Ponderings

Tag: books

  • Gloriana

    On the 24th March, 1603 Queen Elizabeth I died. She was the last monarch in the Tudor dynasty. Her impressive legacy as a ruler and national figurehead continues to be revered today. She is remembered for the many successes achieved during her reign. Her achievements include the restoration of Protestantism, the preservation of Royal Supremacy, quelling any malicious attack upon her crown and stopping foreign invasion.

    Her place in English history is assured. In her lifetime, she was admired for her popular appeal and cultural potency. Her position in our national story is down to her intelligence and insight. She understood that our identity has always depended upon our ability to absorb other influences without compromising our uniqueness. It is indeed a strange paradox that we are defined by our ambiguity.

    Our lack of clarity ensured our stability and continuity. In contrast other European powers foundered under the constraints of rigidity. Elizabeth sought a pragmatic solution to the religious conflicts that were tearing the continent apart. Her religious settlement was her ambitious attempt to find a middle path between the polar opposites of Catholicism and Protestantism. Her ambitions rapidly bore fruit. Her reforms engendered a sense of national pride which had failed to flower under the bitter and vengeful rule of her sister Queen Mary I.

    The unmarried Queen soon acquired a cult status, and she became an object of veneration. Central to her myth was her inviolability. This inspired poets like Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser. Spenser was a key figure in the Elizabethan national project, in 1580 he was appointed secretary to the Lord Deputy of Ireland.

    The Queen faced rebellion from her Irish subjects who were implacably opposed to her Protestantism and had instead chosen to ally themselves with her enemies. She decided to grant land to her courtiers to prevent the rebels from establishing a base for their allies in Spain.

    Spenser was given a castle and estates in County Cork. While residing here he composed a remarkable elegy to his beneficent, in the form of the epic and allegorical poem “The Faerie Queene”. He dedicated the poem to her, and honoured her strengths, virtues and distinctly feminine intelligence. These qualities are embodied in the character “Gloriana”, a regal archetype and personification of imperial might.

    Another aspect to our culture is our innate conservatism, and our inclination to pay homage to our past. At the height of Tudor power, allusions were drawn to the court of King Arthur. The Tudor monarchs relied upon legend to cement their popularity, and other mythical figures were invoked, including the supposed founding father of the nation, Brutus. The poets of the era absorbed these conventions in their work.

    Spenser utilises Arthurian myth and legend in the poem to reconstruct his vision of the nation under the reassuring helm of Gloriana herself. Her Empire, unlike the Catholic theocracies across the continent, is free from tyranny and oppression. It is inhabited solely by the brave, the good and the godly. In spite of the threats, her Knights have the courage to defend the Crown, the nation and her people.

    In 1589, Queen Elizabeth I awarded Spenser a pension, however nine years later his castle in Ireland was set on fire during Tyrone’s rebellion. It was burned into the ground, and his youngest child succumbed to the flames and was killed. He returned to England a year later and died from a broken heart. Spenser’s verse is a vital part of the myth of Elizabeth, and his vivid depictions of the glorious Queen continue to inspire us today.

  • Worlds Of Mystery

    On the 19th March, 2008 the pioneering English science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke died. He was renowned as a singular and unique figure in the canon of scientific literature. His fiction illuminated the almost infinite opportunities of space travel. At the beginning of his literary career, the journey into space was a relatively new innovation. These expeditions into the unknown seemed to have endless possibilities. It was an exciting prospect to venture into uncharted territories, as mankind had a ceaseless desire for exploration.

    Clarke’s interest in other planets began while he was still in his early teens. He grew up on a farm in Somerset, and fortunately for him this gave him an unparalleled view of the skies above him. This inspired his imagination and he became an enthusiastic stargazer. He later joined the Junior Astronomical Association and was a prolific contributor to their in-house magazine “Urania”. He moved to London in 1936 and became a member of the British Interplanetary Society. When the Second World War broke out he joined the RAF and worked as a radar specialist.

    His research proved invaluable to the war effort. He was part of the team that helped to create the early warning radar defence system. He was credited as one of the first inventors of the satellite system. After the war he attended King’s College London to read mathematics and physics. He graduated with a first class degree. He was appointed assistant editor at “Physics Abstracts”, and continued to pursue his interests in space travel, eventually ascending to the position of President at the British Interplanetary Society.

    He continued to write a mixture of scholarly work and fiction. Many of his short stories were published in fanzines and pulp magazines. In 1948, “Startling Stories” published a novella which focused on the last days of planet Earth, a subject which he returned to some years later.

    The real turning point in his writing career arrived in 1950, when he published “Interplanetary Flight: An Introduction to Astronautics”. The publication of this book proved to be immensely lucrative, and allowed him to become a full time writer. He now had the luxury to cultivate his imagination.

    In 1953 a small American publisher called Gnome Press published a revised edition of the 1948 novella “Against the Fall of Night”. It is a stark and chilling vision of the future, as the last human beings living on a dying planet contemplate their fate. The last city, “Diaspar” has fallen into ruin after a devastating war with alien invaders. Once a great and proud civilisation, it has become decadent.

    It rapidly becomes clear that the inhabitants existing on this desolate landscape have forgotten their ancestral roots and are totally dependent upon machines. However the youngest inhabitant, Alvin questions his existence and seeks greater meaning. He decides to delve deeper, and he discovers that there is a parallel civilisation on the other side of the planet called “Lys”. Unlike Diaspar, Lys is attuned to the natural environment.

    Alvin realises that Lys was deliberately hidden along with the true history of Earth and the war with the aliens, chiefly for the purpose of propaganda. The population were psychologically manipulated by myth. He discovers that it was all part of a devious plan to prevent insurrection after the failures repelling the aliens during the cataclysmic war. However, in spite of the differences, both civilisations combine in a collective effort to rebuild.

    Reflecting upon Clarke’s experience in the war, it is easy to see the connection between historical events and the nightmare vision of a decadent human civilisation unfolding. However the hope for a brighter future is embodied within the youthful figure of Alvin, an eternally inquisitive character and symbol of renewal in a rapidly diminishing world.

    Clarke taught us an important lesson. Mankind is on an eternal quest of exploration, and it is a path that seemingly has no end destination. We must remember that our intelligence as a species is not fixed, it is constantly progressing, as long as we stay curious.