{"id":5527,"date":"2020-04-10T07:58:21","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T07:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/?p=5527"},"modified":"2020-04-11T04:03:43","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T04:03:43","slug":"word-of-the-day-mutability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/2020\/04\/10\/word-of-the-day-mutability\/","title":{"rendered":"Word of the Day: Mutable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today\u2019s word of the day, courtesy of the Bronx Chronicle<\/em>, is mutable<\/em>, an adjective meaning \u201cCapable of or tending to change in form or quality or nature\u2026changeable\u201d (https:\/\/thebronxchronicle.com\/<\/a>). According to www.dictionary.com<\/a>, it means, \u201cliable or subject to change or alteration; given to changing; constantly changing; fickle or inconstant.\u201d According to www.etymonline.com<\/a>, mutable<\/em> entered the English language in the \u201clate 14c., \u2018liable to change,\u2019 from Latin mutabilis<\/em> \u2018changeable,\u2019 from mutare<\/em> \u2018to change,\u2019 from PIE root *mei-<\/strong> (1) \u2018to change, go, move,\u2019 with derivatives referring to the exchange of goods and services as regulated by custom or law (compare Latin mutuus<\/em> \u2018done in exchange\u2019).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1609, a new edition of Edmund Spenser\u2019s half-completed epic The Faerie Queene<\/em> was published in London, perhaps edited by Spenser\u2019s friend Gabriel Harvey. I say \u201chalf-completed\u201d because in Spenser\u2019s original conception of the work there were to be 12 books, each one an allegory. But Spenser died in 1599, before he could finish his epic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when Gabriel Harvey published his friend\u2019s enormous work, the longest poem in the English language, he added two cantos and a few verses from a third. He called them \u201cTwo Cantos of Mutabilitie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As in the rest of The Faerie Queene<\/em>, a characteristic, in this case mutability, is also a character. Here is the summary made by Encyclopedia Britannica:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After wreaking havoc on earth, overthrowing the laws of nature, justice, and policy, the poem\u2019s central figure, the ambitious Titaness Mutabilitie, hopes to extend her reign to the heavens themselves. She denies the authority of Jove, whose reign is marked by order and beneficence. On Arlo\u2019s Hill (Spenser\u2019s Irish home), Dame Nature presides over the conflict between titaness and god; she concludes that all things in life may fluctuate, but their essence remains constant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth Healy writes, at \u201cThe Faerie Queene<\/em>: A Reader\u2019s Guide\u201d (https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/books\/faerie-queene-a-readers-guide\/mutabilitie-cantos\/D4D057E11BD349DB8DAA6D30F4A6400A#<\/a>), \u201cThe \u2018Two Cantos of Mutabilitie\u2019, with a fragmentary third, were first published in 1609, ten years after Spenser’s death, with the note that they \u2018both for Forme and Matter, appeare to be parcell of some following Booke of the Faerie Queene<\/em>, under the Legend of Constancie’<\/em>. No more is known about them than that. Even the division into cantos may not be by Spenser himself. The stanza form, the theme and the mode of these cantos all suggest that they are a continuation of the main poem, possibly the \u2018core cantos\u2019 of a seventh book, with as rich a mixture of philosophy, myth and allegory as the Garden of Adonis (3.vi) or Colin Clout’s vision of the Graces (6.x).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s helpful to know that, during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, when poets talked about the god Jove, they often were using the name metaphorically, that they were really talking about God. It may also be helpful to know, when reading or at least contemplating the Mutability Cantos, that Spenser believed that he world was on a downhill trajectory. Like so many poets and philosophers throughout the centuries, he believed that there was a past Golden Age, and before that the Garden of Eden, the Earthly paradise. In other words, there was a time when men were noble and the Earth was good, but things were getting worse and worse and would continue to do so until Christ returned again in triumph to \u201cresurrect the quick and the dead.\u201d Hence mutability was a bad thing, indicating change away from God\u2019s paradise and toward chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Spenser\u2019s Mutabilitie, the character, was likewise bad, wanting to extend the reign of chaos from Earth all the way to Heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Spenser\u2019s judge, Dame Nature, realizes that change is normal and that while there may be change, the essence of things remains constant. God doesn\u2019t change even though our perception of Him may change and the world around us may change. Personally, I believe that the Earth is a better place to live than it has even been in human history. In fact, if the principles and love espoused by Christ were to be accepted universally, the world would be ready to accept the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image is from a publication of Spenser\u2019s Mutability Cantos in 1906 (https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/pin\/90212798760605682\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s word of the day, courtesy of the Bronx Chronicle, is mutable, an adjective meaning \u201cCapable of or tending to change in form or quality or nature\u2026changeable\u201d (https:\/\/thebronxchronicle.com\/). According to www.dictionary.com, it means, \u201cliable or subject to change or alteration; given […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[261,263,262],"class_list":["post-5527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-of-the-day","tag-change","tag-kingdom-of-god","tag-spenser","clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5527"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5557,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5527\/revisions\/5557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.freedomshillprimer.com\/institute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}