Spenser’s Platonism in Epithalamion

Plato has influenced many writers and created several milestones in English Literature. Horizons of Poetry suddenly widened under his influence and poets as well as readers enjoyed this changing. it was a kind of journey from known to unknown. this fresh and splendid philosophy has special impact on love as well as beauty. this illuminated and sharpened the visions of great poets. such kind of excellence can hardly be seen in later poets. love was considered as a divine force which can create the world and govern the worldly affairs. This kind of divinity is a subject of understanding so that it should be propagated on earth. such kind of love can be rarely seen in modern age. the lover was not interested in physical charm of the beloved. The beloved was considered as a guiding star for the lover. we can say that the lover used to follow his beloved blindly. There was a kind of divinity in such relationships. the lover always looked his beloved as a source of inspiration. it was beyond any lust or physical attraction. In this era when a lover used to see his beloved he actually loved the real vision that love is God. it is a kind of prototype which is lover’s object and the physical manifestation is secondary to it. The eyes of the lover is in the search of purity which he finds in his beloved. He can find beauty in all the things which is pure. This knof Platonism or Platonic philosophy finds real expression in Four Hymns . We can find such philosophy in almost all the poems of Spenser. Specially in the October eclogues of the calendar and sonnets like Amoretti or Epithalamion it serves as an alternative theme or message.