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What is one aspect you find interesting in this story Posted by malcom on Oct 10, 2008. |
The Faerie Queene Group
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For me it is definitely the allegorical nature of the poem. Nobody did allegory like Spenser, with every character representing something else, and almost every action or plot twist having a larger meaning. The Red Cross knight is made to be wonderfully human, while being really only a representation of "a sinner, everyman" (Hollander and Kermode 169). Spenser, with his greater religious and philosophical purpose in mind all the time, never skimps on making his characters interesting. While Red Cross, especially, could have either been drawn as pathetically annoying or as a pious know-it-all, he is still man with desires and failings. Not all allegorical poetry is this way, and I find it one of the most enjoyable parts of reading this poem. Source: Hollander, John, and Frank Kermode. The Literature of Renaissance England. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973. Posted by sfwriter on Feb 13, 2009. |
