Edmund Spenser

Perhaps ambivalence shapes all creative souls. In the case of the career of Elizabethan poet Spenser (1552-1599), Oram (Smith College) contends that Spenser's mixed relationship with the court of Elizabeth I informed his self-image as a poet. Dependent upon this patron for approval and land ownership, yet wishing to be more than a literary court jester, he extended his English poetic heritage with experimental forays into nearly every nondramatic genre. His epic, The Faerie Queen is critiqued in the context of related shorter works--in the order in which they were published; his legacy is briefly discussed. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR