It will be seen from the above analysis that the architectonic basis of Spenser’s design consists of the three Colin eclogues standing respectively at the beginning, in the middle, and at the close of the year.  These are symmetrically arranged:  the ‘January’ and ‘December’ are both alike monologues and agree in the stanza used, while the ‘June’ is a dialogue and likewise differs in metrical form.  This latter is supported as it were by two subsidiary eclogues, those of April and August, in both of which another shepherd sings one of Colin’s lays and refers incidentally to his passion for Rosalind.  It is upon this framework that are woven the various moral, polemical, and idyllic themes which Spenser introduces.  The attempt at uniting a series of poems into a single fabric is Spenser’s chief contribution to the formal side of pastoral composition.  The method by which he sought to correlate the various parts so as to produce the singleness of impression necessary to a work of art, and the measure of success which he achieved, though they belong more strictly to the general history of poetry, must also detain us for a moment.  The chief and most obvious device is that suggested by the title—­The Shepherd’s Calender—­’Conteyning twelve Aeglogues proportionable to the twelve monethes.’  This might, indeed, have been no more than a fanciful name for any series of twelve poems;[95] with Spenser it indicates a conscious principle of artistic construction.  It suggests, what is moreover apparent from the eclogues themselves, that the author intended to represent the spring and fall of the year as typical of the life of man.  The moods of the various poems were to be made to correspond with the seasons represented; or, conversely, outward nature in its cycle through the year was to reflect and thereby unify the emotions, thoughts, and passions of the shepherds.  This was a perfectly legitimate artistic device, and one based on a fundamental principle of our nature, since the appearance of objective phenomena is ever largely modified and coloured by subjective feeling.  Nor can it reasonably be objected against the device that in the hands of inferior craftsmen it degenerates but too readily into the absurdities of the ‘pathetic fallacy,’ or that Spenser himself is not wholly guiltless of the charge.

    Winter is come, that blowes the balefull breath,
    And after Winter commeth timely death.

These lines bear witness to Spenser’s intention.  But the conceit is not fully or consistently carried out.  In several of the eclogues not only does the subject in no way reflect the mood of the season—­the very nature of the theme at times made this impossible—­but the time of year is not so much as mentioned.  This is more especially the case in the summer months; there is no joy of the ‘hygh seysoun,’ and when it is mentioned it is rather by way of contrast than of sympathy.  Thus in June Colin mourns for other days: