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THE FAERIE QUEEN VOLUME 1
THE FAERIE QUEEN VOLUME 1 EDMUND SPENSER - an entirely new composite text based on the edition of 1596 (the
"Original Text")
- details of departures or proposed departures from the copy text
(the "Textual Appendix")
- a modernized version of the Original Text (the "Shadow Text")
- definitions of difficult words and phrases in the Shadow Text (the
"Glossary").
The Original Text was not scanned but typed and proofed against the
Scolar Press facsimile (see Bibliography). Editing took place between
November 1989 and July 1992 using EMACS.
CHARACTER SET
The edition is best viewed with a monospaced font. Plain ASCII
text is used throughout. Accented etc. characters are indicated by
symbols contained in curly brackets e.g.:
{e/} = lower-case e + acute accent (pointing up to right)
{e} = lower-case e + grave accent (pointing up to left)
(o^} = lower-case o + circumflex accent
{o"} = lower-case o + diaeresis mark
{e~} = lower-case e + tilde
{ae} = lower-case ae diphthong
{Ae} = ae diphthong with initial capital
{AE} = fully capitalized ae diphthong
etc.
In this way all the characters of the 1596 edition have been shown
except the long "s" which has been throughout converted to its modern
equivalent. In Roman type the long "s" most closely resembles a
lower-case "f" lacking part of the crossbar. It is used in the copy text
in nearly all places where this edition has an ordinary lower-case "s"
except at the ends of words and when preceding the letter "k". Using
the oblique character in place of the long "s" then the first lines of
the poem read:
Lo I the man who/e Mu/e whilome did maske
As time her taught in lowly Shepheards weeds
Am now enfor/t a far vnfitter taske
For trumpets /terne to chaunge mine Oaten reeds ...
These rules are on occasion broken apparently by mistake. The long
"s" does nothing to aid comprehension and indeed causes problems noted
in the Textual Appendix: e.g. confusion between "besit" and "befit".
Special characters contained in the list of printers' contractions
are noted in the preamble to that list.
Regions of text printed or intended to be shown in italic type are
defined by underscores thus: the _second_ word is in italics.
COPYRIGHT
Spenser's original text of _The Faerie Queene_ is here described as
"Spenser's Text" and is in the public domain. Copyright in all parts
of this edition including editorial treatment of Spenser's Text is
reserved. You may not sell the whole or any part of this edition in
any form whatsoever nor may you supply it as an inducement to any party
to purchase any product. Except for private study you may not alter
the text in any way.
WARRANTY
This edition is supplied as is. No warranty of any description is given
in relation to the edition. Time and care have gone into its preparation
but no guarantee of accuracy is implied or made.
In such a large work despite the stringent and repeated manual and
electronic checking that has been carried out some errors are bound to
have slipped through. Please tell me about any that you find. All readers'
emendations will be gratefully acknowledged in future releases.
-- Jonathan Barnes
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12 February 2003
Main components:
Editor's Introduction
Abbreviations Used
List of Proper Nouns
Table of Contents of Volume I
Introductory Matter
Books I-III
Printer's Contractions
Bibliography
Biographical Note
The start of each of these is marked with the string "=>"
=> EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
Acknowledgements
Purpose of the edition
The text of the poem
The form of the poem
The numbering system
How the Glossary works
The Textual Appendix
Suggestions for new readers
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
No endeavour of this kind would be possible without the work of
previous editors and critics and I offer thanks to all who
have advanced our understanding of Spenser and his work. In
particular the scholarship of Professor A. C. Hamilton has
provided much enlightenment: his commentary (see Bibliography) is
required reading for those who would explore the secret meanings
of _The Faerie Queene_. To the compilers and publishers of the
monumental _Oxford English Dictionary_ I am deeply indebted. I
wish also to acknowledge the assistance of the staff of the
British Library who kindly allowed me to consult copies of the
original editions.
PURPOSE OF THE EDITION
When reading a book such as _The Faerie Queene_ it is tempting
to minimize the looking up of difficult words which are often
glossed if at all in the end pages. Although Spenser's use of
certain words appears quaint and lumpish the language is
superficially modern enough to enable the reader to "get by".
Yet such an approach can lead only to a faulty appreciation of
the poem and deprives one of much enchantment. Queen Elizabeth
would have found nothing lumpish about the language: her only
impatience might have been with Spenser's weakness for archaisms.
To her the _FQ_ will have revealed Spenser's exact and liberal
style in all its glory: his words almost always make perfect
sense.
The purpose of this edition is to make the language of the poem
readily accessible. Interruptions to consult separate
dictionaries and so on are eliminated preserving as far as
possible the flow of reading and accelerating one's apprehension
of the poem.
The sustained power and scope of Spenser's master-work of his
"sacred fury" comprise a feat unsurpassed in English literature.
But by its very nature language changes with time and access
to Spenser's magic kingdom is becoming ever more difficult. I
hope this edition provides a key.
THE TEXT OF THE POEM
No manuscript of _The Faerie Queene_ is known; we depend for our
text upon printed copies of the work.
The first of these appeared in 1590. It is a quarto edition
published by William Ponsonby and contains Books I-III. The
Registers of the Stationers' Company for 1589 include the
following entry:
_Primo Die Decembris.--Master Ponsonbye. Entered for his
Copye a book intituled the fayre Queene dyposed into xii.
bookes &c. Aucthorysed vnder thandes of the Archb. of
Canterbury & bothe the Wardens vjd._
The date of Spenser's letter to Raleigh is 23 January 1589 (1590
New Style); the book itself appeared some time after 25 March.
The text was indifferently proof-read and a list of corrigenda
(Faults Escaped in the Print) accompanies it. Moreover there is
variation between individual copies of the edition. Early copies
contain only ten dedicatory sonnets while later ones contain the
full set of seventeen: for Spenser had made the signal blunder of
omitting Lord Burleigh from the illustrious company of
dedicatees. To confuse matters further a few copies contain a
mixture of pages from the original and revised versions.
The quarto edition of 1596 was also published by Ponsonby and
contains Books I-VI variously bound into one or two volumes.
Books I-III were completely reset apparently not from the MS.
but from a copy of 1590 heavily annotated by the author. Some
but not all of the corrections listed in the Faults Escaped were
incorporated in 1596. The end of Book III was changed
continuing rather than ending the story of Scudamour and Amoret.
Spenser also added a new stanza at the beginning of Book I Canto
xi rewrote some single lines and made sundry adjustments to
others. This process continued even as pages passed through the
press so that there is variation from copy to copy made more
complex by the mixing of sheets from different printings during
binding. No single copy of 1596 can therefore be said to be
definitive. 1596 does however have the advantage of Spenser's
personal supervision and for this reason it is chosen as the
core of modern composite texts.
The third edition of _The Faerie Queene_ was published by Mathew
Lownes in 1609 ten years after Spenser's death. It is a folio
edition and contains not only Books I-VI but also two cantos
"which both for Forme and Matter appeare to be parcell of some
following Booke of the Faerie Queene vnder the Legend of
Constancie". This fragment comprises what are now called the
"Mutability Cantos".
The edition of 1609 is fundamentally a reprint of 1596. There is
reason to suspect that its editor was guided at least in part
by some authorial source which has now been lost: an annotated
copy of 1596 perhaps; or material found among the assorted
papers of the Mutability Cantos.
1609 is a conscientious edition which often achieves a higher
degree of consistency and intelligibility than 1596 itself
although it is plain that a more modern hand than Spenser's is
responsible for many of its emendations: the punctuation for
example though often more logical is blander than that of the
editions produced in Spenser's lifetime. Furthermore the editor
of 1609 virtually ignores 1590 even though knowledge of that
text is often essential for filling in the gaps left by errors in
1596.
The editions of 1611 onwards throw little light on problems
raised by the three former editions.
A modern editor then must go to three different sources in
order to assemble a text which tries to do justice to Spenser's
original intention.
The copy text for this edition is the facsimile published in 1976
by Scolar Press (see Bibliography).
THE FORM OF THE POEM
The basic unit of the poem is a verse or _stanza_ made up of nine
lines. This "Spenserian stanza" much imitated (for example by
Byron) is Spenser's own invention. Typically it consists of
eight pentameters and a final alexandrine. Lines are sometimes
short or long on occasion perhaps through typographical error
(see for example II iii 26.9) but at other times for deliberate
effect (e.g. III iv 39.7 IV i 3).
The rhyming scheme is generally _ababbcbcc_ though this too is
subject to change whether by authorial oversight or authorial
intention (e.g. II ii 7 VII vii 28).
The stanzas are not numbered in the original editions.
Between 30 and 87 stanzas comprise a _canto_ (Italian "song") a
term borrowed from Lodovico Ariosto the Italian poet whose work
influenced Spenser.
A canto is preceded by a four-line verse called an _argument_.
This summarizes what follows often with particular emphasis on
its allegorical meaning. The metre of the argument is that of
the _Book of Common Prayer_.
Each complete book is introduced by a _proem_ a group of between
four and eleven stanzas preceding the argument of Canto i.
Twelve cantos comprise a _book_. Book VII is incomplete.
Spenser's stated plan was to write twelve books one on each of
the twelve moral or private virtues; it is not known whether he
composed any more of _The Faerie Queene_ than has survived. _The
Faerie Queene_ was to have been followed by another epic poem of
twelve more books one on each of the political or public
virtues. No trace of this work has ever been found.
THE SHADOW TEXT
The Shadow Text is intended as no more than a lowly companion to
the original. It makes no attempt to preserve metre or rhyme
but renders a prosaic version unifying the spelling in order to
make the meaning easier to understand.
I have altered the punctuation for the shadow version though not
without trepidation. My aim has been to make crystal clear the
mechanical sense expressed by each stanza but quite often this
is impossible. For one thing the original pointing rather than
being used strictly logically may also influence the rhythm or
emphasis of the words when spoken (and _The Faerie Queene_ is a
poem which should be read aloud--although perhaps not in its
entirety!--to be fully appreciated). For another the
functions of the punctuation marks themselves have undergone
change since Spenser's day. The semicolon for example is found
in _FQ_ introducing direct speech where today a comma or a colon
would be used. Again the comma is often required to carry long
parentheses themselves sprinkled with commas; these passages can
become very confusing especially where Spenser has also adopted
a contorted and latinistic word-order.
Then there are problems introduced by deliberately ambiguous
pointing. Spenser's immense command of the language and his
quicksilver gift for wordplay and puns allow him when he
chooses to pack great complexities of meaning into a line or
even a single word and in this his punctuation is frequently his
accomplice.
A famous example comes right at the beginning of Book I:
But on his brest a bloudie Crosse he bore
The deare remembrance of his dying Lord
For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore
And dead as liuing euer him ador'd:
Is the meaning of line 4: "dead as living ever him adored" or:
"dead as living ever him adored"? In fact both meanings are
probably intended.
Thus it cannot be overemphasized that where ambiguity is
occasioned by the punctuation of the original the Shadow Text
can do no more than propose what seems to me the more or most
likely interpretation. Sometimes (as in the case cited above) I
suggest alternatives but the pointing of the original poem
should always be given precedence in case of doubt.
The Glossary does not seek to interpret the poem. From time to
time it hints at what lies behind the bare words in order to aid
understanding but its sole purpose is to make the _language_
more accessible to the modern reader. Interpretation is left to
the teacher and to the large and growing body of criticism
devoted to _The Faerie Queene_.
THE NUMBERING SYSTEM
In the Glossary and Textual Appendix references to parts of the
poem are given in the condensed form BCN.SN where B = book
number (from 1 to 7) CN = canto number (from 01 to 12; canto 00
is the proem) and SN = stanza number (from 1 to a maximum of 87;
stanza 0 is the argument).
If a line within a stanza needs to be specified it is preceded
by a colon. Ranges of cantos stanzas or lines are indicated by
a dash.
For example:
401.31 Book IV Canto i stanza 31
611.11:3 Book VI Canto xi stanza 11 line 3
503.2-9 Book V Canto iii stanzas 2 to 9
503-4 Book V Cantos iii-iv
207.0 Book II Canto vii Argument
100.3 Book I Proem stanza 3
500.1:2-4 Book V Proem stanza 1 lines 2-4
In addition a line of the Introductory Matter is specified by
its number preceded by a colon and a capital "I". For example
"I:123" refers to line 123 in the Introductory Matter.
HOW THE GLOSSARY WORKS
Entries relating to each line of Shadow Text are shown below that
line. In cases where a glossed word appears more than once in a
line plus signs are used if necessary to highlight the
particular word being glossed. For example in the line:
Till some end they find +or+ in or out
it is the first "or" which is glossed.
Editorial policy in the Glossary is as follows. Words which
appear in modern concise dictionaries and whose meanings are
unchanged are rarely glossed. The reader is expected to
understand words such as "quoth" "hither" and "aught" in their
_modern_ senses. Where an apparently modern form has a different
contextual meaning it is glossed; and where the modern sense is
also to be understood this is included in the definition.
Similar senses are grouped with commas; changes in sense are
indicated by semicolons. For example:
sad > heavy heavily laden; sad
The commoner obsolete forms have been silently converted: "thee"
to "you" "dost" to "does" "mought" to "might" "whenas" to
"when" and so on. Others (generally speaking those less common
words sufficiently distinct from their modern counterparts to
merit a separate entry in the _Shorter Oxford English
Dictionary_) have been unified to the spelling preferred by that
and its parent dictionary. This should allow the reader during
very close scrutiny of any passage quickly to find any of
Spenser's words in the _OED_.
All the Glossary entries are context-sensitive: Spenser often
uses the same word in several different ways. Thus no single
Glossary entry should be taken as generally definitive.
Types of entry
(a) Translations
An entry not enclosed in brackets should be read as a straight
translation of the quoted text which can be directly substituted
for it.
For example in stanza 1 of the proem to Book I line 1:
whilom > formerly
Line 1 can thus be understood to mean:
Lo I the man whose Muse formerly did mask
Very often additional meanings are given in such definitions:
weeds > clothes garb
These additional meanings may complement one another indicating
the hybrid sense which seems to be required or they may
constitute a set of alternative meanings any or all of which may
have been intended by Spenser. Each entry in any unbracketed
list may always be substituted for the original without
disturbing the syntax.
Similar senses are grouped with commas; changes in sense are
indicated with semicolons. For example:
gentle > noble; courteous generous
In this case an apparently modern form has a different
contextual meaning and so it is glossed; and when the modern
sense is also to be understood this is included in the
definition:
dull > dull lacklustre; blunt
Where the contrast between alternatives is particularly great
words are separated by _or_ _also_ etc.
Sometimes the meaning is forced or metaphorical. In these cases
the straight "dictionary" meaning of the word is given first and
_hence_ _thus_ or _so_ are used to indicate contextual
departure from this. For example:
style > literary composition; _hence_: poem song (cf. _SC_
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