Epic

Question 1

What’s the definition of the Epic?

Answer 1

long narrative poem on a great and serious subject, related in an elevated style, and centered on a heroic or quasi-divine figure

it’s a mix between prose and poetry, huge length, written in verse and are heroic stories that contain myths

Question 2

Who wrote ‘The Faerie Queene’?

Answer 2

Edmund Spenser

Question 3

What are examples for classical epics?

Answer 3

• Iliad
• Odyssey
• Aeneid

Question 4

What’s the structure of ‘The Faerie Queene’?

Answer 4

Book 1: Holiness
Book 2: Temperance
Book 3: Chastity
Book 4: Friendship
Book 5: Justice
Book 6: Courtesy

supposed to be 12 for all twelve moral virtues

Question 5

What is the leading device in Spenser’s ‘The Faerie Queene’?

Answer 5

allegory, the entire epic is like a continued allegory, an extended metaphor

portrays Arthur as the Hero

Faerie Queen is a national epic in England bc he’s Knight of Magnificence & perfection of all virtues

Question 6

Out of how many lines does a stanza consist?

Answer 6

9 lines

‘The Faerie Queene’

Question 7

Out of how many cantos does one book consist?

Answer 7

12 cantos

‘The Faerie Queene’

Question 8

Out of how many stanzas does 1 canto consist?

Answer 8

30-87 stanzas

‘The Faerie Queene’

Question 9

What is the content of Book 1, Canto 1, Stanza 1-15 of ‘The Faerie Queene’?

Answer 9

Dedicated to Redcrosse, the Knight representing holiness
1. Stanza: A Christian knight, his appearance
2. Stanza: He has to win battles for Gloriana, The Fairy Queen.
3. Stanza: He has a companion (Una).
4. Stanza: Una is very pure and innocent (comparison with milk white land)
5. Stanza: Something bad will happen (cloud, storm)
6. Stanza: They find shelter from the storm, they describe it.
7. Stanza: Description of trees and various human experiences
8. Stanza: Lost in ‘diverse doubt’, they have lost their path
9. Stanza: above.
10. They take a different path.
11. Una warns him to be careful.
12. She recognizes the wandering wood, it’s no place for living (biblical allusions – original sin)
13. Enters cave, they see a monster half serpent half woman

Una in book 1 is the protestant religion, the only correct one and his companion
Wandering Wood represents Redcrosse’s battle against Error

Question 10

What is a ‘Spenserian stanza’?

Answer 10

The rhyme scheme (abab-bcbc-c) he continues in the entire epic

Question 11

What is Book 2, Canto 12 of ‘The Faerie Queene’ about?

Answer 11

The Knight Guyon and his companion meet Acrasia (witch) in Bower of Bliss and need to resist her

Knight Guyon represents temperance

Temperance = self-restraint
avoiding extremes and destructive violence go hand in hand

Question 12

What is the Bower of Bliss?

Answer 12

a garden or earthly paradise of sensual joys

‘The Faerie Queene’ Book 2, Canto 12

Question 13

What could the Bower of Bliss represent?

Answer 13

• Bower of Bliss could be the new world -> Europeans destroyed all of the Natives like Guyan did the Bower of Bliss
• Or Bower of Bliss could be the English colonial struggle in Ireland -> Spencer was an agent of destruction, destroying the Natives in Ireland -> fashioning like destruction of Bower of Bliss
• Bower of Bliss could be the Reformation attack on images: signs, images of Christs/religious images are destroyed -> Bower of Bliss, protestant attack on catholic images