The life.--The works.--Criticism, influence, allusions.--Various topics.--Index.

Despite all of his acknowledged greatness, almost no one reads Edmund Spenser (1552-99) anymore. Roy Maynard takes the first book of the 'Faerie Queene, ' exploring the concept of Holiness with the character of the Redcross Knight, and makes Spenser accessible again. He does this not by dumbing it down, but by deftly modernizing the spelling, explaining the obscurities in clever asides, and cuing the reader towards the right response. In today's cultural, aesthetic, and educational wars, Spenser is a mighty ally for twenty-first century Christians. Maynard proves himself a worthy mediator between Spenser's time and ours. (Gene Edward Veith)

'This masterly work ought to be The Elizabethan Encyclopedia, and no less.' - Cahiers Elizabethains Edmund Spenser remains one of Britain's most famous poets. With nearly 700 entries this Encyclopedia provides a comprehensive one-stop reference tool for: * appreciating Spenser's poetry in the context of his age and our own * understanding the language, themes and characters of the poems * easy to find entries arranged by subject.

Excerpt from A Reference Guide to Edmund Spenser Many years ago I compiled and caused to be printed a brief Outline Guide to Spenser. It has long been out Of print. Vari ous requests for its reprinting together with a desire to make a more extended contribution to the study Of a great English poet who has long been a delight to me have led me to undertake this book. The apparatus for the study Of the greater English poets has been accumulating for many years, but the present generation especially has seen it rapidly expanded, rounded out, and reduced to order. Handbooks, concordances, bibliographies, annotations, and the whole apparatus criticus, are now reasonably complete for Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, and many Of the later and even Of the minor poets. Spenser has had his Share Of attention. There are various handbooks, there is now an excellent concord ance, he has been especially fortunate in the body Of appreciative criticism which the lovers Of his genius have written, and the body Of annotations Of his learned Muse is copious although defective in parts. But there is lacking a comprehensive reference-list or bibliographical guide to his writings and the writings about him. This lack I am here endeavoring to supply. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The first comprehensive study of the eighteenth-century response to the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser, from editions to influence.