“The noblest mind the best contentment has.”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Canto 1, stanza 35
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book I
Quotes from workThe Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books I–III were first published in 1590, and then republished in 1596 together with books IV–VI. The Faerie Queene is notable for its form: it is one of the longest poems in the English language as well as the work in which Spenser invented the verse form known as the Spenserian stanza. On a literal level, the poem follows several knights as a means to examine different virtues, and though the text is primarily an allegorical work, it can be read on several levels of allegory, including as praise of Queen Elizabeth I. In Spenser's "Letter of the Authors", he states that the entire epic poem is "cloudily enwrapped in Allegorical devices", and the aim of publishing The Faerie Queene was to "fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline".Spenser presented the first three books of The Faerie Queene to Elizabeth I in 1589, probably sponsored by Sir Walter Raleigh. The poem was a clear effort to gain court favour, and as a reward Elizabeth granted Spenser a pension for life amounting to £50 a year, though there is no further evidence that Elizabeth I ever read any of the poem. This royal patronage elevated the poem to a level of success that made it Spenser's defining work.
“And all for love, and nothing for reward.”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Canto 8, stanza 2
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book II
“For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Source: The Faerie Queene
“How oft do they their silver bowers leave
To come to succour us that succour want!”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Canto 8, stanza 2
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book II
“Eftsoones they heard a most melodious sound.”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Canto 12, stanza 70
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book II
“Ay me, how many perils doe enfold
The righteous man, to make him daily fall!”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Canto 8, stanza 1
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book I
“And in his hand a sickle he did holde,
To reape the ripened fruits the which the earth had yold.”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Canto 7, stanza 30
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book VII
“But of his cheere did seeme too solemne sad;
Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad.”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Canto 1, stanza 2
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book I
“Fierce warres and faithfull loves shall moralize my song.”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Introduction, stanza 1
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book I
“For all that Nature by her mother-wit
Could frame in earth.”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Canto 10, stanza 21
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book IV
“A bold bad man, that dar'd to call by name
Great Gorgon, Prince of darknesse and dead night.”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Canto 1, stanza 37
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book I
“And is there care in Heaven? And is there love
In heavenly spirits to these Creatures bace?”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Canto 8, stanza 1
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book II
“Her berth was of the wombe of morning dew,
And her conception of the joyous Prime.”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Canto 6, stanza 3
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book III
“Roses red and violets blew,
And all the sweetest flowres that in the forrest grew.”
Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene
Canto 6, stanza 6
The Faerie Queene (1589–1596), Book III
