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Edmund Spenser

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The Faerie Queene Paperback – January 25, 1979

by Edmund Spenser (Author), Thomas P. Roche (Editor), C. Patrick O'Donnell (Editor)

4.5 393 ratings

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‘Great Lady of the greatest Isle, whose light
Like Phoebus lampe throughout the world doth shine’

The Faerie Queene was one of the most influential poems in the English language. Dedicating his work to Elizabeth I, Spenser brilliantly united Arthurian romance and Italian renaissance epic to celebrate the glory of the Virgin Queen. Each book of the poem recounts the quest of a knight to achieve a virtue: the Red Crosse Knight of Holinesse, who must slay a dragon and free himself from the witch Duessa; Sir Guyon, Knight of Temperance, who escapes the Cave of Mammon and destroys Acrasia’s Bowre of Bliss; and the lady-knight Britomart’s search for her Sir Artegall, revealed to her in an enchanted mirror. Although composed as a moral and political allegory, The Faerie Queene’s magical atmosphere captivated the imaginations of later poets from Milton to the Victorians.

This edition includes the letter to Raleigh, in which Spenser declares his intentions for his poem, the commendatory verses by Spenser’s contemporaries and his dedicatory sonnets to the Elizabethan court, and is supplemented by a table of dates and a glossary

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Edmund Spenser was born in London in 1552, and was educated at the Merchant Taylor’s School from which he proceeded to Cambridge. He wrote his first poem, The Shepheardes Calender, in 1579. In 1580 he went to Ireland as secretary to Lord Grey de Wilton, Lord Deputy of Ireland, and stayed there most of his remaining life. While at his estate in County Cork, Spenser acquainted himself with his neighbor, Sir Walter Ralegh, who in 1589 brought him to London to present three books of The Faerie Queene (1590) to its dedicatee, Queen Elizabeth. After his return to Ireland in 1591, his two volumes Complaints and Daphnaida were published in London. His marriage to Elizabeth Boyle was celebrated in his sonnet sequence Amoretti and Epithalamion (1595), and in the same year his pastoral eclogue, Colin Clouts Come Home Again also appeared. In 1596 he brought out the second three books of The Faerie Queene as well as his Fowre Hymnes and Prothalamion. In 1598 his estate was burned during the Tyrone rebellion, and he fled to Cork and thence to London where he died in 1599. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. He is considered to be the great precursor of Milton, and his fame, denied him in life, has endured to this day.

Thomas P. Roche, Jr., Professor of English at Princeton University, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1931 and was educated at Yale, Cambridge, and Princeton and has taught at Princeton since 1960. He is the author of The Kindly Flame: a Study of the Third and Fourth Books of the Faerie Queene (1964) and Petrarch and the English Sonnet Sequences (1989). He has edited the essays of Rosemond Tuve and is co-editor with Patrick Cullen of Spenser Studies: A Renaissance Poetry Annual. He has also published on Sidney, Shakespeare, Petrarch, Anosto and Tasso.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Classics; Reissue edition (January 25, 1979)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 1248 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0140422072
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140422078
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.85 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.08 x 2.08 x 7.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #44,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #30 in British & Irish Poetry
- #42 in Ancient & Classical Poetry
- #70 in Epic Poetry (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.5 393 ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book easy to read with helpful notes and a glossary at the end. They describe it as an impressive, brilliant source of bedtime stories. The edition is considered thorough and definitive. The cover depicts vivid scenes and the full beauty of this magnificent poem. However, some readers find the language archaic at first and difficult to follow without stopping.

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Readability Reading quality Edition Attractive cover Language

22 customers mention "Readability"17 positive5 negative

Customers find the book easy to read with helpful notes and a glossary at the end. The notes make the text accessible for undergraduates. Readers appreciate the modernized spelling and mention it's one of the greatest treasures of English verse.

"...use of language and for the fact that it was the first great epic written in the English language, but don't let that high and lofty praise scare..." Read more

"...a tad expanded to include a few more entries, but the annotations are full and satisfying." Read more

"...A good word glossary is also placed at the end. Zoom Books delivered on time and the book was basically new...." Read more

"...A fine introduction and ample notes support this text in which--as all his readers know--Queen Elizabeth I is the paragon of all the virtues probed..." Read more

17 customers mention "Reading quality"17 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They describe it as a wonderful text with intriguing plots and characters. The book is well-bound and has good quality pages. Some readers feel it's not quite as good as others think it is, but overall they enjoy reading it.

"...But what Spenser does best is description...." Read more

"...The editor has done a great job, his glossary could've been a tad expanded to include a few more entries, but the annotations are full and satisfying." Read more

"...It can still be a good book to read, if you don't mind reading over a whole bunch of mistakes, but you should probably try to find a better version..." Read more

"This is an impressive book. The mixture of older middle English with newer spellings can be a harder/messier..." Read more

5 customers mention "Edition"5 positive0 negative

Customers find this edition thorough and the most famous. They say it's a standard edition of Edmund Spenser's great unfinished epic, recommended for those who relish a world of morality. The entire 8 books are included in this edition, which is considered definitive.

"This edition has the entire 8 books included in it. The easily referenced notes were fabulous and not onerous...." Read more

"A standard edition of Edmund Spenser's great unfinished epic, recommended for those who relish a world of moral imperatives for our relativistic age...." Read more

"...This edition is considered so definitive, in fact, that it was recently selected to be the edition translated into Italian for the first time in 450..." Read more

"This is Spenser's magnum opus. Essential for fans of Arthurian romances and for those interested in English humanism." Read more

4 customers mention "Attractive cover"4 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's cover. The recording demonstrates the full beauty of the poem, with vivid scenes that you can smell and even see the quality of sunlight.

"...He very quickly establishes scenes that are so clear and vivid that you'll be able to smell the air and see even the quality of the sunlight...." Read more

"...The volumes are tightly bound, well printed and the covers are attractive (feature engravings by Walter Crane)...." Read more

"The recording demonstrates the full beauty of this magnificent poem. An ideal way to first encounter this marvelous crestion." Read more

"...All the stuff of a thriller. IN OLDE ENGLSHE' ! Yeah - pretty cool!" Read more

5 customers mention "Language"0 positive5 negative

Customers find the language archaic and difficult to understand. They say it's unreadable and hard to follow the prose without stopping.

"...At first, the archaic language can be a little difficult to understand, but I found that I very quickly adapted to it so that I was reading it..." Read more

"...it is extremely difficult to spot mistakes because it is written with archaic English...." Read more

"Does not have word wise. So difficult to follow the prose without having to stop and lookup in the dictionary." Read more

"I am sorry, but I struggle with the old English language. I think I would have preferred a modern language translation." Read more

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PurpleKat
This is THE work of epic fantasy!
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2004
Verified Purchase
For those who are looking for an older take on series fantasy, look no further. The Faerie Queene is often praised for its beautiful use of language and for the fact that it was the first great epic written in the English language, but don't let that high and lofty praise scare you away! Someone who goes into it looking to be entertained won't be dissapointed, provided they're willing to work for it a little bit.
At first, the archaic language can be a little difficult to understand, but I found that I very quickly adapted to it so that I was reading it nearly as quickly as I'd read a novel, and I wasn't having to look in the margins for the definitions of strange words. And then the story started to come alive! The Faerie Queene has it all -- knights, maidens in distress, maidens who kick butt (one of the hero knights, Britomart, is a woman and also a very capable warrior) evil wizards, dark temptresses, and monsters galore. Many villains recurr throughout the books, tormenting one knight and then another, so that when Duessa shows up for the upteenth time, you already know enough about her to be emotionally invested in seeing her defeated ;)
I was surprised by how much character development the various characters showed, from Redcrosse's slow journey into spirituality to Artegall's gradual temperance of cold justice with mercy. Britomart's unrequited love for Artegall was genuinely moving.
But what Spenser does best is description. He very quickly establishes scenes that are so clear and vivid that you'll be able to smell the air and see even the quality of the sunlight.
All in all, I highly recommend this book. I was pretty sad when I got to the end, because I'm going to miss my nightly forays into Spenser's arcadian world. This is an extremely good book.

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90 people found this helpful

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Thorrin Jonsson
Spenser - Versecraft master
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2013
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Spenser's craft in verse is something truly magical. When thinking on him, I analyse lines I remember in my head and try to figure out "why is he so damn great? I can't put out anything specific...." But when reading his verse, it seems to flow into the spiritual capacity, a weaving of impeccable rhythm and rime. This, the Faerie Queene, is truly amongst the greatest treasures of English Verse. Not only the verse, but the entertaining adventures he tells of are indeed genuine literature in themselves. If the reading seems difficult, you're thinking about it too hard, and banging your head against what looks like archaic vocabulary. Honestly the spread of "archaic" words is not exceptionally dense (from what I notice at least), its often how he uses the words, and yes oftentimes the spelling will throw off a reader not acquainted with medieval literature, but as I said - don't think about it too hard. It will fall into place. If it doesn't hit you right away, give it a little bit, give it a few tries - whether its the first sitting or the fourth, its beauty will become plain and you will understand in an inexplicable way, as we all understand without really knowing why, how deft the poetic touch of Edmund Spenser was.

Everything to praise Spenser has pretty much been said by others and myself above. The editor has done a great job, his glossary could've been a tad expanded to include a few more entries, but the annotations are full and satisfying.

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11 people found this helpful

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Bethany
Wow
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2024
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I didn’t realize how thick this book was going to be. I love it.

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3 people found this helpful

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B. Marold
Other reviews are a bit unfair.
Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2011
Verified Purchase
This is a review of the Kindle edition, viewed on a PC.

I believe that for a less than $3 book, the other two reviews were being unfair. The claim that there was but one line drawn illustration was plainly wrong. I paged through 40% of the book and found at lest 8 pictures, all but one or two were color photographs. They weren't great, but they were color illustrations.

At this point in the Book reader technology, you simply do not buy a book for high fidelity to its printed version. In many, many cases, lots of things are simply left out. For example, my printed copy of the Qu'ran has the Arabic and many comments. The Kindle version of the same edition has only the bare English translation. So, I have both. And if I need to search The Fairy Queene for the word "blatant" (which is why I bought it), I can do that with 100% accuracy, and find its contexts.

So, for the same reason I have two copies of the Iliad (Lattimore and Fagles translations) and a copy of Fagles on CD (by Derek Jacoby) I have multiple copies of The Fairy Queen for different purposes.

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19 people found this helpful

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ken rafferty
Penguin books does it again.
Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2023
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This edition has the entire 8 books included in it.
The easily referenced notes were fabulous and not onerous.
A good word glossary is also placed at the end.

Zoom Books delivered on time and the book was basically new. I was stunned by what value I received.

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7 people found this helpful

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Lauren D. DesJarlais
Stellar book!
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2023
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This book arrived in the best condition and was early in arriving as well! This seller is the best! Can't say enough good things or recommend them highly enough!

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3 people found this helpful

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P. L. McNamara
A world of moral imperatives
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2020
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A standard edition of Edmund Spenser's great unfinished epic, recommended for those who relish a world of moral imperatives for our relativistic age. A fine introduction and ample notes support this text in which--as all his readers know--Queen Elizabeth I is the paragon of all the virtues probed in this masterpiece of its age. Spenser's mastery of metrics is astonishing, his allegory an adventure into a world not our own.

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10 people found this helpful

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margherita Blank
recensione acquisti
Reviewed in Italy on October 19, 2014
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Ho sempre ho trovato ciò che cercavo anche ciò che le librerie non avevano soprattutto i testi in lingua straniera e l'invio è stato solerte sempre in accordo con le tempistiche di consegna promesse.

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DAVID BRYSON
AND THAT MORE WONDER WAS
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 5, 2011
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The way this book has been edited and organised is really rather clever. There is not much by the editor to be read before we come face to face with Spenser himself, but the material that would normally go into an editorial introduction is there after all, only it's at the back instead. If we are daunted by the thought of an enormously long poem there is a temptation to procrastinate by plodding slowly through some scholarly introduction, only to find ourselves wearied by the introduction and hardly able to face the poem. Meaning no disrespect to the eminent writers of introductions, I have experienced nightmares at the thought of some Penguin/Oxford/Faber Book of Introductions, edited (with Introduction) by John Carey.

We are not plunged totally unprepared into The Faerie Queene. There is a `manifesto' by Spenser expounding his aims in writing the work (or what he claims those to be): there are various commendatory sonnets and other miscellaneous stanzas by various other parties; and there are a whole string of dedicatory sonnets addressed to an assortment of bigwigs by Spenser himself. It is easy to skip most of these, and then if we are lucky we may find ourselves engrossed in one of the most readable and entertaining poems in the English language. It is written in a slightly bogus antique idiom, a little like The Ancient Mariner two centuries later. The idea is to create an atmosphere, and the style is nowhere near as difficult to grasp as in Paradise Lost let alone genuine mediaeval English as in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. Indeed, try opening the book at random and you may find the kind of magic working on you that Tolkien can work, except that great verse casts a spell of its own that not even my favourite prose can hope to equal. It purports to be a moral allegory, but moral allegories are boring and this is enthralling. Spenser knows how to spin a fairytale thriller, and you can't tell me that that was not what he really enjoyed doing.

The editor inserts for reference a table of dates and some suggestions for further reading before we have read anything, but I found the very brief `Note on the Text' to be rather interesting. It seems that there are three early editions, from 1590, 1596 and 1609, and that this edition is based on the 1596 text, with additional material taken from the other two sources where it is absent from that text. I certainly support the decision to include all the material that belongs in a purportedly complete version of The Faerie Queene, and the editor's apology for his `composite' text is courteous but quite unnecessary. However what I would have liked explained is why it has been decided to base our text here on the second of three early editions. Spenser died in 1599, so perhaps the 1596 text has been selected as incorporating his last thoughts and revisions. However this is no more than a guess on my own part.

Spelling and orthography are not commonly considered exciting topics, but if you agree with me (and with the editor if I have understood him) that Spenser is concerned to create an atmosphere with his pseudo-antique diction, then the spelling is all part and parcel. The way it has been done seems to me just about right. Plain annoyances to a modern reader such as tildes representing the nasals m or n are banished, but u v and i are retained where modern standards require v u and j. I cannot possibly regret that s is printed in the modern manner and not as f, as the latter could lead to quaint orthography in such cases as `Where the bee sucks there suck I'.

At the end there is an appendix detailing textual corrections, and another providing a handy list of common olde wordes. There are also `notes' on the verses explaining unfamiliar dictions and usages, but the most interesting items here are the longer `notes', which in effect provide much of what one would normally find in an introduction. I said already that I was relieved not to find this kind of material at the beginning of the book, so let me add now that I am thoroughly pleased to find it located where I do find it. After all, we have bought this edition in part (I suppose) because the editor is the Professor of English at Princeton. Spenser has provided the enjoyment, now it's time for the lessons.

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E. Hulme
Spenser,s masterpiece, The Faerie Queene.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 27, 2013
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Oh, what a read! Written and spelled as in Tudor times, it takes a bit of getting used to but once you've got into the swing of it all the verses scan and read perfectly. You soon get used to pronouncing words such as,say, armoured as "armour red in ordered tokeep the rhythm flowing and the glossary at the end of the book can be easily followed as you read, especially if two bookmarks are used; one to keep your place in the text and the other for the glossary.
The knights are bold, brave and with their reputation and honour being all that they live for. Their damsels are both chaste and chased. The second of these by various monsters, evil magicians and lustful knights who don't know the rules of knightly chivalry.
The witches and magicians are a thoroughly bad lot and the description of the wicked witch, Duessa, after she is stripped naked is not to be read just before or just after a meal. It is truly stomach churning. The monsters are equally horrible and probably had to be to hold the interest of those for whom burning at the stake and hanging, drawing and quartering were an enjoyable and regular public entertainment. Don't forget that this work was written in the reign of Elizabeth Tudor when such things were available on an almost weeekly basis.
This Penguin classic has over a thousand pages of nine line verses, four to a page, and if that sounds like something for only scholars and nerds, think again. Boring it aint!
Dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, Sir Walter Raleigh and one or two others whom Spenser thought might be usefully flattered, it is a monumental work and, had Spenser lived longer than his forty seven years, he might not have left it only half finished.
I know that I shall return to this book over and over again.
Eric Hulme.

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Vaclav Stasta
Nice book, but without Walter Crane’s illustrations
Reviewed in Germany on May 12, 2021
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Hello, I red here, that this version have illustrations by Walter Crane. So I must write, that isn’t right. It’s full 1248 Pages version, with many bonuses like Dictionary and letters, but without any illustrations. But it’s only bad thing on this book, I think.

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Fred Everett
An old favourite
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 21, 2013
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Nice to revisit this old poem,,, not considered since university days. Can read it one book at a time, or it becomes hard to take the vocabulary and style.

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