Spenser's Faerie Queene and Its Influence on Past and Modern-Day Readers

Spenser's innovative literary style of poetry in the Faerie Queene engages undying interest in thousands of readers from the 16th century to present day.

Read as a romantic adventure, this is the tale of a holy knight accompanying a virgin maiden who is searching for her parents trapped by a dragon. Allegorically, this poem can be read as a soul's encounter with the seven deadly sins, its separation and reunion with one faith, and its final salvation by divine grace.

Though reading the Faerie Queene is no simple task, it appeals to its readers by encompassing them in a fantastical world of fairies, imps, fauns, dragons, and various other mythological creatures. It is an imaginary world that shadows reality. The land of the Faerie Queene, though imagined, is riddled with political intrigue, religious symbolism, and heaps of action and adventure.

But Spenser's use of a fantasy world has raised questions of its readers. Why bother, if he only wanted to preach religious propaganda? But there is a reply to such a inquiry.

The manner of English literature and education in the sixteenth century was completely deluged in the moral and religious. By using an imaginary setting, Spenser eased the turbulence of the politics at the time, instead allowing these things to exist in a world that, on the surface, was completely different from the current times, yet facing the same internal conflicts as the "real" world.

However, in modern times, Spenser's choice to base The Faerie Queene in an imaginary world works to his advantage, as more people welcome the fantastical setting with open arms. And for those who are not interested in religious or even political allegory, the wild tales of knights battling monsters and fair maidens needing rescuing is enough to hold interest.

For those that have a great desire to read epic poetry with different aspects of allegory, they will find a veritable feast embedded clearly and cleverly throughout the books of the Faerie Queene. At the time this poem was being written, England was still settling on a religion. Catholic churches were being destroyed, as their ways were considered unholy and full of "black magic". This was reflected in the Faerie Queene. For example, in Book one, cantos 1, stanza19 and 20, the Redcrosse Knight is doing battle with a foul, serpentine beast found lurking in the grove the party took shelter in. In the middle of heated combat, Una shouts words of encouragement to the knight:

"Now, now, sir knight, shew what ye bee,
Add faith unto your force, and be not faint."

This clearly outlines the importance of God's divine blessing in the circumstance of good vs. evil; that if the Redcrosse Knight were to add his faith in God to his strength against the beast, he would overcome the unholy enemy, which he does. Further added in allegorical context is the explanation of what is spewed from the beast in its death:

"Her vomit, full of books and papers, was."

These books and papers are Catholic propaganda, considered unholy and wicked, something that would come out of a deplorably evil creature; an enemy of God.

The heroes in the poem each represent a virtue. The Redcrosse Knight represents holiness. Lady Una represents the faith of the Church of England, which the Redcrosse knight serves and protects. The sinister creatures that inhabit the poem represent various other evils. Nothing in this poem cannot be construed as some sort of allegory. Even the various appearances of animals can stand for some sort of theological point. The dragon stands as the Ultimate Evil. Una's lamb stands for innocence and purity, along with Una, herself. The lion that guards her stands for truth and justice. The songs of birds bring peace and harmony to those within audible distance. Even trees play a part, offering shelter or magically encompassing the soul of a human.

Once again, if the reader takes no interest in the symbolism of the animals, then they can take interest simply in their fantastical presence. If all that is not enough, the reader also can take the journey with the Redcrosse knight, and perhaps learn through the knight's adventures his or her own faults and virtues and come to a conclusion about themselves mentally or spiritually. Spenser's choice to make the Redcrosse knight susceptible to the same desires as any man or woman in a realistic setting brings the reader deeper into his world. As the Redcrosse knight is engulfed in psychomachia, (that is to say, the battle of good and evil in one man's soul) so is the reader pulled along for the ride. In this way, they do not feel upstaged by a character of unrealistic valor and intelligence, but empathize with one that has certain faults akin to most people. The Redcrosse knight succumbs to various temptations in the poem, ones that put himself and Lady Una in danger, and must find ways to conquer the evil he's allowed to happen, bringing him closer to sainthood.

For this poem, alone, Spenser created his own form of stanza, now dubbed, "Spenserian stanza", which consists of nine lines; eight in iambic pentameter, and the last in iambic hexameter, with a rhyme scheme of "ababbcbcc." This was as yet unheard of, but alliteration and assonance give the stanzas a richness and beauty that envelops the reader in its own melody. The circular rhythm of this type of stanza formation pulls the reader into its musical beat. It makes the story even more interesting to follow, almost as if it were a strange type of song. And indeed, Spenser regarded words as the makes of poetical music.

This elegance of words, coupled with the excitement of the tale of the Redcrosse knight's adventures, is enough to engulf any reader in its wonder and profound statements of politics and spirituality. Spenser works with a kind of poetical magic that brings to the surface of the human heart all the sympathy and empathy that may remained buried for the readings of other poetry, simply through his choice of characters and environment.

It is no secret that the Faerie Queene will continue to be read either by scholars, professors, or ordinary people interested in the beauty of the English language. This epic poem, like Spenser writes in the first stanza of the sixth book, is "sprinckled with such sweet variety of all that is pleasant to eare or eye." For one of the first stories put to poem in all of England, I would say that the Faerie Queene was an undying success, and shall continue to influence lovers of the English language for centuries.