Summary of Faerie Queene & Other Works by Edmund Spenser

 Hello & welcome to the discourse. In this video, we will continue the discussion of Elizabethan Era and learn more about the literature of Edmund Spenser who wrote Faerie Queen, a great epic of Elizabethan era.

The Faerie Queen was the product of the then religious, political, philosophical and historical conditions of England. Spenser was influenced by three major conditions namely, a) The Revival of Chivalry b) National Spirit nurtured by Reformation c) The English Renaissance which is also known as the Revival of Learning. Spencer was the spokesperson of his age on religious and philosophical issues. John Milton mentioned his as poet's sage who is better teacher than Scotus and Thomas Aquinas. English people achieved religious freedom and they were rooted in Protestantism. The Calvinism was an aristocratic form of Protestantism which is obvious from the references in the Faerie Queene. Faerie Queen has 6 books or volumes. Three volumes of Faerie Queen were published in 1590 and the next three were published in 1609. It is the longest poem written in Spenserian Stanza. Spenser wrote a letter to Walter Raliegh which was the prologue of this book. Queen Elizabeth I was represented in this book as Gloriana and Belphobe. She was so impressed by this work that she offered a pension to Spenser. The book was based on Le Morte de Arthur written by Thomas Malory. Faerie Queene is modelled on Furioso, the famous work of Thomas Aquinas. King Arthur is a major character of the book. The next important work of Edmund Spenser was Complain. It is a collection of poems written in a mournful and mocking manner. Some famous poems of this collection are Ruins of Time, Tears of Muses, Mother Hubbard Tale, Vision of World Vanity, Fate of Butterfly. The fourth important work of Spenser was Amoretti, it was a collection of poems of love. He wrote and dedicated this book to his lover and second wife Elizabeth Boyle. Other works were Epithalamion and Prothalamion. We have discussed all major works of Spenser namely, The Shepheardes Calender, Faerie Queene, Complain, Amoretti, Epithalamion.

Here is the link for Full Notes in pdf https://bit.ly/3gKCJxu