Spenserian allegory and Elizabethan biblical exegesis : a context for 'The Faerie Queene' / Margaret Christian.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Christian, Margaret, 1958- author.

Contributor:

Manchester University Press, publisher.

Series:

Manchester Spenser

Manchester Religious Studies

The Manchester Spenser

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599--Criticism and interpretation.

Spenser, Edmund.

Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599. Faerie queene.

Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599.

English poetry--16th century--History and criticism.

English poetry.

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (259 pages) : illustrations; digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Manchester, UK : Manchester University Press, 2016.

Language Note:

In English.

System Details:

text file

PDF

Summary:

'Typological reading, a strategy for biblical exegesis developed in ancient times and practiced through the medieval period, was alive and well - indeed, inescapable - in Elizabethan sermons and liturgies. Spenserian allegory and Elizabethan biblical exegesis is the first book to show the relevance of this cultural habit to The Faerie Queene. A wealth of quotations from contemporary sources transports readers into the mindset of Elizabethans to allow an encounter with The Faerie Queene in a fresh and genuine way. Preachers and liturgists mined the Bible for types of Elizabethan Tudor and other figures from current events. This study juxtaposes these biblical types with characters from Spenser's epic, offering fresh interpretations of the 'chronicle history' cantos, Florimell's adventures, the Souldan episode, Mercilla's judgment on Duessa, even the two stanzas that close the Mutabilitie fragment. Spenserian allegory and Elizabethan biblical exegesis will be of interest to postgraduate students and scholars of Spenser's poetry and those interested in the expanding field of sermon studies' --Back cover.

Edmund Spenser famously conceded to his friend Walter Raleigh that his method in The Faerie Queene 'will seeme displeasaunt' to those who would 'rather have good discipline delivered plainly in way of precepts, or sermoned at large'. Spenser's allegory and Elizabethan biblical exegesis is the first book-length study to clarify Spenser's comparison by introducing readers to the biblical typologies of contemporary sermons and liturgies. The result demonstrates that 'precepts ... sermoned at large' from lecterns and pulpits were themselves often 'clowdily enwrapped in allegoricall devises'. In effect, routine churchgoing prepared Spenser's first readers to enjoy and interpret The Faerie Queene. A wealth of relevant quotations invites readers to adopt an Elizabethan mindset and encounter the poem afresh. The 'chronicle history' cantos, Florimell's adventures, the Souldan episode, Mercilla's judgment on Duessa and even the two stanzas that close the Mutabilitie fragment, all come into sharper focus when juxtaposed with contemporary religious rhetoric.

Contents:

Introduction: a context for The Faerie Queene

Part I: Backgrounds: allegorical reading in Spenser's England

1. Traditional scriptural interpretation and sixteenth-century allegoresis: old and new

2. Allegorical reading in occasional Elizabethan liturgies

3. Allegorical reading in sermon references to history and current events

Part II: The preachers' Bible and Spenser's Faerie Queene: alternate allegories

4. 'The ground of Storie': genealogy in biblical exegesis and the Legend of Temperance

5. 'Waues of weary wretchednesse': Florimell and the sea

6. Saracens, Assyrians, and Spaniards: allegories of the Armada

7. 'a goodly amiable name for mildness': Mercilla and other Elizabethan types

8. Court and courtesy: sermon contexts for Spenser's Book VI

9. 'Now lettest thou thy servant depart': scriptural tradition and the close of The Faerie Queene

Conclusion

Index.

Notes:

Made available via: manchesterhive.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print record.

Other Format:

Print version: Christian, Margaret. Spenserian allegory and Elizabethan biblical exegesis : a context for The Faerie Queene,

ISBN:

9781526107848

Publisher Number:

www.manchesterhive.com/view/9781526107848/9781526107848.xml

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.