THE POETICAL WORKS OF EDMUND SPENSER
IN THREE VOLUMES
VOLUME II
SPENSER’S
FAERIE QUEENE
EDITED BY
J. C. SMITH
VOLUME I: BOOKS I-III
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
A lengthy allegorical epic in Spenserian stanza unfolds through a sequence of chivalric episodes in which knights and maidens travel across enchanted realms, facing monsters, temptations, and deceptive enchantments that personify moral qualities. Each quest dramatizes a particular virtue and the trials that test it, combining courtly romance, classical allusion, and pastoral description. The diction favors archaisms and rich imagery, and the poem alternates narrative adventure with reflective digression and moral meditation.
THE POETICAL WORKS OF EDMUND SPENSER
IN THREE VOLUMES
VOLUME II
EDITED BY
J. C. SMITH
VOLUME I: BOOKS I-III
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS