Sixteenth-Century

Spenser

Edmund Spenser (1552−1599)

16th century's outstanding public poet

wrote many types of poetry

pastoral
epic
lyric poems

epic allegory, The Faerie Queene,

-idealizes the court of Queen Elizabeth I
-attempts to be an epic that recounts the glory of English culture

Unlike some other court poets, Spenser came from a common and less wealthy background

attended London's Merchant Taylors' School and Cambridge University

where he was a sizar or scholarship student

Employed by the Earl of Leicester
Spenser came in contact with the Sidney Circle

Which was a group of poets supported by Philip Sidney's sister, Mary

Spenser had been writing poetry since the late 1560s

published his first work, the pastoral poem The Shepheardes Calendar, in 1579

From 1580−1588

while serving the British court in Ireland, he began writing The Faerie Queene

published the first three books in 1590 while he was on leave in London

Spenser supported, and apparently participated in, the harsh treatment of the Irish by the Queen's government

After 1593

became disillusioned by the Queen's treatment of his friend,
Sir Walter Raleigh

Books four through six of The Faerie Queene

less optimistic about the idealism of the English court than the first three books

Between 1590 and 1593

he wrote his sonnet cycle,"The Amoretti," to Elizabeth Boyle, the woman who became his wife

a model public poet, not only for his writing style and skill, but also for the shape of his career

began his poetic training by writing a pastoral

then graduated to lyric poetry and epic poetry

epic The Faerie Queene was a grand project, but like Chaucer, Spenser followed another grand English poetic tradition

did not finish The Faerie Queene according to his conception

intended the poem to show how the 12 cardinal virtues defeat the seven deadly sins

only completed six books, along with some scattered cantos called the "Cantos of Mutability"

Reading The Faerie Queene

Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene in the literary genre of allegory

Interestingly, allegory was already falling out of favor with readers at the time he composed the poem

falling out of favor with Protestant Bible readers

who connected the fourfold interpretive reading method with Roman Catholic religious practice

Spenser, in his "A Letter of the Authors" written to Sir Walter Raleigh, intended for readers to find four perspectives within the epic

Literally

a story about a magical Celtic court, the court of King Arthur, chivalry, knights, and ladies

Allegorically

the story is about Elizabethan England, its conflicts, and its people

Morally

story is supposed to educate the reader pleasantly in the cardinal virtues

fewanagogical (eschatological aka the end times)

sections in some of the books that discuss apocalyptic events at the end of history

Example
Red Crosse Knight's fight with the dragon in Canto 11

poem structure is complex

each book consists of 12 cantos or units of stanzas

Each canto contains 50 Spenserian stanzas

Spenserian stanza

1. contains nine lines rhyming ababbcbcc
2. two quatrains of a sonnet, with one extra line
3. Eight of these lines are written in iambic pentameter
4. last one is written in iambic hexameter

This line of poetic meter is called an Alexandrine

each book deals with one of the 12 cardinal virtues

key to the allegory can be found in the paragraph descriptions under each numbered book or canto title

Book 1 is about the virtue of holiness

five subsequent books are about:

temperance
chastity
friendship
justice
courtesy

"Cantos of Mutability" may be the start of a book celebrating the virtue of perseverance

scholars are not sure which of the 12 virtues Spenser might have been referring to in his "A Letter of the Authors"

Spenser cites Aristotle as an authority on virtues

however, Aristotle's Table of Virtues is vague

Upcoming.....

• Read Christopher Marlowe: "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love"
• Read Sir Walter Raleigh: "The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd"
• Complete CPA Assignment

References

• Marlowe's 'mighty line.' (n.d.). The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Retrieved from http://www.wwnorton.com/nrl/english/nael71/Period2Sixteenth/CourseSessions2....