| Abstrakt: |
The emblems of The Shepheardes Calenderare of the kind of impresaor device known as the mot. These devices are characterized by enigmatic ambiguity and by personal application to the individual’s inner intentions. The two words opposed in the final emblem, “Merce non mercede,” have a common ancestor (merx, mercis: “reward”) and in the Renaissance could to some extent be considered synonymous. The distinctions made by the contrasting negative in the final emblem are potentially enigmatic and require that the reader scrupulously meditate the kinds of reward being sought or rejected. The final emblem is unlike the other emblems of the Calenderin that it is not attached to an ecologue or assigned to a character. In its place at the close of the poem the emblem invites meditation on its application to the amorous, poetic, and religious themes of the Calenderas a whole. Because Spenser introduces it as the envoy to his book, we are invited to read it as referring to the author and as explaining his name, Immerito. |
