The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser
This month's featured text is Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene. The Faerie Queene was first published in 1590 by one of the preeminent poets of Elizabethan England. Spenser intended that it be published in twelve books, only six of which he finished before his death. In part, the work is an allegory for the political aspirations of Queen Elizabeth I. Throughout the poem, Spenser makes references to King Arthur and the romance of the Arthurian period (Queen Elizabeth saw herself as the direct heir to King Arthur). Additionally, he refers to Elizabeth indirectly as Gloriana (Glory) or Astraea (the guiding star) in the poem. In fact, the Queen was so impressed with the praise Spenser gave her in The Faerie Queene that she named him poet laureate in 1591, a position he held until his death in 1599.

Perhaps more important than the political impact of Spenser's Faerie Queene is both its importance in early modern poetry and its influence on later poetry. It blended a variety of styles into something new and unique. Spenser borrowed from the traditions of Medieval romance, books of moral lessons popular in the Renaissance, allegory, and verse. Spenser actually introduced a new type of stanza consisting of nine lines in The Faerie Queene and is still referred to as the Spencerian stanza. These innovations influenced many later poets including Milton, Byron, Shelley, and Tennyson. In fact, The Faerie Queene was one of the primary influences behind the Romantic period of poetry in the nineteenth century. In all, it is a poem that was not only unique and important in its own time, but has endured and remained significant for hundreds of years after its publication.

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