The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser

PRIMARY SOURCE: The Faerie Queene (pub. 1590-6)
Context

• Publication: The Faerie Queene was written in Ireland, first, during the employ of Lord Grey of Wilson, then, in Kilcolman castle in Munster; partially published (three books) in 1590; rewarded with a pension from the Queen of fifty pounds per year; more fully published (six books with the Mutability Cantos) in 1596; ultimately published (seven books) in a 1609 edition (Greenblatt and Abrams 706). EEBO link 1, 2, and 3,
• Scholarship: Scholars read the poem for the complexity of its allegory, for the tension between its prophetic message and political production, for the formal inspiration taken from the Tasso and Ariosto, for the representation of Ireland and imperialism.
• Why I'm reading it: The Canon, book history, formalism, tapestries, and ekphrasis.

Content

• Form: 
• Spenserian stanza: eight lines iambic pentameter with an alexandrine, rhymed ababbcbcc. 
• Forty-eight stanzas per canto (432 lines per canto [12^2 x 3 = 4^2 x 3^3]), twelve cantos per book (5184 lines per book [72^2], 576 stanzas per book), and twelve announced books. 
• Genre: Epic. Moral allegory.
• Conceit: Six private virtues, six public virtues. Private virtues: Holiness, Temperance, Chastity, Friendship, Justice, Courtesy (mneumonic: Horses Try Chewing Fake Jello Carrots). Knights: Redcrosse, Guyon, Britomart, Campbell & Triamond, Artegall, and Calidore (mneumonic: Rudolf Gently Bathes Conneticut Army Captains).
• Other notes: 

Knight	Maid	Quest	Enemy	Squire / Ally
Redcrosse, of Holiness	Una (truth)	Free Una's parents from the dragon	Archimago & Duessa (idolatry & false faith)	Arthur (Britain is the ally of Holiness)
Guyon, of Temperance	Medina (moderation)	Destroy Acrasia's Bower of Bliss	Cymochles & Pyrochles (indecision & temper)	Palmer (trustworthy pilgrim)
Britomart, of Chastity	Artegall (like Arthur)	Return Amoretta to Scudamore	Malbecco, Busirane (jealousy, the captor of hearts)	Glauce (elderly woman)
Campbell & Triamond, of Friendship	Canacee & Cambina (healing & concord)	Aid the honor of Canacee & Cambina	Blandamour, Paridell, Duessa, & Ate (jealous friends, false faith & strife)	Each other
Artegall, of Justice	Eirene (peace)	Rescue Eirene from Grantorto	Grantorto (great wrong is the enemy of justice)	Talus (iron justice)
Calidore, of Courtesy	Pastorella (shepherdess courtier)	Slay the Blatant Beast	The Blatant Beast (slander)	Tristram (noble lineage)

(NB: Written with anthology notes.)
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2012. Print.