Many poets draw on the theme of nature to symbolize the message they are trying to convey. In many cases, nature is juxtaposed with artistic design to emphasize the conflict or relationship between the natural and human worlds. Millar Maclure thus clarifies the distinction between nature and art: "nature as that which is given, the universal order of creation, including human nature, and art as that which is made, that which man makes ". He further explains: "It is also appropriate to speak of nature as the art or 'signature' of God, and of art as the distinctive quality or evidence of the nature of the man. » This conflict between nature and art is often intended as an allegory by poetry writers to communicate their opinion on society. Edmund Spenser (1522-1599) and Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) both explored the idea of ​​nature (and art) in their poetry, in order to present a moral and historical lesson. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayThe works compared in this essay are volume 1 and part of volume 2 (episode "The Bower of Bliss") of The Spenser's Faerie Queene, and Marvell's "Upon Appleton House: To My Lord Fairfax." The Faerie Queene, Spenser's longest and greatest work, was published in two parts, the first in 1590 and the second in 1596. He himself described his work as "a continuous allegory, or a dark vanity”, thus inviting the reader to look beyond the literal meaning of the text. Susanne Wofford explains that Spenser uses external events and locations to convey the characters' internal consciousness; "The landscape of Spenser's poem is psychological: many of its places and commonplaces represent spiritual or emotional aspects of the characters themselves. To learn to read Spenser's poem," she writes, "is to learn that everything - a person in a story, a house, a tree or a giant - can represent an aspect of the psyche of the hero or heroine." Although Marvell's "Upon Appleton House" (1651) is not a "continuous allegory", it is filled with allegories referencing England and having a deep relationship to Scripture. "In the poem's rich symbolism, biblical events—Eden, the first temptation, the Fall, the Israelites' wilderness experience—find echoes in the experience of the Fairfax family, the speaker, the story of the English Reformation and the wanton destruction of the recent civil wars. In this essay I will mainly examine three aspects of the two poems: the relationship between nature and art, the effect of female beauty on nature and the. reference to the Garden of Eden In these poems, Spenser and Marvell take their reader on a journey through varied landscapes and settings, each of which has a different meaning and contributes to the implication of the plot. not only adventurous, but also informative, both for the characters and the reader Spenser uses the imagery of gardens and buildings with the intention of reflecting "the pictorial and architectural exposition of the Renaissance." presented with precision and symbolism while its wild forests, thickets, plains and pastures remain vague (or even less symbolic)". Nature and art feature prominently in Spenser's work and both serve the same symbolic purpose. "The general purpose of this whole book," wrote Spenser in his letter to Sir Walter Raleigh, which accompanied the first edition of The Faerie Queene, "is to fashion a gentleman or noble person in a disciplinevirtuous and gentle." Therefore, it aims to educate in an honorable and honorable manner, worthy of a good Christian. The same character and religious intention are found in Marvell's poetry. Joseph Summers states that in the poems of Marvell "Nature, apart from man, is generally 'green,' vital, fruitful, and triumphant. Since it affirms life, it is, as part of the divine plan, 'good,' but its goodness is not. is neither accessible nor completely understandable to man... Since his alienation with the departure from Eden, man can only live in nature as its observer or its destroyer. being one of the reasons why man begins to imitate nature. In "Upon Appleton House", however, there is a person who not only observes nature, but is also able to add to its beauty. However, Marvell, like Spenser, uses natural images to express his vision of history and religion. The first point of comparison in these two poems is the relationship between nature and art, and its implications for society. Nature and art are often personified to emphasize the tension that exists between them. In Book II of The Faerie Queene, the Bower of Bliss is an artful place that has imitated nature to the extent that it can appear real, but the author gives clear indications of its artifice: Thus entered, they see around 'a big and. a spacious plain, on all sides dotted with pleasures, of which the fair grassy ground, covered with green and prettily fair, with all the ornaments of Flora's pride, with which her mother Art, as half in contempt of avaricious nature, like a pompous bride, adorned her and too sumptuously adorned, When she leaves the virgin island, she arrives early in the morning. (II, VII, 50) This stanza begins with a picturesque description of the plain, but as the lines progress it becomes clear that it is not the work of "Nature", but that it is " Mother Art” who beautified it. all this “too generously”. Nature is dismissed as a “miser” by Art, and she has made the plain look like a “pompous bride,” which, in the end, is too much of a good thing. Another scene of conflict between nature and art is found in stanza 59: One would have thought (so cleverly, the crude parts, And the despised parts mingled with the beautiful) That nature had for wantonness Art followed, and that Art, faced with nature, complained; Thus striving to undermine each other, each labored for greater embellishment; so different both in their wills, they agreed in the end: thus all agreed by a sweet diversity, this garden to adorn with all varieties. (II, vii) Nature and art seem to compete over who is the better creator, but as a result of this battle, no one notices the "rude and despised part" who "mingles with the fine." Even if they don't agree, they end up agreeing on “sweet diversity”. Where, fundamentally, nature should reign, there is a mixture of nature and art, and it is not clear where one begins and the other ends. All the creatures and objects in this garden “look” like something from nature, “as if” they belong there and “seem” authentic, but they simply “look” like the natural world. Words like these dominate this passage from the Bower of Bliss, and with these Spenser alludes to the corruption of art, the unnatural, the ungodly. In the opening lines of “Upon Appleton House,” Marvell contrasts the natural character of the Fairfax house with the works of “foreign architects” (l. 2). Nature reigns over this house which is not ostentatious, but a place where “all things are composed... Like nature, ordered and close” (ll. 25-6). In stanza 2,Marvell compares human architecture to natural design: Why should uncontrolled man build such disproportionate habitations? Beasts are expressed by their dens, and birds build an equal nest; shell: No creature likes empty space; Their bodies measure their place. Like the builders of the Tower of Babel, man seeks to surpass the work of God, and “think by the extent of the world uniting you” (l. 24). The first group, of course, failed miserably in their mission, and God punished them for thinking they could measure up to Him. Therefore, nature, God's creation, is superior to human art. Marvell also personifies nature and art in his poem: But nature here has been so free As if she were saying: Let me do this. Art would have more properly degraded what it had so gently devastated; In fragrant gardens, shady woods, deep meadows and transparent floods. (st. 10) Given the chance, Art will defile Nature's work in "gardens", "woods", "meadows" and "floods", but none of this happens in the Fairfax area. Like Spenser, Marvell describes nature as "good" and art as generally "bad", but while Marvell's nature is capable of opposing the forces of art, Spenser's nature must compromise with the dominant character of art. The second point of comparison is the effect of female beauty on her natural environment. In the first book of The Faerie Queene, Una's beauty is revealed each time she removes the veil from her face: Her angels face Like the great eye of shy heaven shining, And makes a sun in the shady place ; Never has mortal eye seen such a paradise. grace. (I, iii, 4) It seems that even the sun is affected by Una's "angel face" as it illuminates the "shady place" where Una rests. When a “creeping Lyon” (l. 38) rushes “from the thickest wood” (l. 37) with the clear intention of devouring her, he too is surprised by her sight and instead of attack, the beast kisses “its tired feet”. " (l. 46). The lion, king of the animal kingdom, goes to Una and decides to protect her during his journey. This wild being of the forest rejects his innate nature when he finds himself faced with this "celestial grace" . Later, in canto 6, Una is rescued from Sans Lou by a group of “wild wood gods” (l. 73) who “remain amazed at her shining beauty, In their crude eyes, unworthy of such terribleness. situation” (ll. 80-1) They too “kiss her feet” (l. 108) and “worship her like the queen,” but when she tries to put an end to their idolatry of her, “them.” , his donkey, would worship Fayn” (l. 171). Even though these mystical creatures do not represent nature in this poem, they show the same natural reaction as nature to its beauty and grace. Mary Fairfax affects her natural surroundings in Marvell's poem At the end of the poem, writes Andrew Sanders, "[t]here is a firm return to the idea embodied by the house and its occupants as Fairfax's daughter is introduced. as the auspicious restorer of a limited earthly paradise, just like her father. can still be for the country as a whole: "It is she who gave to these gardens the marvelous beauty that they have; she confers righteousness to the woods; the sweetness of the meadows owes to her; nothing could make the river so pure as crystal, but only she; She is even more pure, gentle, upright and just, than the gardens, the woods, the meadows and the rivers. Therefore, what she first spent on them, they present again with gratitude: the meadow, the carpets to walk on; the garden, the streams to crown her head And for her glass, the clear stream, Where she can look at all its beauties;.