Edmund-Spenser

EdmundSpenser1552？-1599ThePoet’sPoetEdmundSpenser•SpenserwasborninLondon,whereheattendedtheMerchantTailor'sSchool.•HethenwentontoPembrokeCollege,UniversityofCambridge,wherehetookadegreein1576.EdmundSpenser•Spenser'sreputationrestsmainlyonhisskillfulblendingofreligiousandhistoricalallegorywithchivalricromanceinTheFaerieQueene.•Asoriginallyplanned,TheFaerieQueenewastoconsistof12books,eachmadeupof12cantos.However,Only6bookswerecompleted.TheFaerieQueen•TheFaerieQueeneisanallegory.•Anallegoryisasymbolicstoryornarrativewithanunderlyingmoral,social,religious,orpoliticalsignificance•Allegoriesincludeabstractideas,i.e.charity,greed,orenvy.Objects,persons,actionsandsettingsarefrequentlyrepresentativeofsomethingelse.•Generally,charactershavenoindividualpersonality,butrepresentanabstractmoralquality.Allegory•Allegoriesaresimilartoparables,fables,andmetaphors,differingincomplexityandlength.Allegorieshavebeenreferredtoasprolongedmetaphors,exceptthatallegoriesaremoreelaborateandextended.Allegory•Allegoricalstoriesdevelopattwolevelssimultaneously.•Forexample,Spencer'sRedcrossKnightfightswiththedragon,Error,inTheFaerieQueene.•Theknight'sfightwiththedragonisliteral,butitalsoillustratestheconflictbetweenrighteousnessandsin.•Inmostallegories,uglinessusuallyreflectssin,andbeautyusuallyreflectsvirtue.Allegory•Anallegoricalstoryisnotmeanttoberealisticbuthasadreamlikeormagicalqualitywhichexplainswhymanyallegoriesbeginwiththeauthorfallingasleep.BasicPlot•Gloriana,thequeenofFairyland,representsbothgloryandQueenElizabethI,inwhosehonor12knights,whorepresentedthequalitiesofthechivalricvirtues,engageinaseriesofadventures.BasicPlot•ThefigureofArthur,theperfectknight,alsoappears.•Thesixcompletedbookstelltheadventuresoftheknightswhorepresentthequalitiesofholiness,temperance,chastity,friendship,justice,andcourtesy.•Thefragmentonmutabilitywastohavebeendevotedtothethemeofconstancy.BasicPlotTheprincipalcharactersare:•Gloriana,thequeenofFairyland•Arthur,theperfectknight•UnarepresentstheTrueChurch.•TheRedcrossKnightrepresentsEnglandStyle•ForTheFaerieQueene,Spenseroriginatedanine-lineversestanza,nowknownastheSpenserianstanza.•IntheSpenserianstanza,thefirsteightlinesareiambicpentameter,andtheninth,iambichexameter;therhymeschemeisababbcbcc.EdmundSpenserFROMFAERIEQUEENE:GentleKnightwasprickingontheplaine,Ycladdinmightiearmesandsiluershielde,Whereinolddintsofdeepewoundsdidremaine,Thecruellmarkesofmany'abloudyfieldeYetarmestillthattimedidheneuerwield:HisangrysteededidchidehisfomingbittAsmuchdisdayningtothecurbetoyield:Fulliollyknightheseemd,andfairedidsittAsoneforknightlygiustsandfierceencountersfitt.StyleandLegacy•Spenser'slushandexpansiveimaginationandenergeticapproachtostructuremadehimapowerfulinfluenceonJohnMiltonandtheromanticpoets,includingJohnKeatsandPercyByssheShelley.•Spenserissometimescalledthe“poet’spoet”becausesomanylaterEnglishpoetslearnedfromhimandimitatedhisexample.