Spenserian Allegory and Elizabethan Biblical Exegesis A Context for the Faerie Queene

Typological reading, a strategy for biblical exegesis developed in ancient times and practiced through the medieval period, was alive and well - indeed, inescapable - in Elizabethan sermons and liturgies. Spenserian allegory and Elizabethan biblical exegesis is the first book to show the relevance of this cultural habit to The Faerie Queene. A wealth of quotations from contemporary sources transports readers into the mindset of Elizabethans to allow an encounter with The Faerie Queene in a fresh and genuine way.

Preachers and liturgists mined the Bible for parallels of Elizabeth Tudor and other figures from current events. This study juxtaposes these biblical types with characters from Spenser's epic, offering fresh interpretations of the 'chronicle history' cantos, Florimell's adventures, the Souldan episode, Mercilla's judgment on Duessa, and even the two stanzas that close the Mutabilitie fragment.

Spenserian allegory and Elizabethan biblical exegesis will be of interest to students of Reformation theology and hermeneutics, students and scholars of Spenser's poetry, and those interested in the expanding field of sermon studies.

Edmund Spenser famously conceded to his friend Walter Raleigh that his method in The Faerie Queene 'will seeme displeasaunt' to those who would 'rather have good discipline delivered plainly in way of precepts, or sermoned at large'. Spenser's allegory and Elizabethan biblical exegesis is the first book-length study to clarify Spenser's comparison by introducing readers to the biblical typologies of contemporary sermons and liturgies. The result demonstrates that 'precepts ... sermoned at large' from lecterns and pulpits were themselves often 'clowdily enwrapped in allegoricall devises'. In effect, routine churchgoing prepared Spenser's first readers to enjoy and interpret The Faerie Queene.

A wealth of relevant quotations invites readers to adopt an Elizabethan mindset and encounter the poem afresh. The 'chronicle history' cantos, Florimell's adventures, the Souldan episode, Mercilla's judgment on Duessa and even the two stanzas that close the Mutabilitie fragment, all come into sharper focus when juxtaposed with contemporary religious rhetoric.