So excited I get to use one of my favorite words, ekphrasis.

Spenser does linger quite long over the tapestries of the House of Busirane. He does not just show them to us–which would be just to say that a tapestry depicted, for example, the story of Leda and the Swan. Spenser does not say, “Oh, what a lovely tapestry. The artistry in it is just remarkable.” The tapestry, the material object, is subsumed by the remarkable story it represents. It is overtaken or elaborated upon by the narration, from Britomart’s perspective. The tapestry is like a translation (transubstantiation??) of the Leda and the Swan story, a new language through which the viewer can actually come into contact, emotional and visceral, with the myth. Britomart is taken with the “snowy Swan,” with “his lovely trade,” “wondrous skill” and “sweet wit.” She is admiring. So, I wonder, is this RAPE SCENE, quite literally writ large here, an occasion for Britomart to assume a more womanly form and be taken with/by the swan? Or, is Britomart empowered and inspired to take, to “invade”?