Paraphrase and Patronage in Virgils Gnat

Abstract

While philologists have identified the textual source of Virgils Gnat, and critics have analyzed Spenser’s habits of paraphrase in his translation, interpretation has been left to biographers who attempt to identify in the poet’s life the allegorical significance of the gnat’s complaint. This essay bridges these concerns by first demonstrating in the translation a thematic paraphrase of the word “care” and its opposite, “security,” and then interpreting this paraphrase with respect to Spenser’s career and his relationship to his patron Leicester, to whom the poem was “long since dedicated.” Spenser exploits certain techniques of paraphrase taught in humanist grammar schools to make the poem uniquely his own, and far from being just a cipher for an event in his life, the translation becomes a vehicle for his reflections on poetic vocation, artistic creativity, and friendship.

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