Fairy in The faerie queene cover

Fairy in The faerie queene

by Matthew Woodcock

"This book reasserts the importance of fairy mythology in The Faerie Queene by demonstrating how Spenser places fairy at the very centre of his mythopoeic project. Matthew Woodcock argues that despite the continued innovations in the poem to deconstruct Gloriana, Spenser's identification of Queen Elizabeth I with the fairy queen figure is far more ambiguous than has previously been recognized. The poet is engaged both in constructing a mythological persona for the queen and in drawing attention to his own role as laureate and myth-maker. Spenser's 'elf-fashioning' is therefore a vital part of his authorial self-fashioning." "Fairy in The Faerie Queene is the first extended examination of the poem to locate Spenser's work within the context of early modern conceptions and representations of fairy and to discuss the representation of Elizabeth as the fairy queen in relation to the vast range of studies on Elizabethan myth-making."--Jacket.

Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?