The Faerie Queene (Penguin Classics)
by Edmund Spenser
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Book Summary Information
Author: Edmund SpenserEditor: Thomas P. Roche
Editor: C. Patrick O'Donnell
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1979-01-25
ISBN: 0140422072
Number of pages: 1248
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Book Reviews of The Faerie Queene (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: Penguin is best edition short of Hamilton's
Summary: 5 Stars
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 III as much, and then loved Books IV, V, and VI. Book V, with Artegall and his "Iron Man" who represents Justice, is quite good. And the Mutabilitie Cantos at the very end, as C.S. Lewis said, just might be "the finest thing in the whole work." But beware: the storyline is very, very complex. I found myself scanning previous cantos to recapture the plot line, which I'd lost track of. Be prepared to lose track of what's going on, unless you have an excellent memory or are used to old literature and complex plots.
Now for this particular edition. It's a very fat book (over 1,000 pages), and I wish it had been in two volumes (Penguin adopted that expedient in the Penguin Classics edition of Malory's Le Morte Darthur). Roche's text differs somewhat from A.C. Hamilton's standard edition of the Faerie Queene, but it's more than adequate for the non-scholarly reader. I found his notes extensive and very helpful. Spelling is barely modernized; Roche just changes the archaic long "s" to the modern one, leaving "v" for "u" (vnder) and "i" for "j" (maiestie) intact. Roche seems to be the best edition out there short of Hamilton, which costs about $55, and definitely the best for a first-timer. One recommendation: read Malory's Le Morte Darthur before the Faerie Queene. For one thing, if you don't like Malory, you probably won't like Spenser; and so reading Malory first could save you some time reading the FQ. If you do like Malory, then you probably will like Spenser; and reading Malory first accustoms you to knights and jousts and wizards and the typical machinery of Spenser. Also, knowing some Malory helps you catch some of Spenser's allusions to the Arthurian legend.
I give five stars to the Faerie Queene itself because I happen to love it; not everyone will share my opinion. I give five stars to Roche's edition because it's the best out there short of Hamilton, which not everybody needs.
Summary of The Faerie Queene (Penguin Classics)
"The Faerie Queene" was the first epic in English and one of the most influential poems in the language for later poets from Milton to Tennyson. Dedicating his work to Elizabeth I, Spenser brilliantly united medieval romance and renaissance epic to expound the glory of the Virgin Queen. The poem recounts the quests of knights including Sir Guyon, Knight of Constance, who resists temptation, and Artegall, Knight of Justice, whose story alludes to the execution of Mary Queen of Scots. Composed as an overt moral and political allegory, "The Faerie Queene", with its dramatic episodes of chivalry, pageantry and courtly love, is also a supreme work of atmosphere, colour and sensuous description.Poetry Books
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