Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book ISpenser, Edmund
General
Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book I
Spenser, Edmund
English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700; Knights and knighthood -- Poetry; Virtues -- Poetry
1. What are the moral reflections in stanza i? 2. What suggestion of the
condition of the English roads do you find in st. ii? 3. _But few
returned_, l. 21. What became of the rest? 4. Give a description of the
House of Pride. Note resemblance to a typical Elizabethan hall. 5. Explain
the allegory of the House, noting the association of ugliness and beauty.
6. How is expectation aroused in vi? 7. Describe the dramatic appearance
and character of Pride. Cf. description of Satan on his throne in _Paradise
Lost_, iii. 8. What do you learn in this canto of Elizabethan or chivalric
manners and customs? 9. Describe the procession at the court of Pride. 10.
What satire of the Romish priesthood in xviii-xx? 11. Note examples of
Spenser's humor in xiv and xvi. 12. Point out the classical influence
(Dionysus and Silenus) in the description of Gluttony. 13. Subject of the
interview between Duessa and Sansjoy. 14. Point out the archaisms in l. 10;
alliteration in xxxix and l; the Latinisms in xlvi and xlvii. 15. In what
case is _way_ in l. 17? 16. Explain the meaning and historical significance
of _lazar_, l. 24, and _diall_, l. 36. 17. Explain the references of the
pronouns in l. 55, and ll. 418-419. 18. Note the Euphuistic balance and
antithesis in xxix and xlv. 19. Explain the suffix in _marchen_ in l. 325.
20. Note the double negative in iv, xlix. 21. Paraphrase in your own words
ll. 239, 243, 360, 437.
CANTO V
I. _The Plot_: (a continuation of Canto IV). The Knight fights in the lists
with Sansjoy and defeats him, but is prevented by Duessa's magic from
slaying him. Duessa descends to Erebus and obtains the aid of Night, who
conveys the wounded Saracen in her chariot to Aesculapius to be healed of
his wounds. The tortures of some of the souls in Erebus are described,
particularly the cause of Aesculapius' punishment. A roll of the prisoners
whom the dwarf discovers in Pride's dungeon is given. The Knight flees with
the dwarf from her house.
II. _The Allegory_: When the Christian Soldier is attacked by Joylessness,
he has a far more desperate struggle than that with Infidelity, and comes
out wounded though victorious. Joylessness when crushed by Holiness is
restored by Pagan Philosophy. The backsliding Christian is warned in time
by Prudence of the fearful consequences of sin, and hastens to turn his
back on Pride and the other sins. The soul is led to dread Pride, not by
Truth, but by its sufferings and other inferior motives.
25. THEIR TIMELY VOYCES, their voices keeping time with their harps.
27. OLD LOVES, famous love-affairs, the subject of the Minnesaengers.
29. IN WOVEN MAILE, in chain armor.
32. ARABY, probably here the Orient in general.
33. FROM FURTHEST YND, from farthest India.
39. UNTO A PALED GREENE, a green inclosure (lists for a tournament)
surrounded by a palisade.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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