Spenser

1
1552-1599
2
Spensers Biography

• 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

3
Influence

• Spenser was highly influenced by Geoffrey
  Chaucer. In his work, he synthesized classical,
  medieval and Renaissance predecessors.
• He influenced English Romantics such as William
  Wordsworth, John Keats, Lord Byron and Alfred
  Lord Tennyson.

4
Important Works

• Shepheardes Calender (1579)
• The Faerie Queene Books 13, published in London
  (1590)
• It was Raleigh who, reading through Spenser's
  draft of The Faerie Queene, encouraged him to
  join him on a trip to London in 1590, where he
  presented Spenser to the Queen.
• The poem found such favour with the monarch that
  Spenser was granted a pension for life amounting
  to 50 pounds a year.
• Amoretti (1595)
• Astrophel A Pastoral Elegie upon the death of
  the most Noble and valorous Knight, Sir Philip
  Sidney (1595)
• Faerie Queene Books 46 reprinted Books 1-3
  (1596)
• A vewe of the present state of Irelande a prose
  treatise on the reformation of Ireland (Spenser's
  work was entered into the Stationer's Register in
  1598 and circulated in manuscript but not
  published until 1633).

5
Spenserian Stanza

• Spenser used a distinctive verse form, called the
  Spenserian stanza in several works, including The
  Faerie Queene.
• The stanza's main meter is iambic pentameter with
  a final line in iambic hexameter (having six feet
  or stresses, known as an Alexandrine, and the
  rhyme scheme is ababbcbcc.

6

• Title page of the first edition of The Faerie
  Queene (1590) by Edmund Spenser.

7

• incomplete
• Largely symbolic, the poem follows several
  knights in an examination of several virtues.
• Book I Holiness
• The Red Cross Knight The Knight of Holiness
• Book II Temperance
• Book III Chastity
• Book IV Friendship
• Book V Justice
• Book VI Courtesy

8
General Structure of The Faerie Queene

• Spenser planned 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 twelve public
  virtues.
• Spenser names Aristotle as his source for these
  virtues.
• In addition to these six virtues, the Letter to
  Raleigh suggests that Arthur represents the
  virtue of Magnificence and that the Faerie Queene
  herself represents Glory (hence her name,
  Gloriana).

9
Book I, Summary

• During annual Feasts at the Queens palace, Una
  visits the queen, tells her that her parents are
  plagued by a Dragon, asks her help.
• The Queen assigns Red Cross Knight for the task.
• The quest is that of the Red Cross Knight to free
  Unas parents and their land from the oppression
  of a great dragon.
• On an allegorical level, Redcross represents the
  individual Christian, in search of Holiness.

10
Book I, Summary (cont.)

• When he is with Una (Truth), he overcomes Error.
• When he is seperated from Una, he faces peril
  from
• Archimago (False religion, Rome),
• Duessa (duplicity),
• Pagan Trinity (Sansloy-lawless, Sansjoy-joyless,
  Sansfoy-faithless).
• The setting is Faerie Land (refers to England).
• On a larger scale, it is a fight between good and
  evil, between the Anglican Church and Rome.

11
Main characters in Book I

• Red Cross Knight
• Una
• Duessa
• Archimago
• Orgoglio
• Pagan Trinity (Sansloj, Sansjoy, Sansfoy).
• King Arthur
• The Dragon
• The Lion
• Lucifera
• Sir Satyrane

12
Red Cross Knight

• How is Red Cross Knight used as a character?
• as an allegorical character (Holiness, Church of
  England religious symbol)
• as St. George, the patron saint of England
  (historical/national symbol)
• as an individual being (A Christian looking for
  grace in this fallen world individual figure)
• He gets into trouble because he is not virtuous
  enough.
• His quest is to be united with Una (Truth) and
  kill the Dragon.

13

• Illustration from an edition of Edmund Spensers
  The Faerie Queene.

14

• A 15th-century icon of St. George.

15
Una

• Una is
• Truth
• Anglican Church
• Rides an Asse (truth is slow!)
• Her face is covered Truth is not obvious, not in
  plain sight.
• Dressed in a black robe
• Accompanied by a white lamb (innocence)
• Also accompanied by a Dwarf (common sense)

16

• Una, delivering the Red Cross Knight from the
  Cave of Despair, (Canto 9) c.1830 by Sir Charles
  Lock Eastlake

17
Archimago

• Means arch-image refers to the excessive use
  of images, idols in the Catholic Church
• He represents
• Evil, the evil of falseness, deceipt, and
  hypocrisy
• King Philip II of Spain
• Catholic Church
• He is a sorcerer, can change his and others
  appearance. In the end, his magic fails.

18
Duessa

• She represents
• Falsehood, Deception
• Mary Queen of Scots (Catholic)
• Catholic Church

19
Duessa Una

• Dressed in red
• Borrows light
• Duplicity
• Always complaining
• Attacks, finds faults
• Shows off
• Starts, causes fight

• Dressed in white
• Has inward light
• Truth
• Never complains
• All-forgiving
• Covers her face
• Tries to prevent fights

20

• Queen Elizabeth (1533-1603)
• Queen Elizabeth is Gloriana (representing Glory)
• (She never appears in the poem. Her castle is the
  final destination in Book 12 (which was never
  written).
• It was court fashion to address the Virgin Queen
  under such symbolic names as Gloriana, Oriana,
  Diana, Cynthia.

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• You can listen to the whole text at
  http//librivox.org/newcatalog/search.php?reader
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