| 1. NEW: "New" here to calls attention to the new sonnet in the Amoretti sequence, at the same time as it participates in making meaning in the poem, by declaring the "new year." | |
| 2. NEW yeare: Although it may be no more than historical accident (i.e. I am not prepared to argue authorial intent) Spenser lived during the period when the English adopted the new calendar developed for Pope Gregory, and employed earlier in Europe. | |
| 3.
Ianus: According to Micha F. Lindemans "Janus
is the Roman god of gates and doors (ianua),
beginnings and endings, and hence represented with a
double-faced head, each looking in opposite
directions. He was worshipped at the beginning of
the harvest time, planting, marriage, birth, and
other types of beginnings, especially the beginnings
of important events in a person's life." <http://www.pantheon.org/articles/j/janus.html?esc> Given the springtime imagery of this poem, and the admonition in the final couplet to prepare for new love, Janus seems a particularly appropriate classical deity to invoke here. Because Janus has two faces, the alert reader ought to pause to consider where the other face is looking, if one face is "forth looking" into a "new yeare." Notice that Spenser has retained the Latin spelling. Remember Indiana Jones? There's no "J" in Latin. |
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| 4. Janus's gate: Thus far I have not been able to find a classical reference specifically to Janus's gate. As a two faced god, Janus is an obvious choice for a gate-keeper, so it may be that the "gate" referred to here is integral to this poem, rather than an allusion to something outside the poem. | |
| Return to Sonnet IIII. |
This page last modified January 16, 2005 |