The Book: The Faerie Queene (Book I)
The Author: Edmund Spenser, 1590
This text: etext of a 1903 edition, edited by George Armstrong Wauchope
Price: Nothin' (Kindle Free Library)
In the first book - actually, in the preamble, a letter to Sir Walter Raleigh - a young country boy presents himself at the court of the Faerie Queene herself, Gloriana, saying that he wants to be a knight. At the same time, a young woman, Una, presents herself at the court, asking that the Queene aid her land, which is beset by a dragon. The Queene, in an admirable display of efficiency, knights the boy and sends him off with Una, as per their respective requests.
"Somehow I thought this would be harder. Like, there might be a test or something." "You're still here? Dragons don't slay themselves, kid."Then the poem actually starts, and the lad is now the Redcrosse Knight, on account of the red cross on his surcoat. He sets out with the lady and her dwarf. It's not an easy trip. The three are constantly tricked, captured, threatened, tilted at and generally harassed. They're hassled by the shifty wizard Archimago, the faithless, seductive witch Duessa, the Saracen brother-knights Sansloy, Sansjoy and Sansfoy, and a full cast of giants and monsters. Luckily, despite having been given the job without even addressing the selection criteria, the boy turns out to be pretty good at knighting and kind of okay at resisting seduction. Una, despite being less martial, has a useful knack for being protected by a lion at key points in the narrative. Also, King Arthur arrives to save the day and banish Duessa to hell.
According to the annotations, this is all highly allegorical and probably terribly witty to the Elizabethan crowd. Redcrosse represents Holiness (and England, and Protestantism), Una represents Truth, the dwarf is Common Sense, the lion is Reason (and the Reformation, and Henry VIII) and they fight against dishonesty, falsehood, treachery, misery, hypocrisy and so on (and also France, the Pope, Catholics, Spain, Jesuits and other nasties). You probably need to be an Elizabethan courtier to get all the references, and if you're an Elizabethan courtier you're probably actually in it.
Anyway, eventually, they make it to Una's home country, which is Eden, and Redcrosse squares off against the dragon (Satan, and also maybe Spain). This is a drag-out, knock-down, three-day battle, where Redcrosse and the dragon each give as good as they get. At the end of the first day, Redcrosse is killed but falls into Eden's life-giving well. At the end of the second, Redcross is burned and poisoned but healed by a balm from the tree of life. Finally, Redcrosse wins. He and Una are betrothed, and everyone lives happily ever after. Except, say, Duessa, or Archimago.
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The Faerie Queene is supposed to represent some of the most beautiful writing in the English language.
I don't really see it.
Certainly, I'm not transported the way I was with the (English translation of) the Kalevala, or with Beowulf, or even the latter parts of the Mort. Part of this, I suppose, is that the enthusiastic Elizabethan spelling adds a layer of complication, so that to the modern eye (well, mine), the rhymes and rhythms are a bit wonky. And part of it is the allegory, which can be hilariously unsubtle or weirdly oblique. Overall, it becomes a bit of a struggle.
That said, the dragon bit is awesome.
And the baby daughter rather likes it.
Next: The Temperate Knight.
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