Quiz Guide: Spenser's A View of the Present State of Ireland, Introduction to Spenser, Letter to Raleigh, and Raliegh's "A vision"
Spenser's A View (online)
- Who called the Plantations "extirpations"? What did he mean?
- When was A View printed? Why?
- According to the Introduction, what Irish faults does Irenius list in A View?
- Irenius lists some "old English" families who have "gone native" (my phrase) and who are now worse than the Irish themselves. Give some examples.
- During whose reign does Irenius say Ireland was "planted" with English?
- What is the first barbarous fault Irenius lists? What two customs, according to him, led to that "fault"?
- Whom does Irenius compare to apes? Why?
- Irenius lists some graphic effects of "manurance," as he calls it. Quote two of those.
Introduction to Spenser and The Faerie Queene (138-141)
- Who are the "often absent" central figure and the "always absent" heroine?
- Under which two individuals did Spenser serve as secretary?
- What "direct royal patronage" did Spenser receive?
- How are Spenser's sonnets a "departure" from the sonnets of his contemporaries?
- How does Spenser's Epithalamium commemorate his marriage to Elizabeth Boyle?
- What six virtues inform the six books of Spenser's Faerie Queene? Which seventh virtue was left unfinished?
- Who is the hero of Book 1? Who are the earthly and heavenly heroines?
- Who are the hero and villain of book 2?
- In his writing of The Faerie Queene, Spenser imitated what models?
- The Faerie Queene has been called a "dynastic epic" celebrating the "Tudor myth." What real historical development, according to the introduction, does the Faerie Queene "allegorize"?
Letter to Raleigh (240-44)
- Spenser's letter to Raleigh was included in the 1590 edition of The Faerie Queene. Why might it have been removed from the 1596 edition?
- What does Spenser says is the "general end...of all the book"?
- Apparently Spenser planned to write the first half of his work about the "private moral virtues" and the second about political virtues. Which works by Tasso used a similar division?
- Spenser says he will "shadow" (represent) Elizabeth in both Gloriana and in Belphoebe. Why?
- How does Spenser distinguish the historiographer from the poet?