The Faerie Queene Summary
Faerie Queene Summary. BOOK 1,2 and 3 Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene is a sixteenth-century English epic poem. Spenser originally intended the poem to be a series of twelve books, each devoted to one of twelve moral virtues as exemplified by the characters of twelve knights. In an introduction addressed to Sir Walter Raleigh, Spenser explains that the Faerie Queene, Gloriana, represents both Queen Elizabeth and the abstract idea of Glory. King Arthur, whom Spenser portrays as the epitome of all twelve virtues, experiences a vision of Gloriana and finds her in “Faeryland,” where she is hosting her twelve-day feast. Each day, a different emblematic knight undertakes a quest, with Arthur often joining the escapades. Book 1 begins not at the Queene’s feast, but with the in-progress adventure of the Redcrosse Knight, who represents “Holiness.” When Lady Una requests a warrior to free her parents’ kingdom from a rampaging dragon, Gloriana dispatches Redcrosse on the mission. Traveling w