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If you haven't read my Reader's Diary of The Faerie Queen Book I, you'll want to do that first. Otherwise, this particular review is going to make very little sense to you as I have absolutely no intention of repeating everything I said the first time. (You too can breathe a sigh of relief over that one!) In quick summary: book one was about Una and the Red Cross Knight and focused on holiness. Book two focuses on the virtue of temperance. (Each book focuses on a different virtue.)
I would not have made it through book two (and just barely did at that!) without the Cliff Notes
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My favorite part of this book was in Canto vii when Guyon comes up against a wretched guy named Mammon. At this point in the story, Guyon is briefly separated from Palmer and probably has a rougher time escaping from Mammon than was really necessary. Mammon tempts and teases Guyon to change his holy course and accept both riches and a beautiful maiden (Mammon's daughter) but Guyon refuses. After managing to get away from Mammon without falling prey to the temptations, Guyon faints dead away.
At this point, an angel comes and takes watch over Guyon until Palmer reenters the picture and stands guard over the body as his master recovers. While Guyon is passed out, two really really bad guys (Pyrochles & Cymochles) come upon him and wish to do him evil. They manage to remove his armor but before they can kill him, Arthur (yes, THE Arthur) arrives on the scene and pretty much saves the day, destroying Pyrochles and Cymochles both. The picture this paints is of Christ coming to save the day and spare the lives of His beloved. While we were yet sinners (asleep) He came to save.
Spenser writes at the beginning of Canto viii:
And is there care in heaven? and is there loue
In heauenly spirits to thse creatures bace,
That may compassion of their euils moue?
There is: else much more wretched were the cace
Of men, then beasts. But o th'exceeding grace
Of highest God, that loues his creatures so,
And all his works with mercy doth embrace,
That blessed Angels, he sends to and fro,
To serue to wicked man, to serue his wicked foe.
In other words, how great is our God who would send help and care to us in our hour of need, without our realizing it or even being aware of the fact that there is danger around us? He thinks about us when we aren't thinking for ourselves or anyone else! He surrounds and preserves us when we don't deserve it. He is present in our failures and weakest moments. He proves His love for us over and over again.
THAT section of poetry swelled my heart larger than the Grinch on Christmas Day.
Your love is amazing
Steady and unchanging
Your love is a mountain
Firm beneath my feet
Your love is a mystery
How You gently life me
When I am surrounded
Your love carries me
Mysteriously beautiful is how I would describe Spenser's poetry. I don't claim understanding but I can tell you that it is beautiful. It is beyond me but I will work at it because I think it's valuable. There are gold nuggets to be picked up here and there and I aim to find them! So if you stick around, eventually I'll get to Book Three. However, I think I shall take another little break first!
4 comments:
Kudos to you for persevering through a difficult piece of literature and finding the gold in it!
Congratulations! This is hard (poetry isn't easy for me either) and I haven't tried the Faerie Queen yet, but I've enjoyed watching your progress.
Congratulations! I can't even say for sure that I've read all the way through The Faerie Queen. (I know I've read large chunks of it, but I think my professors abridged our reading, and I've never returned for the full dose.)
For the record, I'm a big fan of Cliffs Notes (or Sparknotes, which I think are even better) for providing a little boost.
I'm glad you are delving and that the extra notations were helpful. If you ever change entirely and think that poetry might be for you, Mary Oliver's book House of Light is the best I've ever read. It won the 1984 Pulitzer but rightly so (not something I say about most things that won that prize). Blessings on you!
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