Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser was born in London about 1552, and died there in 1599. He was the greatest of the non-dramatic poets of the age of Elizabeth; and the “Faerie Queene” is the longest and most famous of his works. The first three books were published in 1590, the second three in 1596; of the remaining six which he had planned some fragments were issued after his death. The poem is a combination of allegory and romance; and in this prefactory letter to Raleigh the poet himself explains the plan of the work and its main allegorical signification.

Prefatory Letter to Sir Walter Raleigh On The Faerie Queene