One of the most intriguing aspects of Renaissance poetry is its ability to "fashion a noble man into the ways of virtue." This bold claim, made by the Renaissance poet Edmund Spencer in his forward to the Faery Queene, is based on the ideology of the Roman poet Horace. Horace argues in his masterpiece The Art of Poetry, the ability of poetry to teach and instruct: 

A poet should instruct, or please, or both;

Let all your precepts be succinct and clear,

That ready wits may comprehend them soon,

And faithful memories retain them long

For superfluities are soon forgot.

Horace was not alone in his conviction that poetry should be used for the purpose of instruction in personal virtue. Aristotle and Socrates shared similar views.  Like Horace, they firmly believed in the power of literature to positively influence human behavior.

     Perhaps the most provocative example of the didactic use of poetry in Renaissance literature is  found in book two of Edmund Spencer's Faery Queene. Spencer designed the allegory to illustrate the virtue of temperance. He tells the story of the valiant fairy knight Guyon who is on a quest to destroy the Bower of Bliss, a beautiful garden of tempting delights. The island is the home of the evil temptress Acrasia, who after seducing her victims, turns them into beasts. In Guyon's quest he encounters a variety of dubious characters, emblems of intemperance, who attempt to distract the knight from his objective. However, one of Guyon's greatest trials comes when he is tempted by Mammon in his underworld dominion:

They forward passe, ne Guyon yet spoke a word,

Till they came vnto an yron dore

Which to them opened of his owne accord,

And shewd of richenesse such exceeding store,

An eye of man did neuer see before;

Ne euer could within one place be found,

Ne euer could within one place be found,

Through all the wealth, which is, or was of yore,

Could gathered be through all the world around,

And that aboue were added to that vnder ground.

                                           

Fortunately, Guyon overcomes the waves of temptation that wash over him. Having mastered the Aristotelian concept of the golden mean, temperance, the protagonist emerges as an excellent model for all who seek virtue. Guyon clearly recognizes the temporal nature of material riches, and keeps his focus on his noble mission to destroy the Bower of Bliss.

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