Dr. Norman Prinsky

Engl. 3002 - English Renaissance Literature - Augusta State University

Notes and Questions on Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene, Book 1, Canto 1

              Spenser’s art is manifested both at the macro level and the micro level. At the macro level, the art informs overall books (main subjects are holiness, Book 1; temperance, Book 2; chaste love, Book 3; friendship, Book 4; justice, Book 5; and courtesy, Book 6 -- as indicated in the introduction to the NAEL excerpt from the Faerie Queene), including the interrelation of cantos within the books. At the micro level, canto 1 of Book 1 is itself a miniature epic and allegory, while many individual stanzas are miniature, meaningful poems in themselves, as well as being interrelated to other stanzas in the canto. The condensed time of a one-semester course only allows for careful study of canto 1 (55 stanzas) of Book 1.

              Canto 1 of Book 1 has four overall parts: (a) the introduction of the main characters (stanzas 1-6); (b) the encounter with the lost or “wandering” wood (stanzas 6-11); (c) the conflict with Error (stanzas 12-27); and (d) the encounter with Archimago, and his first attempt to divide the Redcross Knight from the lady Una (stanzas 28-55).

              As you read each stanza, jot reading notes about (a) any plot or character developments, (b) any symbolism or allegory, and (c) the function of each stanza as its own separate poem as well as its interrelation to an accompanying stanza (one of the amazing accomplishments of Spenser’s Faerie Queene), including structure, rhythmical or prosodic devices, diction, figurative language, and so on. In keeping with the idea of each stanza as a potential poem on its own, refer to stanza and line number within the stanza, rather than overall line numbering: e.g., 3.2, meaning stanza 3, line 2 of the stanza, rather than line 20. A sample of how such notes could be taken is as follows.

Notes on Stanzas 1-2 of Canto I, Book I, of Spenser’s Faerie Queene

              Stanzas 1-2 introduce a knight spurring on the plain (the staccato motion partly expressed through the alliteration on the pr sound in 1.1, combined with the gliding of the regular iambic rhythm of the line), along with a description of his horse, armor, and other details of appearance. A paradox between the age and hard use of the armor (partly expressed through the alliteration on the d sound in 1.3-4) and inexperience of the knight (1.3-5) suggests the difference between the age and hard use of Christianity as a religion, versus the youthfulness of this inexperienced Christian. The description of the knight’s steed (1.6-7) conveys a combination of zeal, rashness, and pride, hinting these qualities in the rider as well as the mount. The length of the concluding alexandrine of stanza 1 appropriately summarizes the knight’s overall courtly appearance, but is belied by the first line of the next stanza, which emphasizes the Christian rather than courtly ethos of the young knight, further emphasized by the remainder of stanza 2. The description of the Cross on the knight’s tunic as “bloudie” (2.1) describes not only the color but the sacrifice and warfare needed by the Christian and Christianity, already alluded to in stanza 1, as well as Jesus, the knight’s “dying Lord,” suffering literal wounds on the cross at Calvary. The description of the red cross being “scored” (2.5) — that is, incised, not simply drawn — on the shield harks back to the “dints of deepe wounds” in the preceding stanza (1.3), reinforcing the idea of sometimes painful, forceful physical action required by devotion to Christianity, justice, and England. Besides the allusion to Revelation pointed out in the NAEL footnote, the word “Right” in the description of the knight as “Right faithfull true” (2.7) suggests the idea not only of “very” but also “upright” and “devoted to “right,” as well as creating a symbolic trinity (that is, Trinitarian symbolism) in the three adjectives, the last adjective used as a “substantive.” The stanzas introduce and repeat the recurrent key word “seem” in the Faerie Queene (“Full jolly knight he seemd” [1.8], “But of his cheere did seeme too solemn sad” [2.8]), which can either be a warning about the deceptive appearance of evil, or in this instance, an indication that more of the depth of someone or something remains to be revealed. Finally, the concluding couplet of stanza 2 protests that the knight appears serious not because of fear, being feared himself rather than afraid, a point emphasized by the punning repetition (polyptoton) on the word “dread” in the concluding alexandrine of stanza 2.