The Feaire Queene
Introduction of Author:
Edmund Spencer:
Edmund Spencer was best known English poet. He is considered one of the preeminent poets of the English language.
Born to a London family of modest means around 1552 .
Educated in London at the Merchant Taylors ' School .
■ Cambridge-- B.A. ( 1573 ) and M.A. ( 1576 )
■ Served as Secretary for John Young ( Bishop of Rochester )
■ Composed The Shepheardes Calender ( printed in 1579 ) 1579 : employed by Earl of Leicester ; met Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Edward Dyer ; formed an informal intellectual society called the ' Areopagus , ' discussing law , philosophy , and poetry
■ July 1580 : went to Ireland , in the service of Arthur Lord Grey de Wilton .
■ 1594 : married Elizabeth Boyle 1598 : his estate , Kilcolman Castle , burned ; returned to London
■ 1599 : died in poverty
In 1569 Spenser went to Cambridge, where he entered Pembroke College as a sizar (a student who earns his tuition by acting as a servant to wealthy students). He spent 7 years at the university, gaining his bachelor of arts degree in 1572 and his master of arts degree in 1576. Records of the period reveal that Spenser's health was poor but that he had an excellent reputation as a student. He studied Italian, French, Latin, and Greek; read widely in classical literature and in the poetry of the modern languages; and authored some Latin verse.
When was it Written ?
■ Written during Elizabethan Era
■ Spenser Praised Tutor Dynasty and Elizabeth1
■ Golden Age and height of English Renaissance
■ Same time Shakespeare was writing
The Faerie Queene
You tube video link for study : https://youtu.be/vlxes7pkDiI
He offered Elizabeth The Faerie queene in an attempt to gain her favor. Unfortunately, Spenser held to political views and associated with individuals that did not meet the approval of Elizabeth's principal secretary, Lord Burghley. Through Burghley's influence, Spenser was given only a small pension in recognition for his grand poetic work.
The Faerie queene was written over the course of about a decade by Edmund Spenser. He published the first three books in 1590, then the next four books (plus revisions to the first three) in 1596. It was originally intended to be twelve books...
Is Faerie Queene an epic or not?
The Faerie Queene (1590) is an epic poem by Edmund Spenser (c. 1552–1599), which follows the adventures of a number of medieval knights. The poem, written in a deliberately archaic style, draws on history and myth, particularly the legends of Arthur.
Language: Early Modern English
Genre(s): Epic poem
Publication date: 1590, 1596
Lines: Over 36,000
For some years Spenser had been working on The Faerie Queene. By 1589 three books were complete. When Sir Walter Raleigh visited the poet in the early autumn of that year, Raleigh was so impressed with this work that he took Spenser with him back to England. In November 1589 they arrived in London; and early in the following year the first three books of Spenser's most famous work were published, with an elaborate dedication to Queen Elizabeth I. Spenser's ambition was to write the great English epic. His plan was to compose 12 books, each concerned with one of the 12 moral virtues as classified by Aristotle. Each of these virtues was to be embodied in a knight. Thus the poem would combine elements of the romance of chivalry, the handbook of manners and morals, and the national epic.
The Faerie Queene can be read on various levels: as an allegory of the eternal struggle between good and evil in every form; as a poetic statement of an ethical system; and as a historical allegory portraying the struggle between the pure Protestant traditions of England and the manifold threats of England's Roman Catholic neighbors. Allusions to contemporary political and religious controversies are numerous. The philosophy underlying Spenser's epic combines three strands.
His Lady sad to see his sore constraint,
Cride out, Now now Sir knight, shwe what ye bee,
Add faith vnto your force, and be not faint:
(Book 1, Canto 1, stanza 19)
Book 1
Newly knighted and ready to prove his stuff, Redcrosse, the hero of this book, is embarking on his first adventure: to help a princess named Una get rid of a pesky dragon that is totally bothering her parents and kingdom. So, she, Redcrosse, and her dwarf-assistant all head out to her home.
Book 2
The book of Temperance, follows the hero Guyon and his guide the Palmer on their quest to avenge the death of Amavia and Verdant by finding and destroying the Bower of Bliss and its creator, the witch Acrasia.
As per usual in Faerie Land, they get sidetracked. This time, it's by encounters with Braggadochio, Furor and Occaision, Phaedria, and the house of Mammon. But after a refreshing visit to the house of Alma, things get back on track and off they head to one infamous Bower.
Book 3
On Chastity, features our favorite lady-knight Britomart on her quest to find her one true love, Arthegall. Disguised as a man along with her trusty nurse, Glauce, Britomart roams the land of Faerie knocking every knight she meets off their horse and finally agreeing to help Scudamore save his beloved Amoret, who is a prisoner in the house of Busirane.
Book 4
Probably the oddest book in the whole poem, the fourth book on Friendship doesn't really have a single protagonist. We spend a little bit of time with the friends Triamond and Cambell, and their wives Canacee and Cambina, but we also spend a good deal of time with Britomart and Arthegall, both the real and the False Florimell, and the reculsive Marinell. This book is definitely something of a hodge-podge.
Canacee and Cambina, but we also spend a good deal of time with Britomart and Arthegall, both the real and the False Florimell, and the reculsive Marinell. This book is definitely something of a hodge-podge.
Book 5
Returning to the more conventional structure of centering a book around a single knight, Book 5 features the exploits of Arthegall, knight of justice, and his rather alarming robot sidekick, Talus. Yeah, you read that right. They wander the land of Faerie enacting justice and punishment until Arthegall is embarrassingly captured by the queen of the Amazons, Radigund, and freed by his love, Britomart. Arthegall does finally succeed at the end of the book in killing the giant Grantorto, although he ends the book being chased by a new threat, the Blatant Beast.
Book 6
Picking up right where Book 5 left off, Book 6 follows Calidore, a knight of courtesy, on his quest to stop the Blatant Beast. He too gets sidetracked along the way, making friends with Calepine and Serena—who we spend a lot of time with—and then taking some time out with the shepherds to live a pastoral existence. After winning the hand of Pastorella, he finally completes his quest and captures the Blatant Beast.
The publication of the first three books of The Faerie Queene met with much acclaim. Spenser remained in London for more than a year, enjoying fame and making many friends
Moral :
The six main virtues in The Faerie Queene are holiness, temperance, chastity, friendship, justice and courtesy. Every book has a different hero and is about one of these virtues. Arthur is the only knight present in each book and the only knight that owns every virtue.
Allegorical work:
The Faerie Queene is an allegorical work in praise of Elizabeth I (represented by Gloriana – the Faerie Queene herself – and the virgin Belphoebe) and of Elizabethan notions of virtue.
Proper use of the allegory is an integral tool in the author’s toolbox. An allegory is a metaphor, but it is not merely symbolism, although it is definitely symbolic. Authors, painters, and musicians can convey hidden meanings and discuss complex moral issues through the device of allegory.
The Faerie Queene is an allegorical romance, and contains several levels of allegory, including praise for Queen Elizabeth I, who was Spenser’s great patron.
Allegory is not always something that works well if you desire commercial success with your novels. This is because allegory is the sort of thing that only becomes apparent on further contemplation by the reader–which many casual readers don’t usually want to do and modern action-based literature does not encourage. A great many of today’s readers are action-junkies, so if you choose to present a moral concept through the use of allegory, you must take a page from Stephen King‘s work and wrap it up in such a way that the average reader will enjoy it for the entertainment value, while the discerning reader will look deeper and find more layers to enjoy within your work.
Each character in an allegory represents an underlying element to your theme. Because the reader is expected to interpret the whole story and find what it means, no character can be introduced that does not directly pertain to and represent part of the underlying story. The moment you introduce a random character into it, your allegory devolves into chaos and your deeper meaning is lost.
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