Earthly Virtue In The Faerie Queen
The way in which the Garden of Adonis replenishes life on Earth also demonstrates The Faerie Queen’s prioritization of earthly virtue. Although the Garden is largely a haven for Venus and her lover Adonis, it nonetheless exists in tandem with Earth, as many of its functions restore and purify earthly life. When describing the Garden’s unique life cycle, the narrator claims that the Garden “is the first seminarie / Of all things, that are borne to live and die” (III.vi.30.4-5). Here, the narrator introduces the Garden’s strange life cycle, which conceives and creates all mortal creatures. That said, he soon clarifies that, although mortal creatures begin their lives in the Garden, they are nonetheless sent “forth to live in mortal