David invites Fr. Stephen Gregg on to talk about Edmund Spenser, a sixteenth-century poet famous for his work “The Faerie Queene”.
S7E24: “Jack’s Bookshelf: Edmund Spenser”, After Hours with Fr. Stephen Gregg (Download)
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Show Notes
Introduction
Quote of the Week
For whatsoever from one place doth fall,
Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
Is with the tide unto an other brought:
For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.
Biographical Information
Fr. Stephen Gregg was born in Texas and entered the Cistercian Order at Our Lady of Dallas in 2006 and made his solemn profession on July 3, 2011. On September 8, 2012 he was ordained to the priesthood.
He has taught English, Fine Arts, Latin and Theology at the Cistercian boys’ school, and he is now Affiliate Assistant Professor of English at the University of Dallas, where he completed his doctorate in 2022.
Toast
- David: Coffee
- Fr. Gregg: Tynt Meadow Ale
Discussion
01. “Intro to Edmund Spenser”
Q. Who was Edmund Spenser? What was his background?
- Aside from William Shakespeare, it could be argued that Edmund Spenser is the most important English poet of the Elizabethan England.
- He is best known for a 36,000 line poem, The Faerie Queene.
- He was the first poet to be added next to Geoffrey Chaucer in Poets’ Corner.
02. “A crucial Sixteenth Century author”
Q. What makes Spenser such an important author?
- David first heard a line from Spenser in the movie adaptation of Sense and Sensibility:
- English Literature in the Sixteenth Century by C.S. Lewis
- Philip Sidney
03. “Encountering the Poet”
Q. When did you encounter Spenser?
Beyond all doubt it is best to have made one’s first acquaintance with Spenser in a very large and preferably illustrated edition of the Faerie Queene, on a wet day, between the ages of twelve and sixteen.
C.S. Lewis, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature
04. “Spenser’s Appeal”
Q. What was it about Spenser that first got you hooked?
–
05. “Influencing Spenser”
Q. What were Spenser’s influences? What or who shaped his mind and writing?
- Matteo Maria Boiardo (L’orlando Inamorato about The Song of Roland) and Ludovico Ariosto (Orlando Furioso)
- Francesco Petrarch
- The Aeneid by Virgil
- The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri (which we discuss in S6E32 with Dr. Jason Baxter)
06. “Spenser’s Corpus”
Q. Can you give us a brief overview of Spenser’s corpus? What were his major works? Is the Faerie Queene what everyone knows about, or did he write other things as well?
- The Faire Queene is six books (“Holiness”, “Temperance”, “Chastity”, “Friendship”, “Justice”, “Courtesy”), each made up of 12 cantos, each 40-60 stanzas long.
- Edmund Spenser also wrote The Shepherds’ Calendar, Amoretti: The Sonnets: Modernised and Annotated, Fovvres Hymnes, Complaints: Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. VVhereof the Next Page Maketh Mention, and A View of the Present State of Ireland.
- Will Matt write Mary Margaret some engagement sonnets?
07. “The Faerie Queene”
Q. You’ve spoken quite a bit about The Faerie Queene. What is the story about?
The poem is a great palace, but the door into it is so low that you must stoop to go in. No prig can be a Spensarian. It is, of course, much more than a fairytale, but unless we can enjoy it as a fairytale first of all, we should not really care for it.
C.S. Lewis, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature
This kind of poetry, if receptively read, has psychotherapeutic powers.
C.S. Lewis, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature
- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women by George MacDonald
- Fairy Books Collection by Andrew Lang
08. “Influencing Lewis”
Q. Is there anything else you’d want to talk about Spenser’s influence on Lewis?
- Lewis books referenced in this section: The Last Battle, The Allegory of Love, That Hideous Strength, The Pilgrim’s Regress, Spenser’s Images of Life, and A Preface to Paradise Lost.
- Fr Gregg also referred to Prosopopoia Or Mother Hubberds Tale by Spenser and “The Fairy Way of Writing”: Spenser’s The Faerie Queene and C.S. Lewis’s “Habit of Mind”
…symbols are the natural speech of the soul…
C.S. Lewis, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature
09. “Where to Begin”
Q. If someone has never read Edmund Spenser before, how do they begin?
10. “Opening Stanza”
Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske,
Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene (Book 1, Stanza 1)
As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds,
Am now enforst a far unfitter taske,
For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine Oaten reeds,
And sing of Knights and Ladies gentle deeds;
Whose prayses having slept in silence long,
Me, all too meane, the sacred Muse areeds
To blazon broade emongst her learned throng:
Fierce warres and faithfull loves shall moralize my song.
Wrap-Up
More Information
- School.Cistercian.org
- Luminarium.org
- The Faerie Queene read by David Timson
