Synopsis

Book Five of The Faerie Queene is Spenser's Legend of Justice. It tells of the knight Artegall's efforts to rid Faerie Land of tyranny and injustice, aided by his sidekick Talus and the timely intervention of his betrothed, the woman warrior Britomart. As allegory, Book Five figures forth ideal concepts of justice and explores how justice may be applied in a real world complicated by social inequality, female rule, political guile, and excessive violence. At the same time, as historical allegory, it retells a number of the most important events of early modern England, in particular the controversies surrounding the colonization of Ireland. An integral part of the larger poem, Book Five also stands on its own as one of the most challenging meditations on justice in English literature.

The Faerie Queene from Hackett Publishing Company:
Spenser's great work in five volumes. Each includes its own Introduction, annotation, notes on the text, bibliography, glossary, and index of characters; Spenser's "Letter to Raleigh" and a short Life of Edmund Spenser appear in every volume.

Library Journal

Books one and five (two, three, and four are coming later--figure that one out) of Spenser's opus get the red-carpet treatment. Each volume has an introduction, annotations, bibliography, glossary to get you through the old English, character index, and more. Footnotes mercifully appear at the bottom of each page so you don't have to flip constantly to the back. Nice for the academics. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Biography

A C Hamilton is the retired Cappon Professor Emeritus at Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. He is the General Editor of Spenser Encyclopedia.