UNIVERSITY OF SARAJEVO

FACULTY OF PHILOSOPHY
English language and literature

The Faerie Queene as a Historical Document

Student: Mentor:
Emira Rahmanovi Doc.Dr. Shahab Yar Khan
One of the most famous literary works of Edmund Spenser is definitely The Faerie Queene

(1590-96). It is an epic poem full of adventures of medieval knights, but it contains a deeper

meaning. The Faerie Queene actually represents an allegorical work. Allegory can be

described as an extended metaphor - the literary device that conveys hidden meaning, what is

acomplished by the use of symbolic figures, actions, imagery or events that stand for ideas

about human life or for a political or historical situation.

There are several levels of allegorical interpretation of the poem:

1.) Moral allegory dealing with abstract moral truths;

2.) Biblical allegory related to Biblical history of humanity;

3.) Historical allegory which deals with the religious history of 16th century England;

This essay will be mostly focused on the last listed allegory, and it will give some answers

why The Faerie Queene is considered as a historical document as well.

-In a letter to Sir John Walter Raleigh, Edmund Spenser explained the purpose and structure

of the poem: It is an allegory, a story whose characters and events nearly all have a specific

symbolic meaning. The poem's setting is a mythical ''Faerie land'' ruled by the Faerie Queene,

this queen actually represents his own monarch, Queen Elizabeth.

It is known that 16th century England was marked with English Reformation, the event which

happend during the reign of King Henry VIII and led England to break away connections

from the Roman Catholic church based in Rome. Religious problems occured and saw no end

even after the king's death. King's daughter Elizabeth encountered these problems.

Elizabethan England was a period of prominent literally and artistic flowering, but also the

period of royal turmoil. The Faerie Queene is embodiment of some important and
representative political figures, religious conflicts, and national politics during the era of

Elizabethan England and the Protestant Reformation. Many author's chief contemporaries

labelled this epic. Spenser's main aim in writing this work was to please several powerful

persons at court, as well as to win praise and patronage from the queen, so he explicitly stated

that the characters Faerie Queene and Britomart represent Queen Elizabeth I. In addition,

many critics believe that the characters such as Una and Belphoebe also represent queen.

During this period people were against 'false' religion, Catholicism, and accepted 'true'

religion, Protestantism also known as Anglicanism. Religious protest was a part of Spenser's

life. Like most of Protestants, Spenser saw a Catholic church full of corruption, and it was

considered not only a wrong religion but anti-religion. The act of corruption was especially

seen in selling of the indulgences. According to the meriam-webster dictionary indulgence is

defined as: remission of part or all of the temporal and especially purgatorial punishment

that according to Roman Catholicism is due for sins whose eternal punishment has been

remitted and whose guilt has been pardoned (as through the sacrament of reconciliation).

- Book 1 is mostly focused on the knight Red Cross (or Saint George). He is the Protestant,

but as Saint George, historically Englands patron saint, he also represents the collective

people of England, or the nation of England. He is involved in a holy quest and accompained

by Una who represents one true faith. On the way they encountered a lot of villains such as

sorcerer Archimago, Duessa, Erorr, Orgoglio and they present The Roman Catholic Church.

In other words Redcross is fighting against the falsehood of that church. First, he had to kill a

terrible beast Erorr, and during their battle in one moment Error gained advantage by spewing

forth vile misinformation at Redcross, but with the Una's advice to stand firm in his faith he

managed to kill him. What is described in the following excerpt:

 Therewith she spewed out of her filthy maw

A flood of poison horrible and black,

Full of great lumps of flesh and gobbets raw,

Which stunk so vilely, that it forced him slack

His grasping hold, and from her turn him back:

Her vomit full of books and papers was,

With loathly frogs and toads, which eyes did lack,

And creeping sought way in the weedy grass:

Her filthy parbreak all the place defiled has.

The books and papers which Erorr Spew forth can be identified with papal bulls and Catholic

tracts, mostly aiming at the bull of desposition issued in 1570 by Pope Sixtus V against queen

Elizabeth I. After this, the huge number of pamphlets attacking the Queen and the Reformed

church had been widespread by Jesuit refugees by 1590. Later, Redcross was trapped in the

dungeon of horrible giant Orgoglio. This giant can be identified as Pope Sixtus V and his

relationship with another villain, named Duessa, as relationship which Pope had with Mary

Queen of Scots(who was Catholic by faith). There is a part where Orgoglio placed a Triple

Crown on Duessa's head and endowed her with royal majesty, in other words this act

represents all the promised things to Mary Queen of Scots by the Pope. In character

Archimago Edmund Spenser satirizes the King Philip II of Spain. In the Book V, the knight's

Artegall quest to rescue Irena from the clutches of Grantorto can be interpreted also as the

real-life situation, the situation when England tried to wrest Ireland from the sway of

Catholicism, which was supported by a large number of rebellious local factions. Those are

just a few of drawn parallels between characters in books and persons who lived in that time.
The Faerie Queene is a book which takes a high place in the history of English art and it is

undoubtedly really reputable now, as it was during the period of publication. Unfortunately,

many critics state that generally this book is more honord than read. Despite all, Edmund

Spenser's impressively splendid ability of forming new ideas, images and concepts through

allegorical language made him to be proclaimed as ''the poet's poet'' and he was really

honored as a poet by the court and other men of letters. Although he did not fulfill his

ambitions, due to his death, aiming to compose twelve books (this strong desire and

determination of composing twelve books he explained in his well know letter to Sir Walter

Raleigh) he achieved the main goals such as reflecting the period in which he lived and the

ideals of that time. In my opinion this is a literaly work which 'force' us readers to be

completely engaged while reading it, because it makes us think about every word and thus

sparks the reader's imagination, but it channels the reader's imagination too. This is supported

mostly in ''Four-fold vision see: Allegory in the Poetry of Edmund Spenser and William

Blake'' written by Elizabeth Jane Darnill where is stated: '' ...he stresses the need for a

thoughtful, rich and illuminated poetry that refuses to cage the imagination in superstitions

and hellish constructions, and allows the mind to be channelled towards diverse and divine

ways of seeing. Instead of poetry wanting intelligence and flinging about randon words

with reckless abandon, the verse has to be carefully constructed to push the reader towards

spiritual, educated and enlightened perceptions. Here allegory guides or channels the

imagination to conduct the mind. Spenser uses allegory to promote alternative readings of the

imagination. He balances the fanciful elements of his poem with a measured and self-

conscious style that prompts readers to become aware of the complexity surrounding

imaginative verse.
 REFERENCES

https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10036/3156/DarnillE.pdf?sequence=2

https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-faerie-queene-by-edmund-spenser-1590

http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/spenseronline/review/volume-43/issue-432/43201-in-

memoriam-paul-alpers-oct16-1932-may-19-2013/paul-alpers-the-poetry-of-the-faerie-queen/

http://www.bartleby.com/153/28.html

http://spenserians.cath.vt.edu/TextRecord.php?textsid=34431