As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughout history in all forms of art to illustrate or convey complex ideas and concepts in ways that are comprehensible or striking to its viewers, readers, or listeners.
A baldric is a belt worn over one shoulder that is typically used to carry a weapon or other implement such as a bugle or drum. The word may also refer to any belt in general, but this usage is poetic or archaic. In modern contexts, military drum majors usually wear a baldric.
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of nascent Modern English verse, and he is considered one of the great poets in the English language.
Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in December 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. It marked a shift away from Scott's prior practice of setting stories in Scotland and in the more recent past. It became one of Scott's best-known and most influential novels.
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures, a form of spirit, often with metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural qualities.
A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system. In the spiritual literature of Christianity, the concept of pilgrim and pilgrimage may refer to the experience of life in the world or to the inner path of the spiritual aspirant from a state of wretchedness to a state of beatitude.
The Faerie Queene is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books I–III were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IV–VI. The Faerie Queene is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 stanzas, it is one of the longest poems in the English language; it is also the work in which Spenser invented the verse form known as the Spenserian stanza. On a literal level, the poem follows several knights as a means to examine different virtues, and though the text is primarily an allegorical work, it can be read on several levels of allegory, including as praise of Queen Elizabeth I. In Spenser's "Letter of the Authors", he states that the entire epic poem is "cloudily enwrapped in Allegorical devices", and that the aim of publishing The Faerie Queene was to "fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline".
Richard Barnfield was an English poet. His relationship with William Shakespeare has long made him interesting to scholars. It has been suggested that he was the "rival poet" mentioned in Shakespeare's sonnets.
Thomas Warton was an English literary historian, critic, and poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1785, following the death of William Whitehead.
Eichstätt is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district of Eichstätt. It is located on the Altmühl river and has a population of around 13,000. Eichstätt is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Eichstätt.
Fairyland (Early Modern English: Faerie; Scots: Elfame in English and Scottish folklore is the fabulous land or abode of fairies or fays. Old French faierie referred to an illusion or enchantment, the land of the faes. Modern English fairy transferred the name of the realm of the fays to its inhabitants, e.g., the expression fairie knight in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene refers to a "supernatural knight" or a "knight of Faerie" but was later re-interpreted as referring to a knight who is "a fairy".
Innogen is a character in the Historia Regum Britanniae and subsequent medieval British pseudo-history. She was said to have been a Greek princess, the daughter of King Pandrasus, and to have become Britain's first Queen consort as the wife of Brutus of Troy, the purported first king of Britain who was said to have lived around the 12th century BC. Her sons Locrinus, Camber, and Albanactus went on to rule Loegria, Cambria, and Alba respectively.
Cramp-rings are rings anciently worn as a cure for cramp and "falling-sickness" or epilepsy. The legend is that the first one was presented to Edward the Confessor by a pilgrim on his return from Jerusalem, its miraculous properties being explained to the king. At his death it passed into the keeping of the abbot of Westminster, by whom it was used medically and was known as St Edwards Ring. From that time the belief grew that the successors of Edward inherited his powers, and that the rings blessed by them worked cures.
William Edward Frost was an English painter of the Victorian era. Virtually alone among English artists in the middle Victorian period, he devoted his practice to the portrayal of the female nude.
Orgoglio is a literary character in Edmund Spenser's famous epic The Faerie Queene. He appears in the seventh canto of Book One as a beast and attacks the main character, Redcrosse, who symbolizes the ultimate Christian knight, during a moment of weakness. "Orgoglio" means "pride" in Italian. In chapter IX of Waverley, by Sir Walter Scott, the manor of Bradwardyne is compared to the castle of Orgoglio.
Walsingham was a popular Elizabethan ballad tune. There are various versions of the lyrics, which relate to a pilgrimage site, suppressed during the English Reformation.
The House of Pride is a notable setting in Edmund Spenser's epic poem The Faerie Queene. The actions of cantos IV and V in Book I take place there, and readers have associated the structure with several allegories pertinent to the poem.
The Political and Ecclesiastical Allegory of the First Book of the Faerie Queene is a book written by Frederick Morgan Padelford to explain the allegories within the poem The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser. The book was first published in 1911 in Boston by Ginn and Company as part of a series of University of Washington publications. The book has been republished since and is widely cited in papers and books related to the study of Spenser and his works.
Arthur Sutherland Pigott Woodhouse (1895–1964) was a Canadian professor of English at the University of Toronto, a leading authority on the works and times of the English Poet John Milton.
