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15

THE RED CROSS KNIGHT

Edmund Spense: was born twelve years before Shakespeare and seven years before Elizabeth came to the throne of England. His great poem The Faery Queen has been the source of delight and inspiration to many later poets. Spenser used some words and spellings that were old in his own time, but in his day spelling was very irregular. You will have little difficulty in reading the poem, however, if you pronounce the words. as they are spelt. The stanzas given are from the beginning of the poem.

I

A gentle knight was pricking on the plaine
Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe woundes did remaine,
The cruell markes of many a bloody fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield.
His angry steede did chide his foaming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
Full jolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.

II

But on his brest a bloodie crosse he bore,

The deare remembrance of his dying Lord,

For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore,

And dead as living ever him ador’d:

Upon his shield the like was also scor'd,

For soveraine hope, which in his helpe he had.

Right faithfull true he was in deede and word;

But of his cheere did seeme too solemne sad;
Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad.

III

Upon a great adventure he was bond,
That greatest Gloriana to him gave,

That greatest glorious queene of Faery Lond,
To winne him worshippe, and her grace to have
Which of all earthly thinges he most did crave;
And ever as he rode his heart did earne
To prove his puissance in battell brave
Upon his foe, and his new force to learne
Upon his foe, a dragon horrible and stearne.

IV

A lovely ladie rode him faire beside,
Upon a lowly asse more white than snow,

5

10

Yet she much whiter, but the same did hide
Under a vele, that wimpled was full low;
And over all a black stole shee did throw:
As one that innly mournd, so was she sad ;
And heavie sate upon her palfrey slow:
Seemed in heart some hidden care she had;
And by her in a line a milkewhite lambe she lad.

V

So pure and innocent as that same lambe,
She was in life and every vertuous lore;
And by descent from royall lynage came

Of ancient kinges and queenes, that had of yore

Their scepters stretcht from east to westerne shore,
And all the world in their subjection held;

Till that infernall feend with foule uprore

5 For wasted all their land, and then expeld;

10

Whom to avenge, she had this knight from far compeld.

VI

Behind her farre away a dwarf did lag,
That lasie seemd, in being ever last

Or wearied with bearing of her bag

Of needments at his backe. Thus as they past
The day with cloudes was suddeine overcast,
And angry Jove an hideous storme of raine

Did poure into his lemans lap so fast,

That everie wight to shrowd it did constraine,

15 And this faire couple eke to shroud themselves were fain.

20

VII

Enforst to seeke some covert nigh at hand,
A shadie grove not farr away they spide,
That promist ayde the tempest to withstand,
Whose loftie trees, yclad with sommers pride,
Did spred so broad, that heavens light did hide,
Not perceable with power of any starr;

And all within were pathes and alleies wide,
With footing worne, and leading inward farr.

Farie harbour that them seemes, so in they entred ar.

EDMUND SPENSER: The Faery Queen.

HELPS TO STUDY

1. Who is introduced in the first stanza? 2. What do we learn about the knight in the second stanza? 3. What did the red cross signify? 4. What does the red cross signify to-day? 5. Who was Gloriana? 6. Against what foe was the knight bound?

7. Who is described in the fourth stanza? 8. Who accompany the lady? 9. What do we learn of the dragon in stanza five? refuge which the knight and lady found from the storm.

10. Describe the

11. In each stanza what lines rhyme with one another? 12. As you read do you see any difference between the effect of one of these Spenserian stanzas and that of a ballad stanza, as in "Sir Patrick Spens"? 13. In the first stanza what words have a different spelling from that in use to-day? 14. In the seventh stanza where should we use the apostrophe? 15. Select several lines that seem to you especially melodious. 16. What other writers lived at the same time as Spenser? was queen of England during his lifetime? 18. What do you know of his two friends, Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Walter Raleigh? 19. Name as many English poets as you can. 20. Name one or more poems by

each.

17. Who

Notes: I. pricking, riding, spurring; jolly, gallant; giusts, jousts. II. cheere, countenance, expression; ydrad, dreaded. III. bond, bound; earn, yearn; puissance, power. IV. wimpled, pleated; stole, veil; palfrey, horse. V. lynage, lineage; forwasted, utterly laid waste; compeld, summoned. VI. needments, necessities; lemans, loved ones, i.e., the earth's; wight, person; shrowd, shelter; constrain, compel, force; eke, also. VII. enforst, enforced; yclad, clothed; that them seemes, that seems to them.

DON QUIXOTE

I. DON QUIXOTE PLANS FOR HIS ADVENTURES

The novel Don Quixote is the masterpiece of Spanish literature and the first great modern novel. It was written by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) who was the author of various tales and dramas. Its hero, Don Quixote, is pictured as a country gentleman who read romances until his head was turned, and he started out as a knight errant seeking adventures such as he had read of in books of chivalry. Cervantes wrote long after the time of Roland or of Richard the Lion Hearted; and in the topsy-turvy adventures of his knight he ridiculed not true chivalry but the absurdities and extravagancies of the romances of his own time.

In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind, there lived not long since one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, and an old buckler, a lean hack, and a greyhound for coursing. 5 An olla of rather more beef than mutton, a salad on most nights, scraps on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, and a pigeon or so extra on Sundays, made away with three-quarters of his income. The rest of it went in a doublet of fine cloth and velvet breeches and shoes to match for holidays, while 10 on week-days he made a brave figure in his best homespun. He had in his house a housekeeper past forty, a niece under twenty, and a lad for the field and marketplace, who used to saddle the hack. as well as handle the pruning hook. The age of this gentleman of ours was bordering on fifty; 15 he was of a hardy habit, spare, gaunt-featured, a very early riser and a great sportsman. Some will have it his surname