Spenser

Church, R. W. (Richard William), 1815-1890Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.4

Word count: 333K words
Chapters: 34

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Spenser by R. W. ChurchAuthor: Church, R. W. (Richard William), 1815-1890,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jan 27, 2010

Editor's review

This is R. W. Church's critical biography of Spenser, a short work of the kind produced by Victorian men of letters, made available as a free electronic text by Project Gutenberg. Its value lies not in offering the latest scholarship but in showing how a nineteenth-century critic understood the author of The Faerie Queene: Church traces Spenser's life and principal works in relatively accessible prose, placing the poet in the political and religious context of the Elizabethan age, with clear language and manageable length. For general readers it is a buffer before tackling Spenser, a "difficult classic"; for students of the history of English literary criticism it serves as a specimen of Victorian reception. It is best read as a "guide" rather than a "verdict," with attention to the gap between the author's period standpoint and today's scholarly perspective.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English literature readers who want a preliminary understanding of Spenser's life and the background of his works
Readers interested in Victorian literary criticism and biographical writing
Those who want an accessible guide before reading The Faerie Queene
Learners with good English reading ability who prefer free public-domain texts

Not a good fit for

Spenser scholars who need contemporary scholarly perspectives or the latest research
Readers who want detailed textual analysis of The Faerie Queene book by book
General readers who find English difficult and want a Chinese introductory work

Reading tips

Read the biographical section first to build a framework of his life, then use the book's discussion of the major works to understand his creative development.
Note the author's period standpoint while reading, and distinguish nineteenth-century evaluations from today's scholarly views.
If reading The Faerie Queene at the same time, return to the corresponding discussion after each book as background supplementation.
The book is short; read it in two or three sittings, and after each, summarize the main points in your own words to aid retention.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a collection of Spenser's works or a biography?

This is R. W. Church's critical biography of the poet Edmund Spenser, focusing on his life, historical background, and major works rather than collecting Spenser's original writings. To read The Faerie Queene and other works themselves, you need to find the texts elsewhere.

Are the views in the book still authoritative?

The book was written in the nineteenth century and reflects a Victorian critical perspective; both its language and judgments bear the mark of that era. It remains useful for understanding Spenser's life and the outlines of his works, but it should not be treated as contemporary scholarly authority; for specific textual analysis, consult more recent research.

Do I need to read Spenser's works before this book?

It is not required, but reading some of Spenser's original work first will make the book more rewarding. If you have no prior exposure, you can use this book as an introductory guide to get a sense of his life and the contours of his works, then decide whether to delve into long works such as The Faerie Queene.

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About the author

Church, R. W. (Richard William), 1815-1890 Author

Richard William Church (1815–1890) was an English Anglican clergyman and church historian. Four of his works are held in this collection: The Oxford Movement Twelve Years, 1833-1845, Bacon, Spenser, and Occasional Papers. The book on the Oxford Movement draws on his own experience to trace that revival within the Church of England in the nineteenth century; its careful narrative and graceful prose have kept it among the standard firsthand accounts of the subject. The two short biographies deal with the philosopher Bacon and the poet Spenser, concise in form and focused on character and historical setting. Occasional Papers gathers his essays and reviews. Public information is limited and biographical details are hard to establish, but his writing clearly spans church history and English literature, in a plain, restrained style that excels at narrative and character assessment.