Full Description
The Faerie Queene was the first epic in English and one of the most influential poems in the language for later poets from Milton to Tennyson. Dedicating his work to Elizabeth I, Spenser brilliantly united medieval romance and renaissance epic to expound the glory of the Virgin Queen. The poem recounts the quests of knights including Sir Guyon, Knight of Constance, who resists temptation, and Artegall, Knight of Justice, whose story alludes to the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. Composed as an overt moral and political allegory, The Faerie Queene, with its dramatic episodes of chivalry, pageantry and courtly love, is also a supreme work of atmosphere, colour and sensuous description.
Contents
The Faerie QueeneA Note on the Text
Table of Dates
Further Reading
A Letter of the Authors
Commendatory Verses
Dedicatory Sonnets
Book I
Book II
Book III
Book IV
Book V
Book VI
Two Cantos of Mutabilitie
Textual Appendix
Notes
Common Words