University of Virginia Library

4. Survey of Verses

Because of the close interplay among the three main components of an emblem, the motto and woodcut changes have, in the two foregoing sections,

been shown to influence the verse and vice versa. Whitney, especially in the MS, changed the mottoes and pictorial designs of his sources to conform to the verses, or altered the verses to bring about greater conformity to the other two components. In this section, discussion of the verses will concentrate on both their physical and quantitative, as well as on their substantive and qualitative, aspects. Those aspects that have not hitherto been studied are: the variety of stanzaic forms and its relationship to the structure of the verses, the drastic expansion and abridgement of the verses from their originals, and the changes made in the verses in Choice from those in the MS.

By far the most frequently used stanzaic form is the sextet, and the most popular verse form consists of two sextets—83 instances in the MS, 103 in Choice. Verse of a single sextet is next in frequency: 29 in the MS, 38 in Choice; the largest number of sextets in a verse in the MS is six, that in Choice is eight. The poulter's measure, a couplet of iambic hexameter and iambic heptameter, is next to the sextet Whitney's favorite form of versification. Because of its line length it is most frequently used as a space-saver; particularly when two emblems are sharing a page, the space below the woodcut would not permit the printing of a sextet even using the smallest type face, but would allow one couplet, sometimes even two couplets, of poulter's measure. In the MS Whitney used the measure 28 times, the one-couplet and two-couplet forms most often with the highest number of couplets in one verse being 25; in Choice, 44 times, again the one- and two-couplet forms dominating, with the highest number of couplets in a single verse, 30. Rhyming ababcc the iambic pentameter sextet lends itself well to emblematic versifying. In a single-sextet verse, the first four lines are usually expository of the woodcut; then the concluding couplet rounds off the moral in epigrammatic terseness. In a two-sextet verse, the first sextet is usually given over to exposition, the second to moralizing. Often the first four lines of a second sextet are devoted to an interim application to the human situation of the exposition in the first sextet before the final couplet sums up the emblematic moral. In a three-sextet verse (which is used 23 times in the MS, 27 in Choice) Whitney revealed his talent for variation by giving the first sextet to generalizing or philosophizing before illustrating the commonplace concretely in the second, and applying and concluding it in the third. Constantly, he varied this tripartite arrangement so that the first sextet may be exposition, the third may be generalization, and the second may be application, and so on. Unlike the sextet, the poulter's measure gives a weightier impression and provides less variety. Again, because of its space-saving feature, it is frequently used to present a sustained disquisition of considerable length, especially when Whitney drastically expanded the verse from its original in other emblem-books. One interesting change in verse form from the MS to Choice occurs on fols. 40v and 41, which contain verses made up of three quatrains. Each quatrain contains three lines of iambic trimeter and one line (the third)

of iambic tetrameter, rhyming abcb; but in reality each quatrain is but a couplet of poulter's measure in disguise. In Choice these two emblems, Wh 77a and Wh 142, are made to occupy half-page spaces, and the same verses are printed in the form of three couplets of poulter's measure. The situation is different when in Wh 22 the verse contains four quatrains of the poulter's measure in disguise, but in the MS, fol. 25v, it is also written in four quatrains. The reason appears to be that neither emblem lacks space in either version.

Quatrains of four lines of iambic pentameter are rarely used. Rhyming abab, one appears in Wh 100, where, as has been pointed out in the previous section, the need to follow the original verse in Sambucus caused Whitney to expand the three quatrains and a sextet in the MS to five quatrains and a sextet in Choice. It seems as though this form of quatrain is the result of withholding the couplet, the addition of which would change it instantly to a sextet. In addition to this ingenious use of the quatrain, the only other time it is used is in fol. 74v where the emblem "Potentia amoris," taken from Alc (106) and later Wh 182a, has the unique combination of a verse in quatrain, rhyming in couplets, followed by a thirteen-couplet poulter's measure, entitled "The description of loue by Marullus & Augerianus." But because Wh 182a occupies the top half of that page, the long poem in poulter's measure is discarded. More frequently used than the quatrain, the 10-line iambic pentameter verse appears 11 times in both versions. Once, a double 10-line verse is used on fol. 82, later Wh 136. Once, in converting from the MS to Choice, the 10-line verse on fol. 36 becomes a two-sextet verse in Wh 184; the fact that there is an empty space between the fourth and fifth lines in the MS strongly suggests that Whitney added a couplet to the first four lines to convert them into a sextet.

Compared with their originals, better than half of the verses in Choice are close to their source verses. This is especially true of those emblems which share a page with another emblem; the four main groups of double emblems on each page are pp. 50-55, 138-139, 182-183, and 188-191. Because of the limitation of space below each of the two woodcuts, most of the verses take the form of a single sextet or of a couplet of poulter's measure; consequently, little room is left for much expansion. Verses varying from their sources are of two types; abridgement and expansion. Because of the set patterns in the source verses—e.g., Junius' verse is always in tetrastich, La Perrière's always in dizain—Whitney tended to expand on Junius' verse but held to a length similar to that of La Perrière. Verses from Alciati and Sambucus vary greatly in length—e.g., as short as a distich to a verse of 26 lines in Alciati, whereas no verse from Sambucus is shorter than 18 lines. Thus, some of the most drastic abridgements as well as expansions in Choice are from these two sources. As always, abridgements keep the essential morals of their sources; only the details and allusions have been eliminated or simplified. Expansion outnumbers abridgement three to one, and is used most commonly for amplification of moral and its application.

Whenever the subject of the emblem is a commonplace, therefore inexhaustible in its classical allusions and illustrations, Whitney tends to enlarge his verse extensively. For instance, the subject of Wh 60 is "Pythagoras enjoining silence," that of Wh 65 is "Aeneas carrying his father out of Troy," that of Wh 79 is "Lais with musk-cat," that of Wh 122 is "Chaos," that of Wh 141 is "Brasidas' shield," that of Wh 194 is "Terror after death" —all are commonplaces and offer a chance for Whitney to exhibit his learning. In particular, on the subject of chaos, he expanded the verse from Aneau's 8-line stanza to 25 couplets in poulter's measure. On the subject of false friendship, he expanded Aneau's tetrastich into 6 sextets, following Aneau only in the first sextet where Brasidas' death through overtrusting his shield is recounted.

Of greater originality are expansions which are the result of editorial and personal demands. Wh 1 and Wh 108, introducing respectively the first and the second parts of Choice, differ not only in length but also in substance from their sources. Ostensibly with its motto from Par 72 and its woodcut and verse from Jun (14), Wh 1 is given over to praising Queen Elizabeth, comparing her to the "mightie Spyre" and the Anglican church to the entwining ivy. The ivy is made to speak:

Based loosely on Per (1), the first sextet in Wh 108 tells what Whitney intends to do in the second part of Choice: As admonished by Janus to improve upon the past, Whitney says in the second sextet that he is determined to make improvements: "Euen so, my selfe suruayghinge what is past; | With greater heede, may take in hande the laste"—a promise that is not unfulfilled in Choice. This is especially true in view of the large number of emblems he added to the second part along with many "newly devised" emblems. A purely personal note is added towards the end of Wh 134, which has expanded the 20-line verse in Alc (117) into 5 sextets. On the subject of different colors, some are national; others are local and professional. Since the woodcut depicts a dyer, and since England was known for exhibiting few colors, Whitney added two more sextets to brag about England's having Edward Dyer, "Who, alwaies hathe so fine, and freshe, a hewe, | That in their landes, the like is not to vewe." In the same vein, Wh 196 is dedicated to Dyer and he is praised along with Surrey and Sidney. What is striking in this emblem is the extent of the expansion; Whitney expanded the usual tetrastich in Jun (60) into a verse of 30 couplets in poulter's measure. Equally extensive is the change of the tetrastich in Alc (148) into 8 sextets, praising Richard Cotton (to whom Wh 200 is dedicated) and his family seat at Cumbermaire (or Combermere), around which Whitney spent his youth. The beehive in the woodcut is compared to Combermere and Whitney himself to the bee, and the emblem elicits from him a nostalgic longing.

Dedicated "To my countrimen of the Namptwiche in Cesshire," the familiar emblem of the phoenix rising out of its funeral pyre (Wh 177 "Vnica semper auis") is used to commemorate the rebuilding of the town of Nantwich which was razed by fire (see Green, p. 372). These verses, then, not only differ drastically in length from their respective sources, but also diverge in substance from their models. Indeed, the source verses are nothing more than an excuse for Whitney to launch his original versifying at great length. This is not to infer that Whitney could not have written original verses on his own; for in fact, the two verses in praise of the two Dudley brothers (one of 5 sextets, the other of 4 sextets and its alternative verse of 6 couplets in poulter's measure [Choice, pp. 106-107]), the 11 sextets in honor of Sir Philip Sidney (pp. 109-110), the alternate naked emblem Wh 61, and the last emblem Wh 230 are all of Whitney's own composition. Although Whitney's originality varies according to the demands of his emblems, he could be as faithful to his source as he wished. A good example of this flexibility is Wh 133, where the verse is short and may be quoted in full:

The literal English translation of the distich from Alciati is considerably improved when the direct discourse is changed into the indirect statement above the Latin lines. A verse of identical formula is in the MS on fol. 72v, which is not used in Choice; the Latin distich is first rendered into a literal English translation and then rewritten in a freer paraphrase. A similar instance in Choice is Wh 139b, where the original distich from Alciati is recorded in the margin: "Spes, simul & Nemesis, nostris altaribus adsunt; | Scilicet vt speres non nisi quod liceat," and is translated into English: "Here Nemesis, and Hope: our deedes doe rightlie trie, | Which warnes vs, not to hope for that, which iustice doth denie." Lack of space, in this case, seems to have forced Whitney to quote the original in the margin; nevertheless, he obviously intended for his reader to appreciate his rendering of the original. Whitney's ability to continue to improve upon what he had written can be seen nowhere more clearly than in his revising the MS verses for the printed edition.

Significant improvements are made when single lines are altered to render their meaning more explicit. Folio 10, "Sithe tyme at lengthe will sett hir vp alofte" is modified to "Bycause at lengthe, shee shall be sett alofte" in Wh 4, avoiding the needless repetition of "Tyme" in the previous lines. Similarly, "And vp alofte Vulcanus dothe incroache" (fol. 14) from Sam 206 "Mulciber intus agit" is changed to "And to the Toppe, deuowring flames incroache" (Wh 7); "For thie, his houndes did make him straight theire praie" (fol. 26v) to "But straighte his howndes did rente hym, for their praie" (Wh 15); "Yit hurtefull weedes emongst the same do growe" (fol. 30v) to "The hurtfull tares, and dernell ofte doe growe" (Wh 68); "No foe so fell nor halfe so full of spite" (fol. 34v) to "No mortall foe so full of poysoned spite" (Wh 144); and "Theie slippe, & downe in duste theire glorie lyes" (fol. 35) to "Their fall is wrought, by thinges they doe dispise" (Wh 78). This last change is especially well thought out because "dispise" rhymes with "skies" of the previous line—"Leste when theire mindes, so mounte vnto the skies"—in a causal relationship; i.e., because they despise meaner things, their minds do mount towards the skies. Better rhyming is the cause for modifying an entire couplet: e.g., "Thus hoape of life, & feare of future lack | Houldes vp his chinne though loaden with his pack" (fol. 10v) to "Thus, hope of life, and loue vnto his goods, | Houldes vp his chinne, with burthen in the floods" (Wh 179). Aside from the greater emphasis on the avarice of this merchant through "loue vnto his goods" instead of "feare of future lack" and the closer description of the woodcut through "with burthen in the floods" instead of "though loaden with his pack," the rhyme "goods | floods" avoids the clumsy repetition of "wracke | back" in the previous lines. Similarly: "First trye, then truste: all sugred speeche eschue | The snake oft lyes in flowers of fresshist hue" (fol. 67) to "First trye, then truste: like goulde, the copper showes: | And NERO ofte, in NVMAS clothinge goes" (Wh 150); here the last line appears to have been changed first to add a historical allusion, necessitating the change of the second half of the previous line for the sake of rhyme. As these lines are the final couplet, normally containing the moral of the emblem, the changes made by Whitney tend to bring greater terseness and finality to them. Other such examples are: "Then, thoughe thou be like beares misshapen whelpe, | Yit haue no doute for arte maie nature helpe" (fol. 55) to "Then haue no doubt, for arte maie nature helpe | Thinke how the beare doth forme her vglye whelpe"—the finality achieved simply by reversing the order of these two lines and rewording the last line (Wh 92); "Oh freendes refraine the sentence of this iudge, | Like what he loath'de, though you have Venus grudge" (fol. 71v) to "But yet the wise this iudgement rashe deride, | And sentence giue on prudent PALLAS side" (Wh

83); "Theise are the foes that moste our hartes appall, | The other foes wee wey them not at all" (fol. 76v) to "No foe so fell, (as BIAS wise declares) | As man to man, when mischeife hee prepares" (Wh 124).

More extensive changes, involving an entire sextet, are equally frequent (see fol. 15v & Wh 9, fol. 29v & Wh 143, fol. 38b & Wh 125, fol. 41 & Wh 142, fol. 52v & Wh 108). Two examples suffice. In Wh 140, the first sextet is revised from the version in the MS (fol. 78):

In Choice, the sextet reads: The economy resulting from combining the thoughts in the first four lines in the MS into three lines in Choice enabled Whitney to devote three, instead of two, lines to the behavior of the little dogs. The revision renders the sextet much more descriptive of the woodcut; indeed the entire verse is closer to the woodcut than that in the MS. For instance, in the second sextet, the last couplet "For they maie sleepe vppon their mistris lappes | And at the board be fedd with daintie scrappes" is changed into "For they maie sleepe vppon their mistris bedde, | And on their lappes, with daynties still bee fedde" (see Wh 140). Despite these changes both sextets in both versions follow Sambucus' original fairly closely. The third sextet, as has been dealt with above, is Whitney's own to support the motto. Finally, in fol. 69v the second sextet on the image of Bacchus receives extensive rewriting in Wh 187; especially, the final couplet had to be changed else Whitney would have offended his host countrymen: Keeping the first line intact except altering the spelling of "mutch" to "muche," Whitney cleverly substituted for the second "Seeke other frendes, and ioyne not handes with suche." Apart from these because of necessity, the majority of changes in verse are made to improve readability and bring about greater harmony among the emblematic components. Frequently, moreover, expansions of verse are to exhibit Whitney's learning which can also be seen in his marginal annotations.