The Allegory of Love Do You Need to Have Read Faerie Queene?

Prince Arthur and the Fairy Queen, by Henry Fuseli (1741–1825). Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

The Faerie Queene is an incomplete English epic verse form by Edmund Spenser.

Contents

• i History
• ii Form and style
• iii A Celebration of the Virtues
• 4 Politics and the poem
• five Language
• 6 Medieval subject matter
• 7 List of major characters
• 8 Recognition
• 9 References
  • 9.one Notes
• x External links

History [ ]

The first half was published in 1590, and a 2nd installment was published in 1596.

The Faerie Queene plant political favour with Elizabeth I and was consequently a success, to the extent that it became Spenser'southward defining work. The verse form found such favour with the monarch that Spenser was granted a alimony for life amounting to fifty pounds a year, though there is no evidence that Elizabeth I read whatsoever of the verse form.^[one]

Form and mode [ ]

The Faerie Queene is notable for its class: information technology was the first work written in Spenserian stanza, and is ane of the longest poems in the English language language.^[2] It is an allegorical work, written in praise of Queen Elizabeth I. In a completely allegorical context, the poem follows several knights in an examination of several virtues. In Spenser'southward "A Alphabetic character 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 subject area."

A Celebration of the Virtues [ ]

The Faerie Queene Short Film

A letter written by Spenser to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1589 contains a preface for The Faerie Queene, in which Spenser describes the allegorical presentation of virtues through Arthurian knights in the mythical "Faerieland". Presented equally a preface to the epic in well-nigh published editions, this letter of the alphabet outlines plans for 24 books: 12 based each on a different knight who exemplified one of 12 "individual virtues", and a possible 12 more centered on King Arthur displaying twelve "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 consummate information technology, since the reliability of the predictions fabricated in his letter to Raleigh is non absolute, as numerous divergences from that scheme emerged as early as 1590, in the first Faerie Queene publication.

As it was published in 1596, the epic presented the following virtues:

• Book I: Holiness
• Book II: Temperance
• Book III: Guiltlessness
• Book Iv: Friendship
• Book V: Justice
• Book VI: Courtesy

In add-on to these six virtues, the Alphabetic character to Raleigh suggests that Arthur represents the virtue of Magnificence, which ("according to Aristotle and the rest") is "the perfection of all the residual, and conteineth in information technology them all"; and that the Faerie Queene herself represents Glory (hence her name, Gloriana). The unfinished seventh volume (the Cantos of Mutability), appears to take represented the virtue of "constancy."

Politics and the poem [ ]

Lecture on Spenser and The Faerie Queene

The poem celebrates, memorializes, and critiques the Tudor dynasty (of which Elizabeth was a office), much in the way that Virgil'southward Aeneid celebration of Augustus Caesar'south Rome. Similar the Aeneid, which states that Augustus descended from the noble sons of Troy, The Faerie Queene suggests that the Tudor lineage tin can be connected to King Arthur. The poem is deeply emblematic and allusive: many prominent Elizabethans could have seen themselves or others partially represented past 1 or more of Spenser's figures.

Elizabeth herself is the virtually prominent case: she appears nigh prominently in her guise as Gloriana, the Faerie Queene herself; but as well in Books Three 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 verse form 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 .^[three] The 5h Book of The Faerie Queene, the Book of Justice, is Spenser's nearly straight 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.

Language [ ]

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."^[4] Allowing that Jonson's remark may merely employ to the Agenda, Bruce Robert McElderry, Jr., states, after a detailed investigation of the FQ Template:'southward diction, that Jonson'southward statement "is a skillful epigram; but information technology seriously misrepresents the truth if taken at anything like its confront value."^[5] The number of archaisms used in the poem are not overwhelming - "one source reports thirty-four in Canto One of Book One, that is, xxx-four words out of a full four,200 words, less than 1 percent.^[6] According to McElderry, language does not account for the verse form's primitive tone: "The subject-matter of The Faerie Queene is itself the virtually powerful factor in creating the impression of archaism."^[vii]

Examples of medieval archaisms (in morphology and wording) include:

• Infinitive in en: "Vewen," ane. 201, 'to view.'
• Prefix y- retained in participle: "Yclad," one. 58, 254, 'clad,' 'clothed'.
• Describing word: "Combrous," i. 203, 'harassing,' 'troublesome.'
• Verb: "Keepe," i. 360, 'heed,' 'give attending to.'^[8]

Samuel Johnson also commented critically on Spenser's diction, with which he became intimately acquainted during his work on A Lexicon of the English Language , and "plant information technology a useful source for obsolete and archaic words"; Johnson, notwithstanding, mainly considered Spenser's (early) pastoral poems, a genre of which he was non particularly fond.^[9]

The wording and atmosphere of The Faerie Queene relied on much more than just Heart English language; for instance, classical allusions and classical proper names abound - especially in the afterward books - and he coined some names based on Greek, such every bit "Poris" and "Phao lilly white."^[10] Classical material is also alluded to or reworked past Spenser, such every bit the rape of Lucretia, which was reworked into the story of the grapheme Amavia in Book Two.^[11]

Medieval bailiwick affair [ ]

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'southward Merlin proclaims that the Saxons will dominion over the Britons until the "Boar of Cornwall" (Arthur) again restores them to their rightful place equally rulers.^[12] The prophecy was adopted past the British people and eventually used by the Tudors. Through their antecedent, Owen Tudor, the Tudors had Welsh blood, through which they claimed to be descendants of Arthur and rightful rulers of Uk.^[13] The tradition begun past Geoffrey of Monmouth gear up the perfect atmosphere for Spenser's choice of Arthur as the key figure and natural bridegroom of Gloriana.

List of major characters [ ]

Template:Over detailed

• Acrasia, Seductress of knights whose name, amidst other things, indicates weakness of will. Guyon destroys her Bower of Elation at the finish of Book ii. Similar characters in other epics: Circe (Homer'south Odyssey), Alcina (Ariosto), Armida (Tasso). Also the fairy woman from Keats' poem "La Belle Matriarch sans Merci". Acrasia is an unusual seductress, however, since she commands our sympathy, every bit well as our admiration for her exquisite bower, a spot Spenser does not want to go out. He describes it as "the well-nigh daintie Paradise on footing," and as made with such talent that "the art, which all that wrought, appeared in no identify." While she is taken off in chains of adamant at the end of the episode, supposedly "to keep her safe and sound," while the man with whom she was found is allowed to get complimentary after a scrap of counseling.
• Alma, Her name ways "soul." She is the head of the House of Temperance in Book 2.
• Amoret, The wife of Scudamour, kidnapped by Busirane on her wedding night, saved by Britomart. She represents the virtue of married dear, and her marriage to Scudamour serves every bit the case that Britomart and Artegal seek to re-create. Amoret and Scudamor are separated for a time by circumstances, but remain loyal to one some other until they (presumably) are reunited.
• Archimago, An evil sorcerer who is sent to stop the knights in the service of the Faerie Queene. Of the knights, Archimago hates Redcross most of all, hence he is symbolically the nemesis of England.
• Artegal (or Arthegall), a British knight who is an ambivalent champion of Justice, which is in loosely represented by Aristotle. He meets Britomart, a female knight, afterwards defeating her in a swordfight and removing her helmet, revealing her beauty. Artegal speedily falls in honey with Britomart's beauty. Artegal has a squire,Talus, a metal man who wields a flail and never sleeps or grows tired just pursues and savagely kills whatever any who do not encounter Artegal'south inflexible notions of justice. He comes late to Satyrane's Tournament as an anonymous "Salve Knight" with the motto "Salvagesse sans finesse" on his shield. He thus joins a group of characters in the poem who are characterized as "salve" men, those who lie outside the cultivation of civility and fine art. Afterwards, Talus does not rescue Artegal from enslavement by the wicked Radigund, because Artegal is bound by a legal contract to serve her. Only her death, at Britomart'southward hands, liberates him.
• Arthur. One of the British knights. This is the same Arthur of the Circular Table, but in Spenser'southward poem he is non yet king. He is in dear with the Faerie Queene subsequently having had a vivid dream virtually her, when she seemed to spend the nighttime with him. He spends his fourth dimension in pursuit of her when not helping the other knights out of their sundry predicaments, in either the seventh or eighth Canto of every Volume. Prince Arthur is the Knight of Magnificence, the perfection of all virtues which sums them all up.
• Ate, a monstrous and grotesque hag who lives on the border of Hell, she is able to disguise herself as beautiful, though she is not usually disguised as such. Ate opposes Book Four's virtue of friendship through spreading discord. She is aided in her task by Duessa, who is credited with raising her. Ate and Duessa mislead many knights, including the false knights Blandamour and Paridell into taking them equally lovers.
• Belphoebe, The cute sister of Amoret who spends her time in the wood hunting and avoiding the numerous dotty men who chase her. Timias, the squire of Arthur, eventually wins her affection after she tends to the injuries he sustained in battle; still, Timias must endure much suffering to prove his dear when Belphoebe sees him tending to a wounded woman and, misinterpreting his deportment, flies off hastily. Belphoebe is committed to guiltlessness. She is modeled on the goddess of the moon, Cynthia.
• Braggadocchio, a comic knight with no sense of accolade. He steals Guyon's horse. He is not evil, but a dishonourable braggart.
• Britomart, a female knight, the personification and champion of Protestant Guiltlessness, which is characterized past monogamous marriage. She is immature and cute, and falls in dearest with Artegal upon seeing his face up in a magic mirror made by Merlin which she finds in her father'south house. The mirror was made for the goddess Venus. She goes to Fairie Land accompanied by her nurse, Glauce, in order to find the knight she merely knows every bit an epitome in the mirror. Britomart carries an enchanted spear that allows her to defeat every knight she encounters, until she loses to a knight who turns out to exist Artegal. Parallel figure in Ariosto: Bradamante. Britomart is ane of the nearly important knights in the story. She searches the earth, including a pilgrimage to the shrine of Isis, and a visit with Merlin the magician. She rescues Artegal, and several other knights, from the Amazonian character, Radigund.
• Busirane, the evil sorcerer who captures Amoret on her wedding night. When Britomart enters his castle to defeat him, she finds him property Amoret captive. She is bound to a pillar and Busirane is torturing her. Britomart defeats him by forcing him to reverse his enchanted rhymes, but, in the 1596 edition, when she attempts to render Amoret to Scudamour, he has left.
• Calepine, a knight who acts as Calidore's surrogate throughout much of Volume VI.
• Calidore, the Knight of Courtesy, hero of Book Six. He is on a quest from the Fairy Queen to slay the Breathy Beast.
• Cambell, one of the Knights of Friendship, a graphic symbol in Volume Iv, a member of a heroic foursome. Blood brother of Canacee and friend of Triamond. He marries Cambina, Triamond's sister.
• Cambina, daughter of Afraid and sister to Priamond, Diamond, and Triamond. Cambina is one of the heroic foursome central to Book Iv. She is depicted holding a caduceus and a cup of nepenthe, signifying her role as a figure of concord. She marries Cambell after bringing an end to his fight with Triamond.
• Canacee, Cambell's sister, whose magic band renders the wearer invulnerable. Afterward Cambell and Triamond's combat, Canacee marries Triamond and befriends his sister Cambina.
• Colin Clout, is a shepherd, noted for his songs and bagpipe playing, that briefly appears in Book 6, being the same Colin Clout from Spenser's pastoral poetry, which is plumbing equipment because Calidore is taking a sojourn into a world of pastoral delight, ignoring his duty to hunt the Blatant Beast, which is why he set out to Ireland to begin with. Colin Clout may also exist said to be Spenser himself.
• Cymochles, a knight in Book Two who is defined by indecisiveness and fluctuations of the will, as associated with water. He and his fiery brother Pyrochles correspond opposing emotional maladies that threaten temperance. The ii brothers are both slain by Prince Arthur in Canto VIII.
• Chrysogonee, Mother of Belphoebe and her twin Amoretta, she was impregnated by sun-beams when she slept on a bank. Chrysogonee hid in the forest and becoming tired she cruel asleep and gave birth to twins. Institute past Venus and Diana, the newly-born twins were taken: Venus takes Amoretta and raises her in the Garden of Adonis; and Diana takes Belphoebe.
• Duessa, a female grapheme who personfies Falsehood, and, though grotesque, has the power of appearing beautiful. in Book One, known to Redcrosse equally "Fidessa," she seduces him. As the opposite of Una, she represents the "fake" faith of the Roman Catholic Church. She initially assists the evil enchanter, Archimago.

File:Washington Allston 002.jpg

"Florimell's Flying" by Washington Allston

• Florimell, a lady in love with the knight Marinell, who initially rejects her. Hearing he was wounded, she set out in search and faced diverse perils, culminating in her being captured by Proteus. She is reunited with Marinell at the end of Book 4, and is married to him in Book 5.
• Glauce, an elderly adult female who serves as Britomart's squire.
• Gloriana, the "Faerie Queene" herself.
• Guyon, the Knight of Temperance and the hero of Book Ii is one of the Elfin knights. He is one of the Knights of Maidenhead and carries the image of Gloriana on his shield. According to the Golden Legend, St. George's proper name shares etymology with Guyon, which may mean "the holy wrestler." He is another ambivalent character, as his utter devastation of the Bower of Bliss indicates: despite many episodes designed to teach him the virtue of temperance, he still has not learned it by the end of Book Ii.
• Malbecco, protective husband of the lascivious Hellenore. When she is seduced by Paridell, he metamorphoses into a hideous creature, representing jealousy itself.
• Malecasta, a corrupt, jaded sophisticate who invites the weary knights to dinner. She studies Britomart at the feast, and tries to seduce her, unaware Britomart is a lady until Malecasta feels the sting of Britomart'southward magic sword.
• Marinell, "the knight of the bounding main"; son of a water nymph, he avoided all love because his mother had learned that a woman would practise him damage; he was struck downwardly in battle by Britomart, though non mortally wounded.
• Merlin, who is much the same equally in Arthurian legend. A young Britomart goes to see Merlin later on falling in beloved with Artegal, and he instructs her on how to continue.
• Orgoglio, a giant representing Pride who attacks the Redcrosse Knight when he is traveling with Duessa, and takes Duessa equally his lover.
• Palladine, a small character, merely important in that she is a female knight who is dedicated to chastity.
• Paridell, a false knight and a seducer of women. His name derives from that of the Trojan prince Paris. In Volume Three, he runs off with Malbecco's wife, Hellenore.
• Pastorella, a woman raised by shepherds but revealed in the last Canto of Book 6 to exist really the daughter of Sir Bellamoure and Lady Claribell.
• Pyrochles, in Book Ii, associated with fire as his brother, Cymochles, is with water. The two serve as examples of two emotional maladies that threaten temperance. Pyrochles is eventually beheaded by Prince Arthur in Canto Eight, preferring to die rather than accept Arthur's invitation to join him as ane of his knights.
• The Redcrosse Knight, hero of Volume One as the knight of Holiness. Introduced in the get-go canto of the poem, he bears the emblem of Saint George, patron saint of England; a ruby-red cantankerous on a white background is one of the two crosses on the flag of England (the other is that of St. Andrew). The Redcross Knight is prophesied to become Saint George in Canto X. He as well learns that he is of English (Saxon) ancestry, having been stolen by a fairy and left in a furrow in a field in Faerieland; as a changeling he thus lives out the name George, or human of the earth. In the climactic battle of Book I, Redcrosse slays the dragon that has laid waste material to the country of Una's parents, which represents Eden. He marries Una at the end of Book I, but leaves before long afterwards the wedding to fulfill his delivery to Gloriana.
• Sansfoy, Sansjoy and Sansloy (names from the quondam French meaning "Faithless", "Joyless" and "Lawless"), 3 saracen knights who fight Redcrosse in Book One.
• Satyrane, half-satyr, he is the son of a woman who was repeatedly raped past a satyr. Though this means that he is 1/4 creature, and he was raised in the wild, he epitomizes the urge toward virtue innate in the natural human being. Befriended by Una, whom he protects, he does not accept the power necessary to ultimately put down evil. For example, his fight confronting Sansloy ("without constabulary") remains unconcluded. He spends his youth and episodes throughout his life fighting against beasts, suggesting his ongoing effort to put down the savageness in himself. He is 1 of the Knights of Maidenhead. Satyrane finds Florimell'southward girdle, which she drops while flying from a creature. He holds a three twenty-four hour period tournament for the right to possess the girdle. His Knights of Maidenhead win the mean solar day with Britomart'southward help. He is in some way a foil to Artegal, who comes to the tournament equally a Salvage Knight.
• Scudamour, the lover of Amoret. His name means "shield of honey". This graphic symbol is actually based upon a real person, Sir James Scudamore, a jousting champion and courtier to Queen Elizabeth. Scudamour loses his love Amoret to the sorcerer Busirane. Although the 1590 edition of the Faerie Queene has Scudamour united with Amoret through Britomart's aid, the continuation in Book IV has them separated, never to be reunited.
• Talus, an "iron man" who helps Arthegall dispense justice in Book 5.
• Timias, Prince Arthur'southward squire and lover of Belphoebe. His human relationship with Belphoebe is generally thought to represent that of Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I.
• Triamond, one of the Knights of Friendship, a hero of Book Four. Friend of Cambell. 1 of 3 brothers; when Priamond and Diamond died, their souls joined with his body. Later contesting Cambell, Triamond marries Cambell's sister, Canacee.
• Trompart, Braggadocchio's cunning squire. His name derives from the French tromper, "to deceive".
• Una, the personification of the "One Truthful Church". She travels with the Redcrosse Knight (who represents England), whom she has recruited to salvage her parents' castle from a dragon. She likewise defeats Duessa, who represents the "false" (Catholic) church and the person of Mary, Queen of Scots, in a trial reminiscent of that which ended in Mary's beheading. Una is too representative of Truth.

The Fairy Queen - Overture, past Henry Purcell

H. Purcell - The Fairy Queen "O Let Me Cry" Sylvia McNair

Recognition [ ]

References [ ]

• Black, Joseph (Ed). The Broadview Anthology of British Literature. Concise Edition, Vol. A. Broadview Press, 2007. ISBN i-55111-868-8
• Davis, Walter. "Spenser and the History of Allegory", English language Literary Renaissance 32.1 (2002): 152-67.
• Glazier, Lyle. "The Struggle between Good and Evil in the First Volume of "The Faerie Queene". College English, Vol. 11, No. 7. (April., 1950), pp. 382-387.
• Levin, Richard A. "The Legende of the Redcrosse Knight and Una, or of the Love of a Good Woman." Studies in English language Literature, 1500-1900, 31:one (Wintertime, 1991): 1-24.

Notes [ ]

1. ↑ Spenser, Edmund (1984). Thomas P. Roche, Jr., with C. Patrick O'Donnell Jr.. ed. The Faerie Queene. Penguin Books. p. 11 (Further Reading). ISBN 0140422072.
2. ↑ Loewenstein, David; Mueller, Janel One thousand (2003), The Cambridge history of early modern English language Literature, Cambridge Academy Press, p. 369., ISBN 0-521-63156-4
3. ↑ Abrams, Chiliad.H. Ed. Norton Anthology of English Literature 7th Ed. Vol. one. West.W. Norton & Co. (2000) NY. p. 623.
4. ↑ McElderry, Jr., Bruce Robert (March 1932). "Archaism and Innovation in Spenser's Poetic Diction". PMLA 47 (ane): 144-170. p. 144.
5. ↑ McElderry 170.
6. ↑ Parker, Roscoe (1925). "Spenserâ'south Language and the Pastoral Tradition". Language (Linguistic Society of America) 1 (three): lxxx-87. p. 85.
7. ↑ McElderry 159.
8. ↑ Parker 85.
9. ↑ Turnage, Maxine (1970). "Samuel Johnson'due south Criticism of the Works of Edmund Spenser". SEL: Studies in English Literature (Linguistic Society of America) 10 (iii): 557-567. ISSN 00393657. p. 567
10. ↑ Draper, John W. (March 1932). "Classical Coinage in the Faerie Queene". PMLA 47 (1): 97-108. p. 97.
11. ↑ Cañadas, Ivan (2007). "The Faerie Queene, II.i-ii: Amavia, Medina, and the Myth of Lucretia". Medieval and Early on Mod English Studies 15 (ii): 383-394. http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony/mesak/mes152/Canadas.pdf . Retrieved 2009-12-09.
12. ↑ Geoffrey Of Monmouth - The Prophecies of Merlin
13. ↑ Millican, Charles Bowie. Spenser and the Table Round. New York: Octagon Books, 1932.

External links [ ]

Verse form

• Online edition of The Faerie Queene
• Mary Macleod'due south 1916 retelling in prose
• Project Gutenberg edition of Book I incorporating modern rendition and glossary

Audio / video

• Librivox Audiobook of Spenser's Fairie Queene
• The Faerie Queene at YouTube

About

• Summary of 'The Faerie Queene'

Etc.

• "The Counterfet" graphic novel adaptation of Simulated Florimell'south story

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Source: https://pennyspoetry.fandom.com/wiki/The_Faerie_Queene

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