The Fairy Queen, in the form of allegorical legends commonly used in the Middle Ages, is an important religious and political epic in the Renaissance. The poet originally planned to write 12 chapters, but only completed part of the 6 th and 7 th chapters, * * * about 35, lines, but this unfinished great epic has already shown great light, standing on the peak of European literature like a glorious palace. The long poem takes King Authur's pursuit of Gloriana, the fairy queen, as the introduction. The fairy queen holds a banquet in the palace for 12 days every year, and sends a knight to relieve the disaster every day. Arthur participates in the adventure story of each knight.
The Fairy Queen, a masterpiece, looks like an interesting legend, which is very popular among young readers. However, this epic obviously has richer connotations and ideas. As an allegorical legend, this poem has specific symbolic significance.
Generally speaking, there are two aspects in the moral of The Fairy Queen. On the one hand, it is a moral or philosophical implication, on the other hand, it is a historical or political allegory. The first aspect is clear and easy to understand; On the other hand, the second aspect is more obscure (this is a characteristic that literature has been difficult to get rid of since ancient times), but people of insight can get the message. For example, the fairy queen symbolizes the queen Elizabeth in power; "Duessa" symbolizes the Roman Catholic Church and the Scottish Catholic Queen Mary; The tyrant "Grantorto" symbolizes the Spanish Catholic King Philip, and so on.
Moral or philosophical implication is obviously the poet's main intention. If you want to truly understand its true meaning, you'd better not deliberately understand or decipher it. It is best to understand such a profound epic calmly and feel it directly like a child full of innocence. In other words, we should get rid of all kinds of prejudices and stereotypes in advance. Because during the Renaissance, all the old thought patterns were gradually destroyed by new forces. Humans no longer believe in the old shackles and fetters, but everything new has not been established. Spencer formed a new Platonism with the help of Plato, an ancient Greek thinker, who tried his best to pursue love and beauty. He tried to express his reset of human morality through The Fairy Queen. Therefore, to understand Spencer, we must first learn to forget what we already have, and explore human ideology and morality from the beginning, even history and politics. Spencer's love sonnets are still the most beautiful love poems in the world. Spencer's sonnets continue the same structure as Shakespeare's sonnets: three groups of sonnets plus a antithesis. Poetry consists of eight stanzas and six stanzas, which are connected and finally summarized by an independent rhyming antithesis. The rhythm of Shakespeare's sonnets: ababccdcdefefgg The rhythm of Spencer's sonnets is: abab bcbc cdcd ee.
Spencer's sonnets injected some new ideas at that time. The beauty of soul is better than the beauty of appearance, and beauty is immortal because of the poet's praise. Life is like a stage. Through the use of dialogue, Spencer permeates folk songs into sonnets. The poet puts himself at the center of poetry and tells readers about his situation, feelings and beliefs. In the middle ages, man was regarded as a member of society, but in the sixteenth century he became an individual. Spencer's poems are one of the best representatives. Spencer's love sonnets were published together with Epithalamion (1959), which was written to celebrate his wedding with Elizabeth Boyle.
Spencer's love sonnets are included in his little love god (1595), including 88 love sonnets dedicated to his wife. These poems are different:
(1) Spencer arranges the development and changes of love according to the order of the stanzas.
(2) The material comes from Petrarchan conceits and his personal calendar. This is the inheritance of Peterak's style, and it is also an analysis of the poet's own life.
(3) The typical rhythm of Spencer is ABAB BCBC CDCD EE (The Spenserian Form).
(4) Because of the clever use of old English writing, the poetry is easy to understand, and the syntax and expression in sonnets are outstanding in the poetry circle in the 16th century because of their unusual novelty. Spencer even broke free from the bondage of love and revealed the connection between religious moral phenomena and poetry creation more deeply. His poetry is a talk of body and mind.