The Faerie Queene is an incomplete English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. The first half was published in 1590, and a second installment was published in 1596. The Faerie Queene is notable for its form: it was the first work written in Spenserian stanza and is one of the longest poems in the English language. It is an allegorical work, and can be read (as Spenser presumably intended) on several levels of allegory, including as praise of Queen Elizabeth I. In a completely allegorical context, the poem follows several knights in an examination of several virtues. In Spenser's "A Letter of the Authors," he states that the entire epic poem is "cloudily enwrapped in allegorical devises," and that the aim of publishing The Faerie Queene was to “fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline.”
The Faerie Queene found political favour with Elizabeth I and was consequently a success, to the extent that it became Spenser's defining work. The poem found such favour with the monarch that Spenser was granted a pension for life amounting to 50 pounds a year, though there is no evidence that Elizabeth I read any of the poem.
|url= scheme (help) Missing or empty |title= (help)A letter written by Spenser to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1590 contains a preface for The Faerie Queene, in which Spenser describes the allegorical presentation of virtues through Arthurian knights in the mythical "Faerieland". Presented as a preface to the epic in most published editions, this letter outlines plans for 24 books: 12 based each on a different knight who exemplified one of 12 "private virtues", and a possible 12 more centered on King Arthur displaying 12 "public virtues". Spenser names Aristotle as his source for these virtues, although the influence of Thomas Aquinas can be observed as well. It is impossible to predict what the work would have looked like had Spenser lived to complete it, since the reliability of the predictions made in his letter to Raleigh is not absolute, as numerous divergences from that scheme emerged as early as 1590, in the first Faerie Queene publication.
In addition to these six virtues, the Letter to Raleigh suggests that Arthur represents the virtue of Magnificence, which ("according to Aristotle and the rest") is "the perfection of all the rest, and conteineth in it them all"; and that the Faerie Queene herself represents Glory (hence her name, Gloriana). The unfinished seventh book (the Cantos of Mutability), appears to have represented the virtue of "constancy."
The Faerie Queene was written during a time of religious and political controversy – the Reformation. After taking the throne following the death of her half-sister Mary, Elizabeth changed the official religion of the nation to Protestantism (“Mary” 687). The plot of book one is similar to John Foxe’s Actes and Monuments, which was about the persecution of the Protestants and how Catholic rule was unjust. (McCabe 41) Spenser includes the controversy of Elizabethan church reform within the epic. Gloriana has godly English knights destroy Catholic continental power in books one and five (Heale 8). Spenser also embodies many of his villains with “the worst of what Protestants considered a superstitious Catholic reliance on deceptive images” (McCabe 39). He ends up showing us with the epic that all religions are unclear in some way, and that although we as humans strongly desire this clarity, it is impossible (McCabe 39).
The poem celebrates, memorializes, and critiques the Tudor dynasty (of which Elizabeth was a part), much in the tradition of Virgil's Aeneid's celebration of Augustus Caesar's Rome. Like the Aeneid, which states that Augustus descended from the noble sons of Troy, The Faerie Queene suggests that the Tudor lineage can be connected to King Arthur. The poem is deeply allegorical and allusive: many prominent Elizabethans could have found themselves-or one another-partially represented by one or more of Spenser's figures. Elizabeth herself is the most prominent example: she appears most prominently in her guise as Gloriana, the Faerie Queene herself; but also in Books III and IV as the virgin Belphoebe, daughter of Chrysogonee and twin to Amoret, the embodiment of womanly married love; and perhaps also, more critically, in Book I as Lucifera, the "maiden queen" whose brightly lit Court of Pride masks a dungeon full of prisoners.
The poem also displays Spenser's thorough familiarity with literary history. Although the world of The Faerie Queene is based on English Arthurian legend, much of the language, spirit, and style of the piece draw more on Italian epic, particularly Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso and Torquato Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. The fifth Book of The Faerie Queene, the Book of Justice, is Spenser's most direct discussion of political theory. In it, Spenser both attempts to tackle the problem of policy toward Ireland and recreates the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots.
While writing his poem, Spenser strove to “avoid gealous opinions ad misconstructions” because he thought it would place his story “in a better light” for his readers (Norton Anthology 777). In his letter to Raleigh, published with the first three books (Heale 11), Spenser states that “the generall end of the booke is to fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline” (Norton Anthology 777). Spenser considered his work “a historcall fiction” which men should read for “delight” rather than “the profite of the ensample” (Norton Anthology 777). The Faerie Queene was written for Elizabeth to read and was dedicated to her. However, there are dedicatory sonnets in the first edition to many powerful Elizabethan figures (McCabe 50).
In “amoretti 33”, when talking about The Faerie Queene still being incomplete, Spenser addresses “lodwick”. This could either be his friend Lodowick Bryskett or his long deceased Italian model, Ludovico Ariosto, who he praises in “Letter to Ralegh” (McCabe 273).
The Faerie Queene was written in Spenserian stanza, which was created specifically for The Faerie Queene. In this style, there are nine iambic lines – the first eight of them five footed and the ninth a hexameter – which form “interlocking quatrains and a final couplet” (McCabe 203). The rhyme pattern is ABABBCBCC. Each book of The Faerie Queene contains twelve cantos, each canto having forty-eight stanzas: this means that each book has over 6,000 lines (McCabe 203). Over 2000 stanzas were written for the 1590 Faerie Queene (McCabe 203).
In Elizabethan England, no subject was more familiar to writers than theology. Elizabethans learned to embrace religious studies in petty school, where they “read from selections from the Book of Common Prayer and memorized Catechisms from the Scriptures” (Whitaker 151). This influence is evident in Spenser’s text, as demonstrated in the moral allegory of Book 1. Here, allegory is organized in the traditional arrangement of Renaissance theological treatises and confessionals. While reading Book 1, audiences first encounter original sin, justification and the nature of sin before analyzing the church and the sacraments (Whitaker 153). Despite this pattern, Book 1 is not a theological treatise; within the text, “moral and historical allegories intermingle” and the reader encounters elements of romance (Whitaker 154). However, Spenser’s method is not “a rigorous and unyielding allegory,” but “a compromise among conflicting elements” (Whitaker 154). Book 1 of The Faerie Queene’s discussion of the path to salvation begins with original sin and justification, skipping past initial matters of God, the Creeds, and Adam’s fall from grace (Whitaker 154). This literary decision is pivotal because these doctrines “center the fundamental theological controversies of the Reformation” (Whitaker 154).
Spenser's language in The Faerie Queene, as in The Shepheardes Calender, is deliberately archaic, though the extent of this has been exaggerated by critics who follow Ben Jonson's dictum, that "in affecting the ancients Spenser writ no language." Allowing that Jonson's remark may only apply to the Calendar, Bruce Robert McElderry, Jr., states, after a detailed investigation of the FQ's diction, that Jonson's statement "is a skillful epigram; but it seriously misrepresents the truth if taken at anything like its face value." The number of archaisms used in the poem are not overwhelming-one source reports thirty-four in Canto One of Book One, that is, thirty-four words out of a total 4,200 words, less than one percent. According to McElderry, language does not account for the poem's archaic tone: "The subject-matter of The Faerie Queene is itself the most powerful factor in creating the impression of archaism."
Examples of medieval archaisms (in morphology and diction) include:
Since its inception three and a half centuries ago, Spenser’s diction has been scrutinized by scholars. Despite the enthusiasm the poet and his work received, Spenser’s experimental diction was “largely condemned” before it received the acclaim it has today (Pope 575). Seventeenth century philologists such as Davenant considered Spenser’s use of “obsolete language” as “the most vulgar accusation that is laid to his charge” (Pope 576). Scholars have recently observed that the classical tradition tucked within The Faerie Queene is related to the problem of his diction because it “involves the principles of imitation and decorum” (Pope 580). Despite these initial criticisms, Spenser is “now recognized as a conscious literary artist” and his language is deemed “the only fitting vehicle for his tone of thought and feelings” (Pope 580). Spenser’s use of language was widely contrasted to that of “free and unregulated” 16th century Shakesperian grammar (Cumming 6). Spenser’s style is standardized, lyrically sophisticated, and full of archaisms that give the poem an original taste. Cumming’s argues in his review of The Faerie Queene, that the archaisms reside in the vocabulary, high degree of spelling, the flexions, and slightly in the syntax (Cumming 6).
Samuel Johnson also commented critically on Spenser's diction, with which he became intimately acquainted during his work on A Dictionary of the English Language, and "found it a useful source for obsolete and archaic words"; Johnson, however, mainly considered Spenser's (early) pastoral poems, a genre of which he was not particularly fond.
The diction and atmosphere of The Faerie Queene relied on much more than just Middle English; for instance, classical allusions and classical proper names abound-especially in the later books-and he coined some names based on Greek, such as "Poris" and "Phao lilly white." Classical material is also alluded to or reworked by Spenser, such as the rape of Lucretia, which was reworked into the story of the character Amavia in Book Two.
While some literary works sacrifice historical context to archetypal myth, reducing poetry to Biblical quests, Spenser reinforces the actuality of his story by adhering to archetypal patterns (Gottfried 1363). Throughout the Faerie Queene, Spenser does not concentrate on a pattern “which transcends time” but “uses such a pattern to focus the meaning of the past on the present” (Gottfried 1363). By reflecting on the past, Spenser achieves ways of stressing the importance of Elizabeth’s reign. In turn, he does not “convert event into myth” but “myth into event” (Gottfried 1363). Within the Faerie Queene, Spenser blurs the distinction between archetypal and historical elements deliberately. For example, Spenser probably does not believe in the complete truth of the British Chronicle, which Arthur reads in the House of Alma (Gottfried 1363). In this instance, the Chronicle serves as a poetical equivalent for factual history. Even so, poetical history of this kind is not myth, rather, it “consists of unique, if partially imaginary, events recorded in chronological order” (Gottfried 1363). The same distinction resurfaces in the political allegory of Books One and Five. However, the reality to interpreted events becomes more apparent when the events occurred nearer to the time the poem was written (Gottfried 1363).
Throughout The Faerie Queene, Spenser creates “a network of allusions to events, issues, and particular persons in England and Ireland” including Mary, Queen of Scots, the Spanish Armada, the English Reformation, and even the Queen herself (Norton Anthology 775). We also know that James VI of Scotland read the poem, and was very insulted by Duessa – a very negative depiction of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots (McCabe 48). The Faerie Queene was then banned in Scotland. This led to a significant decrease in Elizabeth’s support for the poem (McCabe 48). Within the text, both the Faerie Queene and Belphoebe serve as two of the many personifications of Queen Elizabeth, some of which are “far from complimentary” (Norton Anthology 775). Although it does praise her in some ways, The Faerie Queene questions Elizabeth’s ability to rule so effectively because of her gender, and also inscribes the “shortcomings” of her rule (Heale 11). There is a character named Britomart who represents married chastity. This character is told that her destiny is to be an “immortall wombe” – basically, to have children (Heale 11). Here, Spenser is making a reference to Elizabeth’s unmarried state and is touching upon anxieties of the 1590s about what would happen after her death since the kingdom had no heir (Heale 11). The Faerie Queene’s original audience would have been able to identify many of the poem’s characters by analyzing the symbols and attributes that spot Spenser’s text. For example, readers would immediately know that “a woman who wears scarlet clothes and resides along the Tibet River “represents the Roman Catholic Church” (Norton Anthology 775). However, marginal notes jotted in early copies of The Faerie Queene suggest that Spenser’s contemporaries were unable to come to a consensus about the precise historical referents of the poem’s “myriad figures” (NA 775). In fact, Sir Walter Raleigh’s wife identified many of the poem’s female characters as “allegorical representations of herself” (Norton Anthology 775). Other symbols prevalent in The Faerie Queene are the numerous animal characters present in the novel. They take the role of “visual figures in the allegory and in illustrative similes and metaphors.” (Marotti 69) Specific examples include the swine present in Lucifera’s castle who embodied gluttony, and Duessa, the deceitful crocodile who may represent Mary the Queen of Scots in a negative light.
During The Faerie Queene's inception, Spenser worked as a civil servant, in “relative seclusion from the political and literary events of his day” (Craig 520). As Spenser labored in solitude, the Faerie Queene manifested within his mind, blending his experiences into the content of his craft. Within his poem, Spenser explores human consciousness and conflict, relating to a variety of genres including 16th century Arthurian literature (Craig 522). The Faerie Queene was influenced strongly by Italian works, much like many other works in England were at that time. The Faerie Queene drew heavily on Ariosto and Tasso (Healy 95). The first three books of The Faerie Queene operate as a unit, representing the entire cycle from the fall of Troy to the reign of Elizabeth (Craig 522). Utilizing in medias res, Spenser introduces his historical narrative at three different intervals, using chronicle, civil conversation, and prophecy as its occasions (Craig 522). Despite historical accuracies within his text, Spenser is careful to label himself a poet historical as opposed to a historiographer. Spenser notes this differentiation in his letter to Raleigh, noting “a Historiographer discourseth of affayres orderly as they were donne…but a Poet thrusteth into the midst…and maketh a pleasing Analysis of all” (Craig 523). Spenser’s characters embody Elizabethan values, highlighting political and aesthetic associations of Tudor Arthurian tradition in order to bring his work to life. While studying The Faerie Queene, it is apparent Spenser respected British History and “contemporary culture confirmed his attitude” (Craig 523). At the same time, however, Spenser’s literary freedom demonstrates that he was “working in the realm of mythopoeic imagination rather than that of historical fact” (Craig 523). In fact, Spenser’s Arthurian material serves as a subject of debate, intermediate between “legendary history and historical myth” offering him a range of “evocative tradition and freedom that historian’s responsibilities preclude” (Craig 524). Concurrently, Spenser adopts the role of a skeptic, reflected in the method he handles the British History, which “extends to the verge of self-satire” (Craig 555).
The Faerie Queene owes, in part, its central figure, Arthur, to a medieval writer, Geoffrey of Monmouth. In his Prophetiae Merlini ("Prophecies of Merlin"), Geoffrey's Merlin proclaims that the Saxons will rule over the Britons until the “Boar of Cornwall” (Arthur) again restores them to their rightful place as rulers. The prophecy was adopted by the British people and eventually used by the Tudors. Through their ancestor, Owen Tudor, the Tudors had Welsh blood, through which they claimed to be descendants of Arthur and rightful rulers of Britain. The tradition begun by Geoffrey of Monmouth set the perfect atmosphere for Spenser’s choice of Arthur as the central figure and natural bridegroom of Gloriana.
In October of 1589, Spenser voyaged to England and saw the Queen. It is possible that he read to her from his manuscript at this time. On February 25th, 1591, the Queen gave him a pension of fifty pounds per year (McCabe 112). He was paid in four installments on March 25th, June 24th, September 29th, and December 25th (McCabe24). After the first three books of The Faerie Queene were published in 1590, Spenser found himself disappointed in the monarchy; among other things, “his annual pension from the Queen was smaller than he would have liked” and his humanist perception of Elizabeth’s court “was shattered by what he saw there” (Green 389). Despite these frustrations, however, Spenser “kept his aristocratic prejudices and predispositions” (Green 389). Book VI of The Faerie Queene stresses that there is “almost no correlation between noble deeds and low birth” and reveals that to be a “noble person,” one must be a “gentleman of choice stock” (Green 389). Throughout The Faerie Queene, virtue is seen as “a feature for the nobly born” and within Book VI, readers encounter worthy deeds that indicate aristocratic lineage (Green 389). An example of this is the hermit who Arthur brings Timias and Serena to. Initially, the man is considered a “goodly knight of a gentle race” who “withdrew from public service to religious life when he grew too old to fight” (Green 389). Here, we note the hermit’s noble blood seems to have influenced his gentle, self-less behavior. Likewise, audiences acknowledge that young Tristram “speaks so well and acts so heroically” that Calidore “frequently contributes him with noble birth” even before learning his background; in fact, it is no surprise that Tristram turns out to be the son of a king, explaining his profound intellect (Green 390). However, Spenser’s most peculiar example of noble birth is demonstrated through the characterization of the Salvage Man. Using the Salvage Man as an example, Spenser demonstrated that “ungainly appearances do not disqualify one from noble birth” (Green 390) By giving the Salvage Man a “frightening exterior,” Spenser stresses that “virtuous deeds are a more accurate indication of gentle blood than physical appearance (Green 390). On the opposite side of the spectrum, The Faerie Queene indicates qualities such as cowardice and discouresty which signify low birth. During his initial encounter with Arthur, Turpine “hides behind his retainers, chooses ambush from behind instead of direct combat, and cowers to his wife, who covers him with her voluminous skirt” (Green 392). These actions demonstrate that Turpine is “morally emasculated by fear” and furthermore, “the usual social roles are reversed as the lady protects the knight from danger (Green 392). Scholars believe that this characterization serves as “a negative example of knighthood” and strives to teach Elizabethan aristocrats how to “identify a commoner with political ambitions inappropriate to his rank” (Green 392).
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