E. Spencer-The Fearie Queen

SPENSERIAN STANZA

• by Edmund Spencer. A nine-line stanza having eight verses in iambic pentameter, its ninth verse in iambic hexameter and the rhyme scheme abab bcbe. Edmund Spenser first used this stanza form in his allegorical poem 'The Faerie Queene'.

• Innovation in the history of English poetry.

• It has 9 iambic lines, the first 8 are the pentameters and the last a hexameter ( or alexandrine).

EPIC ROMANCE:

• The text is an epic but at the same time it is about women, love, knights&wars. (The Red Cross knight - brave strong),

• There is a stress on adventure & fighting so it is not a pure epic text.

• supernatural elements, ,

• lg evokes atmosphere of mistery,

• It's a combination of epic and romance:

EPIC: -main character is a great hero, historical background, description of fights, dignified, lofty style, extended formal speeches by the main character, there is a prologue-invocation, references to the past(eg:info about Una's ancestor, of ancient Queens or kings), turning point-so situation important for a group of people(eg;situation of the Church of England), slow narration, episode construction to slow down the action.

ROMANCE:-Lg evokes atmosphere of mistery, the protagonist is a knight- he has a lot of adventures, The red cross knight- brave, strong, able to fights his enemies.

• -quest for dragon as well as spititual guest

• -supernatural elements: Error, Dragon, spirits

• -description of nature(eg: description of forest)

• -dramatic irony( the knight does'nt see the danger)

NEOPLATONISM:neoplatonic elements in Fearie Queen:

• -God's world is perfect,ideal:

• -material world in which we live is only the shadow of perfection:

• -searching|seeking for perfection- unconscious decision of one's soul.

INTRODUCTION:

4 stanzas before canto 1:

• -it is an invocation- introduction characteristic to epic poems

• -it is an epic proposition of what the text is going to be about

• -it is an apostrophy addresses to Muse

• -OATEN REEDS are exchanged for TRUMPETS STERNE

• -connected with pastoral poetry

ALLEGORY OF FEARIE QUEEN:

2 different types of allegory:

• -moral|philosophical allegory- connected with religion. Redcross get a certain degree of perfection, the red cross knight & his hollyness don't change, he is the same from the beginning till the end.

• -histirical|political allegory- it is more complex, not consisted. It means that one character may stand for different things.

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