A GENTLE KNIGHT, the
Redcross
Knight, representing the church
militant, and Reformed England.
militant, and Reformed England.
Spenser - Faerie Queene - 1
O DEAREST DRED, O beloved object of reverence; a common salutation of
royalty.
CANTO I
I. _The Plot:_ At the bidding of Gloriana, the Redcross Knight undertakes
to deliver Una's parents from a dragon who holds them captive. He sets out
upon his quest attended by a dwarf and guided by Una, mounted on an ass and
leading a lamb. They are driven by a storm into a forest, where they
discover the cave of Error, who is slain by the Knight. They are then
beguiled into the house of Archimago, an old enchanter. By his magic he
leads the Knight in a dream to believe that Una is false to him, and thus
separates them.
II. _The Allegory:_ 1. Holiness, the love of God, united with Truth, the
knowledge of God, is to deliver man from the thraldom of the Devil.
Together they are able to overthrow Error; but Hypocrisy deceitfully
alienates Holiness from Truth by making the latter appear unworthy of love.
2. There is a hint of the intrigues of the false Roman church and the
treacherous Spanish king, Philip II, to undermine the religious and
political freedom of the English people. The English nation, following the
Reformed church, overthrows the Catholic faith, but is deceived by the
machinations of Spanish diplomacy.
LINE 1.
A GENTLE KNIGHT, the Redcross Knight, representing the church
militant, and Reformed England. He is the young, untried champion of the
old cause whose struggles before the Reformation are referred to in ll. 3,
4. His shield bore "a cross gules upon a field argent," a red cross on a
silver ground. See _The Birth of St. George_ in Percy's _Reliques_, iii, 3,
and Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_, iii, 65.
15. FOR SOVERAINE HOPE, as a sign of the supreme hope.
20. GREATEST GLORIANA, Queen Elizabeth. In other books of _The Faerie
Queene_ she is called Belphoebe, the patroness of chastity, and Britomart,
the military genius of Britain.
27. A DRAGON, "the great dragon, that old serpent, called the devil,"
_Revelation_, xii, 9, also Rome and Spain. Cf. legend of St. George and the
dragon, and Fletcher's _Purple Island_, vii _seq.
royalty.
CANTO I
I. _The Plot:_ At the bidding of Gloriana, the Redcross Knight undertakes
to deliver Una's parents from a dragon who holds them captive. He sets out
upon his quest attended by a dwarf and guided by Una, mounted on an ass and
leading a lamb. They are driven by a storm into a forest, where they
discover the cave of Error, who is slain by the Knight. They are then
beguiled into the house of Archimago, an old enchanter. By his magic he
leads the Knight in a dream to believe that Una is false to him, and thus
separates them.
II. _The Allegory:_ 1. Holiness, the love of God, united with Truth, the
knowledge of God, is to deliver man from the thraldom of the Devil.
Together they are able to overthrow Error; but Hypocrisy deceitfully
alienates Holiness from Truth by making the latter appear unworthy of love.
2. There is a hint of the intrigues of the false Roman church and the
treacherous Spanish king, Philip II, to undermine the religious and
political freedom of the English people. The English nation, following the
Reformed church, overthrows the Catholic faith, but is deceived by the
machinations of Spanish diplomacy.
LINE 1.
A GENTLE KNIGHT, the Redcross Knight, representing the church
militant, and Reformed England. He is the young, untried champion of the
old cause whose struggles before the Reformation are referred to in ll. 3,
4. His shield bore "a cross gules upon a field argent," a red cross on a
silver ground. See _The Birth of St. George_ in Percy's _Reliques_, iii, 3,
and Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_, iii, 65.
15. FOR SOVERAINE HOPE, as a sign of the supreme hope.
20. GREATEST GLORIANA, Queen Elizabeth. In other books of _The Faerie
Queene_ she is called Belphoebe, the patroness of chastity, and Britomart,
the military genius of Britain.
27. A DRAGON, "the great dragon, that old serpent, called the devil,"
_Revelation_, xii, 9, also Rome and Spain. Cf. legend of St. George and the
dragon, and Fletcher's _Purple Island_, vii _seq.
