginia
>>>> P.O Box 400121
>>>> Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Website: www.charlesbutler.co.uk
>>
>> [log in to unmask]
>> James Nohrnberg
>> Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219
>> Univ. of Virginia
>> P.O Box 400121
>> Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
[log in to unmask]
James Nohrnberg
Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219
Univ. of Virginia
P.O Box 400121
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
|