=2. His Minor Poems.= The first of the poems that have descended to us is _The Shepherd’s Calendar_ (1579). The title, adopted from a popular compilation of the day, suggests the contents: a series of twelve eclogues, one for each month of the year. Each eclogue, as is common with the species, is in dialogue form, in which the stock pastoral characters, such as Cuddie, Colin Clout, and Perigot, take part. The pieces, though they are of no great poetical merit, served as excellent poetical exercises, for they range widely in meter, contain much skillful alliteration, and juggle with the conventional phrases of the pastoral. A volume of miscellaneous poems, including _The Ruins of Time_, _The Tears of the Muses_, _Mother Hubberd’s Tale_, and _The Ruins of Rome_, appeared in 1591; in 1595 he published his _Amoretti_, a series of eighty-eight sonnets celebrating the progress of his love; _Epithalamion_, a magnificent ode, rapturously jubilant, written in honor of his marriage; and _Colin Clouts Come Home Againe_, somewhat wordy, but containing some interesting personal details. In 1596 appeared his _Four Hymns_ and _Prothalamion_, the latter not so fine as the great ode of the previous year. Spenser’s shorter poems illustrate his lyrical ability, which is moderate in quality. His style is too diffuse and ornate to be intensely passionate; but, especially in the odes, he can build up sonorous and commanding measures which by their weight and splendor delight both mind and ear. To a lesser extent, as in _Mother Hubberd’s Tale_, the shorter poems afford him scope for his satirical bent, which can be sharp and censorious. We quote from the _Epithalamion_, which stands at the summit of English odes: Open the temple gates unto my love, Open them wide that she may enter in, And all the posts adorn as doth behove, And all the pillars deck with girlonds trim, For to receive this Saint with honour due, That cometh unto you. With trembling steps, and humble reverence, She cometh in, before the Almighty’s view; Of her, ye virgins, learn obedience, When so ye come into these holy places, And humble your proud faces. Bring her up to the high altar, that she may The sacred ceremonies there partake, The which do endless matrimony make; And let the roaring organs loudly play The praises of the Lord in lively notes; The whiles, with hollow throats, The choristers the joyous anthem sing, That all the woods may answer, and their echo ring.