In him are combined the movements of the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, in a vast poetic output that encompasses pastoral (*The Shepheards Calender*, 1579), lyric poetry of a Petrarchan character (the sonnets titled *Amoretti* [1595], and numerous amorous lyrics, including a *Prothalamion* and an *Epithalamion*), philosophical-religious lyric (*Hymnes in honour of Love and Beauty*, 1596), and epic poetry. In this last field, his poem (*The Faerie Queene*, 1590–96), which stands alongside those of Ariosto and Tasso, has an allegorical-pedagogical character, the poet intending to represent the virtues of Aristotle’s magnanimous man, with the aim of forming a *gentleman*, that is, a person noble in virtuous discipline and gentleness. He does this by narrating the deeds of Arthur and the knights of the court of Gloriana (Queen Elizabeth). Of the 24 projected books (each of 12 cantos) only 6 were completed, dedicated to the legends of holiness, temperance, chastity, friendship, justice, and courtesy. Contrary to traditional opinion, it has recently been argued that Spenser’s deviations from orthodox Anglicanism have Catholic rather than Calvinist origins.
SPENSER, EDMUND
BIBL.: ed.: *Works*, ed. E. Gremlaw, C. G. Osgood and F. M. Padelford, 8 vols., Baltimore 1932 SGG. Studies: W. R. Renwick, *E. S.: an essay on Renaissance poetry*, London 1925; A. C. Judson, *The life of E. S.*, Baltimore 1945; V. K. Whitaker, *The religious basis of S.’s thought*, Oxford 1950. Alberto Castelli