Cover of The Faerie Queene, Book One

The Faerie Queene, Book One

by Edmund Spenser, Andrew Hadfield, Dorothy Stephens, Erik Irving Gray, Abraham Dylan Stoll · 1960

The Faerie Queene Books seriesNext:Faerie Queene: The Mutability Cantos and Selections from the Minor Poems, Bks. 1 and 2(1965) →

+ Want to read

Framed in Spenser's distinctive, opulent stanza and in some of the trappings of epic, Book One of Spenser's The Faerie Queeneconsists of a chivalric romance that has been made to a typical recipe—fierce warres and faithfull loves—but that has been Christianized in both overt and subtle ways. The physical and moral wanderings of the Redcrosse Knight dramatize his effort to find the proper proportion of human to divine contributions to salvation—a key issue between Protestants and Catholics. Fantastic elements like alien humans, humanoids, and monsters and their respective dwelling places are vividly described.

Genre
fantasyfantasyMore like thisLess of thisadventureadventureMore like thisLess of thishistorical fictionhistorical fictionMore like thisLess of thisromanceromanceMore like thisLess of this
Themes
classclassMore like thisLess of thisreligionreligionMore like thisLess of this
Setting
RenaissanceRenaissanceMore like thisLess of thiscollegecollegeMore like thisLess of this
Subject
historyhistoryMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
medium · 256 pages
Form
poetrypoetryMore like thisLess of this

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

BuyAmazonGoogle Books

BorrowOpen LibraryA library near you

MoreCompare pricesHardcover

Liked The Faerie Queene, Book One? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked The Faerie Queene, Book One. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Portable Dante Dante Alighieri · 1312 Shares classics, poetry, fiction
  2. Astrophel and Stella Philip Sidney · 1591 Shares poetry, classics, university
  3. A History of Illuminated Manuscripts Christopher De Hamel · 1994 Shares history, historical fiction
  4. Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained John Milton · 1671 Shares classics, poetry, fiction
See more recommendations →

“People who read The Faerie Queene, Book One tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Fabre's Book of Insects Jean-Henri Fabre · 1998
  2. Free onlineFree Preface to Shakespeare Samuel Johnson · 1778
  3. On the Origins of War and the Preservation of Peace Donald Kagan · 1994
  4. The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale Geoffrey Chaucer

“If you want more of the same (fantasy about class), start with these.”

  1. The Penguin Book of English Verse Paul Keegan · 2000
  2. The Complete Poems and Major Prose John Milton · 1957
  3. Seventeenth-Century British Poetry, 1603-1660 · 2005
  4. The Major Works: Including Astrophil and Stella Philip Sidney · 1590

“If it was the classics that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Free onlineFree The Lady of the Lake Walter Scott · 1810
  2. Paradise Regained by John Milton John Milton · 1671
  3. Lord Byron: Complete Works George Gordon Byron · 1992
  4. New Enlarged Pocket Anthology of Robert Frost's Poems Robert Frost · 1946

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Basic Elements of the Christian Life (Volume One) Witness Lee, Watchman Nee, Witness Lee and Watchman Nee · 2003
  2. Magic Dance: The Display of the Self-Nature of the Five Wisdom Dakinis Thinley Norbu · 1985
  3. The Conduct of Life: A Philosophical Reading · 1860
  4. Polyphemus Michael Shea · 1987

Report a problem