NarrativeI decided that I wanted to gloss this passage for people may be new to Spenser. I decided to start with words that have a significance and definitions of words that readers may not know. I also decided to include some information on the myths that Spenser uses in this excerpt. I have provided an interpretation to the “main” stanzas in this excerpt. While doing this I was trying not to force my interpretation on the readers. I tried to make sure they understand that there are many different ways to interpret the text. I have learned that glossing is not an easy task. One must assume what the reader knows and what the reader does not know. Attempting to gloss this excerpt I think has led me to understand this excerpt a little better. IntroductionEdmund Spenser was a great poet. He was very creative and intelligent. Spenser uses both of these traits to his advantage. While reading Spenser’s The Faerie Queene it is important to remember that everything is not always as it appears to be. Spenser loves to use infinite levels of allegory. He uses words to paint an optical illusion that one must look at from many different angles to see the whole picture. Look for Spenser’s ulterior motives. It would also be helpful to keep Spenser’s intended audience in mind while reading. Understanding whom he was writing for may help in understanding his writing. Spenser wrote before words had a definite spelling. The same word may have more than one spelling throughout the poem. At this time it was also common for the letter v to make the u sound and the letter u to make the v sound. For instance, uictory is a mvst. It is often helpful to read out loud. The words may not have the spelling that they have today, but they have the same or very similar phonetics. For example pursew or pursue. While reading Spenser’s Faerie Queene remember to have fun. It is a wonderful tale told by a great poet.
|