Books I and II of the Faerie queene,: The mutability cantos, and selections from the minor poetry

by Edmund Spenser

Book Overview

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0007DR0RQ
• Release Date: January 1965
• Publisher: Odyssey Press
• Length: 542 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great Resource

I have not had a chance to thoroughly go over the book yet, but it seems to be a great resource for those who like Edmund Spenser's poetry like I do. :) I read part of the Faerie Queene in school, and am looking forward to finishing the story and reading his other works. One of my favorite poems of his, "Most Glorious Lord of Life," is a part of this collection. I would recommend this book for all poetry lovers.

The way it ought to be done

I wish Kellogg and Steele had produced a complete edition of "The Faerie Queene," as this partial edition is, in my opinion, the best presentation the poem has ever had for undergraduates or other beginning adult readers. No introduction or even encyclopedia can cover every angle of a work, but the introductions here give extensive and thorough coverage to what (I think) Spenser himself regarded as most important about his own work. The marginal glosses are sufficient without being overwhelming, as are the explanatory notes, handily provided at the bottom of the page. The spelling is modernized (a great convenience for the beginner), but the language is NOT modernized--the vocabulary is exactly as Spenser left it. This is really a model edition for undergraduates or anyone else who wants to come at the poem at that level.

Very useful and detailed addition to a library

Very useful, interesting, and detailed introduction and useful notes on the same page as the text. Be warned, however, that the language has been modernized. Although this rewriting adds to the readability of the text, it subtracts from the beauty of the Elizabethan language in which Spenser composed his poem.