Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) was born in London. He received a good education first at Merchant Taylors' School and then at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He left Cambridge in 1576 and went to the north of England, where he fell in love and recorded his laments over the loss of Rosalind in The Shepheardes Calender. Later he met Sir Philip Sidney and started a friendship with him, which sprang from a common enthusiasm for literature. In 1580, through Leicester's influence, Spenser was made secretary to Lord Grey of Wilton, the queen's deputy in Ireland. In 1586 he was given an immense estate with the castle of Kilcolm, surrounded by great natural beauty. In 1594 he married Elizabeth, and wrote his Epithalamion, one of the most beautiful wedding hymns for their marriage. In 1598 a fierce Irish rebellion forced Spenser to abandon Kilcolman Castle. Spenser never recovered from the shock of this frightful experience. He returned to England heartbroken, and in the following year he died in an inn at Westminster. According to Ben Jonson he died "for want of bread." He was buried beside his  master Chaucer in Westminster Abbey.

Spenser's masterpiece is The Faerie Queene, a great poem of its age. According to Spenser's own explanation, his principal intention is to sent through a "historical poem" the example of a perfect gentleman: "to fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline." He speaks of 12 virtues of the private gentleman, and plans 12 books, each one with a different hero distinguished for one of the private virtues. The hero of heroes, who possesses all of these virtues, is Arthur, and he is to play a role in each of the 12 major adventures, which has its own inspanidual hero. The recurring appearances of Arthur serve as a unifying element for the poem as a whole. Another character contributing to the unity of the work is Gloriana, the Fairy Queen. It is from her court and at her bidding that each of the heroes sets out on his particular adventure. Prince Arthur's great mission is his search for the Fairy Queen, with whom he has fallen in love through a love vision. The Faerie Queene is full of adventures and marvels, dragons, witches, enchanted trees, giants, jousting knights, and castles. It is also an allegory. The Redcrosse Knight in Book I stands for St. George, the patron saint of England; he also resents Holiness, one of the 12 private virtues, as Sir Guyon in Book II resents Temperance. The heroes do not possess the virtues they resent at the beginning of the stories; they acquire them in the course of their adventures.

Book I of The Faerie Queene is in a way an epitome of the whole poem. The purpose of Redcrosse's quest is to free original mankind -- the parents of Una -- from the power of the Devil. His fight is thus against sin. Una and her knight are first seen together in the opening canto when Redcrosse easily routs the dragon of Error in the Wandering Wood. However, the fallen world of man is full of delusion, and the overconfident knight soon falls into the snares of Archimago. Redcrosse and Una are soon parted in Archimago's dark world of deceit as the knight falls for the illusory charms of Duessa, an evil woman. The quest against outer evil becomes an experience of inner sin. While Redcrosse falls further into error, Una is now facing a difficult situation in which evil forces pose a great threat to her.

Misled by his purely worldly chivalry, Rederosse is taken by Duessa to the House of Pride where he witnesses the pageant of the seven deadly sins. Redcrosse contrives to escape, but he falls y to Orgoglio, the spiritual pride which attacks him as soon as the flesh triumphs over the spirit. Only the arrival of Arthur saves the knight. Redcrosse then despairs at his error. This marks the beginning of his struggle back to truth, and he is comforted by Una who takes him to the House of Holiness where the process of his moral rebirth is concluded. After all this, Redcrosse is now ready to fight with the dragon which has been ravishing the Eden of Una's parents. After three days of fierce fighting, Redcrosse kills the dragon and rescues Una's parents. The story ends with a happy wedding between Redcrosse Knight and Una. However, the theme is not "Arms and the man," but something more romantic -- "Fierce warres and faithful loves." The scenery is not classical but romantic. There are plains and forests and caves and castles and magical trees and springs; one meets dwarfs and giants and lions and pilgrims and magicians. The good people are subjects of the Faerie Queene and are called Faeries, who undergo the trials and tribulations men undergo in the ordinary world; but these events are told in a romantic, fantastic way in order to arouse wonder. The bad creatures, people and monsters, are various vices, evils, and temptations, often revealed to the reader by their names or by the short verse summaries at the beginning of each canto but not revealed to the hero until he has conquered them. Houses, casules and animals also stand for abstract virtues or vices.

The five main qualities of Spenser's poetry are 1) a perfect melody; 2) a rare sense of beauty; 3) a splendid imagination; 4) a lofty moral purity and seriousness; and 5) a dedicated idealism. In addition to the above, Spenser uses strange forms of speech and obsolete words in order to increase the rustic effect. It is Spenser's idealism, his love of beauty, and his exquisite melody that make him known as "the poets' poet.”