ENGL 310(S) The Faerie Queene

Spenser called The Faerie Queene "a continued Allegory, a darke conceit," designed to instruct its readers in virtue and "gentleness" (holiness, temperance, love, friendship, justice, and courtesy, respectively in the six books he completed). It is also designed, deliberately and self-consciously, to create the kind of epic myth for England under the reign of Elizabeth (= Gloriana, the Faerie Queene) that Virgil's Aeneid represented for Augustan Rome. In these respects the poem provides a rich, subtle, and comprehensive introduction to its age, which is also the age of Marlowe, Shakespeare, and Sidney. But as much as he aims to instruct, Spenser also aims to delight. Spenser's "darke conceit" is not a puzzle that must be decoded with the aid of learned footnotes, but a marvelous narrative adventure through a world of witches, hags, dwarves, giants, ogres, dragons, and shape-shifting evil magicians with terrifying powers of mind control. An imagination educated by the fantasies of Tolkein, Star Trek, and Star Wars is as useful for appreciating and understanding Spenser's art as a knowledge of Elizabethan history. We will draw on both as we read and discuss the six completed books of The Faerie Queene. Requirements: several oral presentations and short papers posted on the class listserver, and a 15- to 20-page final paper. Major Seminar. Open only to English majors and to qualified non-majors. Permission of English Department chair required; see information above. Enrollment limited to 15. (Pre-1800)

Hour:  KNOPP