Has anyone out there read 'The Faerie Queen' by Edmund Spencer?

Question

It's not for a test or an exam or anything, it's just that I've started trying to read it quite a lot of times and have never got beyond a few pages.

I've worked my way through 'The Dream of the Rood', and read little known plays by Aphra Behn and John Webster for pleasure - I know the 'The Rood' and Webster are centuries apart- but Spencer is between them and I can't get a 'grip'.

Answer 1

I've read half of it. Chastity I think was where I got stuck. It is hard at first but you get used to the old language after a while. Just admire the beauty of it all.

Answer 2

It was one of our set books for English when I was at school - in the 4th year (?) perhaps.  We read an expurgated edition, of course!!

I bought a second hand copy of it only a few weeks ago.

I think that once you get into the Spencerian Stanza frame of mind, the rest follows and you can see the story in the lines.

How about:

The House of Rest

How soft the sunlight stands upon the hill

Whereon doth stand the peaceful house of rest.

Away from daily toil, the house is still.

Inside no man hath pride nor boasts the best;

The keeper, good and kind, though full-thriced blest,

Stands guard that none disturb the holiness

and so on ......

P.S.  You won't find those lines in the book!

Answer 3

I read English at Cambridge university and I got about 2/3 of the way through before I gave up.

"The want of interest is always felt"

"Very few are in at the death of the blatant beast" - Macaulay.