The Faerie Queene

Spenser's marvelous amalgamation of chivalric quest-romance, Ovidian mythology, phantasmagoric allegory, and classical-cum-Renaissance epic comes the closest yet to a definitive edition in this reissue of A. C. Hamilton's Second Edition of the poem. (Second Edition still, according to the splendid and majestic new cover; Revised Second Edition, according to the title page; Third Edition, according to the Acknowledgements!) When Hamilton was tapped some 35 years ago to edit the original Longman edition, I don't think I would have deemed him the best person for the job, but I must admit that by this time his combination of expertise, wisdom, balance, and lucidity would be hard to beat. His introduction and extensive footnotes make an invaluable guide for anyone embarking on a serious exploration of this vast, 400-year-old world of words and wonders. As to the text itself, prepared by Hiroshi Yamashita and Toshiyuki Suzuki, it is certainly high time for Spenser once again to have editors who understand that their readings for Books I-III should, generally, follow the 1590 first edition rather than the 1596 reprint. On the other hand, it is absolutely unfathomable to me how they can have rejected so many revisions, extending even to entire lines of verse, which can only have been made in the 1596 text by Spenser himself. Fortunately, Hamilton always give the later reading in his footnotes, so this is a RELATIVELY minor complaint. Still needed is a complete edition of the poem in modern spelling: despite what you may read elsewhere, Spenser's spelling is almost never more archaic or eccentric than that of Shakespeare or other contemporaries, provided that they, too, are read in authentic old-spelling editions--but they almost never are, making Spenser seem much more alien and difficult to read in comparison than he really is.

This is a review of The Faerie Queene, Penguin Classics edition, edited by Thomas Roche (ISBN 0140422072). The Faerie Queene itself will not be to everyone's taste. It is probably easier than Milton, definitely harder than Malory, and parts of it are very accessible and parts of it are not very accessible at all. However, the language, which most will perceive as the primary barrier to Spenser's work, is not that difficult to get used to. Take Book I, Canto V, stanza 5, for example: At last forth comes that far renowmed Queene, With royall pomp and Princely maiestie; She is ybrought vnto a paled greene, And placed vnder stately canapee, The warlike feates of both those knights to see. On th'other side in all mens open vew Duessa placed is, and on a tree Sans-foy his shield is hangd with bloudy hew: Both those the lawrell girlonds to the victor dew. In line one, "renowmed" just means "renowned," and should be pronounced with three syllables: "re-nowm-ed," not "renowm'd." There is a difference. In line two, the knowledge that Spenser typically uses "i" for "j" and "u" for v" is all readers need to read "majesty" for "maiestie." A passing acquaintance with Chaucer would help with line three, which features the Middle English prefix "y-" on "ybrought." Line four: pronounce "placed" "plas-ed," not "plazd"; and just remember "v" means "u" for "vnder." Line five presents no problems. In line six, some readers might wonder why "the other" is contracted to "th'other." Here, a basic knowledge of English prosody is necessary. If Spenser had said "On the other side in all men's open view," he would have used eleven syllables, when his meter of choice, iambic pentameter, demands ten syllables. So he makes a contraction to stay within those ten syllables. In line eight, Spenser writes "hangd" for the same reason: to stay within the ten syllables of iambic pentameter. If he had said "hanged," the sixteenth-century reader would have counted the syllables thus: "Sans-foy-his-shield-is-hang-ed-with-bloody-hue," which is eleven. Bear in mind that words such as "shield" are one syllable (sheeld), words such as "beauteous" are two syllables (beautyus), and words such as "disobedience" are three syllables (dis-o-bed-yence) for the purposes of scanning verse. So much for Spenser's language. The content of the Faerie Queene might prove the greater barrier to the twenty-first century reader. If you don't like chivalry, knights, damsels in distress, hermits, and magicians, then you probably won't like the FQ. But if you are indeed blessed with a taste for "romance" in the old sense, then you should like Spenser. You might surprise yourself; a friend who doesn't read much old literature, and almost no poetry, read a few stanzas of the Faerie Queene and said she liked it. Granted, I don't know if she would have liked every bit of the entire thing. But in such a long poem, some parts will get boring. I loved Books I and II, didn't enjoy Book II

I would have to disagree with the reviewer that called Spenser's epic "fun" to read... it is a lot of work, not only because of the length but because of the archaisms involved in Spenserian diction. On the other hand the work is definitely fruitful, one finds passages of indelible beauty and insight. For scholarly criticism I would recommend the Oxford edition ("Poetical Works") with an introduction by E. de Selincourt: he often points out just the stanza or two that helps place the entire poem into a new perspective. Make no mistake about it, the Spenserian stanza (ababbcbcc) is a difficult read, whether one is talking Byron's "Childe Harold" or Novak's "Requiem": in all cases (I would say) a significant amount of effort is required, simply to follow the train of the author's thought, which, because of the difficult nature of the stanza perhaps, is not necessarily clearly linear... but in the long run, MAKE NO MISTAKE the effort is clearly worth it, and Spenser, if not exactly conforming to one's expectations, will not exactly disappoint them either. A worthwhile read, even in bits and pieces, if you cannot adhere to the storyline as a whole.

Fortunately, in reviewing this book I am not faced with the usual difficulty of separating the quality of the work itself from the quality of its presentation; both are exquisite.Edmund Spenser's _The Faerie Qveene_ is rightly considered one of the timeless masterpieces of English literature. Collectively, it is an embodiment of and a response to both medieval and Renaissance themes and devices. The medieval romantic and Arthurian genres are blended with Petrarchan techniques and Neoplatonic philosophy. Nevertheless, Spenser maintains a distinct style all his own; the nine-line stanza is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful conventions in poetic verse. Oh yeah, and it's a darn good story too.This edition of the "booke" far outshines any other I've encountered. The text itself is annotated with copious footnotes which explain unclear passages, point out allusions to classical, medieval and contemporary events, and provide criticism. All of the peripheral material associated with _The Faerie Qveene_ is also provided, including the dedication to Raleigh and introductory sonnets. Other value-adding perks include a comprehensive bibliography, a chart showing minor changes made between the poem's three publications, and a character guide.Though this thick volume may seem daunting, it is in fact quite enjoyable. The notes are fairly unintrusive, so the casual reader can skim or read through the poem at his or her own pace, with the option to delve deeper if he or she desires.I strongly advise anyone with an interest in Renaissance literature, Shakespeare, poetry, or English literature as a whole, to purchase this book, and to dish out the bit of extra money for this particular edition.

EDMUND SPENSER : THE FAERIE QUEENE. Edited by A. C. Hamilton. 753 pp. Longman Annotated English Poets. London and New York : Longman, 1977 and Reissued.The Longman Annotated English Poets edition of 'The Faerie Queene' has been designed primarily for students and academics, but will appeal to anyone who is looking for an extensively annotated Spenser which gives maximum help with the language, historical allusions, symbolism, allegory, and much else besides. In other words, this is not so much a reader's edition of 'The Faerie Queene' as one for those engaged in an intensive and in-depth study. The pages are quarto sized (10 by 7.5 inches) and printed in double columns, with Spenser's text being given mainly in the left column, and the accompanying explanatory glosses and extensive and detailed notes given to the right. Hamilton's notes are, in every way, superb, and considerably enrich one's understanding of Spenser's subtle and highly allusive poem. The notes, however, are so extensive, that they can tend to interfere with one's enjoyment of the poem, as there is the constant temptation to glance to the right to read Hamilton's invariably interesting remarks. Unfortunately, presumably to reduce costs, Spenser's text was not reset, and what we have been given is a much-reduced and rather poor copy of the Oxford University Press edition of 'The Faerie Queene.' The result is a poorly printed text of the poem in a font as miniscule as that used for the sidenotes, and hence one that can be tiring to read. The text of the poem is preceded by Hamilton's informative General Introduction, and the book is rounded out with an extensive Selected Bibliography. Although less than desirable in visual terms, Hamilton's edition is superb in every other way, and definitely belongs on the bookshelves of all advanced students and Spenser enthusiasts. The general reader, however, would probably be far better off, certainly if new to Spenser, to start with the excellent Penguin English Poets edition, or even with the Norton Critical Edition of selections, details of which follow:THE FAERIE QUEENE. By Edmund Spenser. Edited by Thomas P. Roche, Jr with the assistance of C. Patrick O'Donnell, Jr. 1247 pp. Penguin English Poets, 1978 and Reprinted.EDMUND SPENSER'S POETRY : Authoritative Texts and Criticism. Norton Critical Edition. Third Edition. Selected and Edited by Hugh Maclean and Anne Lake Prescott. 838 pp. London and New York : W. W. Norton & Company, 1993.