The Faerie Queene [Paperback]

Elizabeth Heale (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521654688 | ISBN-13: 978-0521654685 | Publication Date: March 28, 1999 | Edition: 2nd

The first great epic poem in the English language, The Faerie Queene is a long and complex allegory that presents the first-time reader with many difficulties of allusion and interpretation. This book, designed as a handbook to be consulted by students while reading the poem, is the only convenient and up-to-date guide available. Religious and political contexts are explained, while the analysis of Spenser's literary techniques encourages close reading. This revised edition takes account of recent developments in Spenserian criticism, and brings the guidance on further reading up to date.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...Heale acknowledges that she is neither comprehensive nor unbiased...the Guide truly may aid those preparing FQ for class, comprehensive exams, or even first-time teaching." Spenser Newsletter

"...a godsend for students epically struggling with Spenser's epic. Even for courses where only a canto of two is read, this is well worth buying and keeping close at hand while reading the poetry. Today even instructors need such guides, and this is a good one." Bibliotheque D'Humanisme

Book Description

The first great epic poem in the English language, The Faerie Queene is a long and complex allegory, which presents the first-time reader with many difficulties of allusion and interpretation. This book, designed as a handbook to be consulted by students while reading the poem, is the only convenient and up-to-date guide available. Religious and political contexts ar e explained, while the analysis of Spenser's literary techniques encourages close reading. This revised edition takes account of recent developments in Spenserian criticism, and brings the guidance on further reading up to date.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 2nd edition (March 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521654688
• ISBN-13: 978-0521654685
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #932,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spenser's Pagan Epic???, October 11, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Faerie Queene (Paperback)

Another review of this book (by tepi) is one of the worst I've read. Take these two sentences, for instance:

1.) "If, as people like Heale would have us think, Spenser had written a versified theological treatise, it would long since have been trashed along with all the other theological lumber of his era."

That might make one wonder why people still read Milton. Or Petrach. Or Dante. Or the Psalms. Or Job.

2.) "And ultimately, as with any poem, the only real meaning it can have for you is the one that you yourself give it, a personal and individual meaning, a meaning that will slowly take shape as you expose yourself to more and more of Spenser's gorgeous Pagan lines."

If the reader is the one bringing the meaning to the poem, then tepi can't say Spencer's lines are Pagan; the meaning is only Pagan if the reader brings that meaning himself. Heale would have just as much right to give it a theological meaning, as he does a Pagan one.

But reading isn't about reading your own interpretation into a work. Literature is a form of communication, from author to reader. Meaning is the author's intent. Books like Heale's can help us understand more clearly what certain authors, far removed from today, are trying to tell us.