The Faerie Queene

Edmund Spenser · 1590–1596 · English

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What it is

An allegorical romance in six books, each following a knight who embodies a virtue: the Redcrosse Knight for Holiness, Sir Guyon for Temperance, the woman knight Britomart for Chastity, and so on. Their quests wind through an enchanted Fairyland of dragons, witches, false guides and the young Prince Arthur, while Gloriana, the Faerie Queene herself, stands for Elizabeth I.

Why it matters

The chief English epic before Paradise Lost and, at nearly 35,000 lines, among the longest in English verse. Spenser invented its nine-line stanza, later taken up by Byron in Childe Harold and Keats in The Eve of St Agnes, and his allegory was a model for Milton.

Reading it

About 1,200 pages. Difficult: dense or technical, best read with an introduction.

Where to buy

Buy on Amazon

Your notes

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Influenced by2

Built on
The Aeneid · Virgil · c. 29–19 BC
The Faerie Queene follows the Aeneid as dynastic epic: as Virgil traced Augustus to Troy, Spenser links the Tudor line to King Arthur in praising Elizabeth.
Wikipedia, Aeneid, Influence; The Faerie Queene, Politics
Built on
Orlando Furioso · Ludovico Ariosto · 1516 (final version 1532)
Spenser took much of The Faerie Queene's language, spirit and style from Orlando Furioso, praising Ariosto as his model and pairing figures such as Britomart with Bradamante.
Wikipedia, The Faerie Queene, Politics and Sources

Influenced1

Built on it
The Chronicles of Narnia · C. S. Lewis · 1950–1956
Lewis, who studied Spenser closely, gave the White Witch the traits of his Duessa, a false queen who leads the erring astray and turns people to stone.
Wikipedia, The Chronicles of Narnia, Influences from literature

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