The Faerie Queene

My sentiments about Edmund Spenser’s work the Faerie Queene seem to match those of other class members. It reminds me of one of those modern day viral videos that is passed around for a day and then quickly discarded. It seems like he was trying for his fifteen minutes of fame. I also wonder how the poem came to be included in literature textbooks when it is so simple and the symbolism is only superficial. It doesn’t seem like a very good example of the time, unless it is being used to make a statement about patronage and Queen Elizabeth. Speaking of Elizabeth, the more we learn about her in class, the more she strikes me as a very bright individual. I hope she did know that Spenser was writing to try to get patronage, and I hope she gave him the castle in Ireland on purpose.

I wonder what Spenser’s true feelings about Catholicism and Protestantism were, or if he was just wearing a jacket in order to get patronage. It would be very interesting to find out that he either supported the Catholics, or, the more likely, didn’t really care either way. He seems to have a very basic understanding all the happenings in his time, as each symbol only has one meaning. Otherwise, he was simply writing as fast as he could to get patronage as soon as possible. Perhaps he thought Elizabeth wasn’t very bright and he felt that needed to make sure everything was crystal clear so she would understand what he was saying?
-Kelly Johnson