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— William Blake

Does the Eagle know what is in the pit?

Or wilt thou go ask the Mole:

Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod?

Or Love in a golden bowl?

…

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noun

One who, or that which, accelerates.

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PURPOSE OF THE EDITION

22 lines
Edmund Spenser·1552–1599
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hen reading a book such as _The Faerie Queene_, it is temptingto minimize the looking up of difficult words, which are oftenglossed, if at all, in the end pages. Although Spenser's use ofcertain words appears quaint and lumpish, the language issuperficially modern enough to enable the reader to "get by".Yet such an approach can lead only to a faulty appreciation ofthe poem, and deprives one of much enchantment. Queen Elizabethwould have found nothing lumpish about the language: her onlyimpatience might have been with Spenser's weakness for archaisms.To her, the _FQ_ will have revealed Spenser's exact and liberalstyle in all its glory: his words almost always make perfectsense. The purpose of this edition is to make the language of the poemreadily accessible. Interruptions to consult separatedictionaries and so on are eliminated, preserving as far aspossible the flow of reading and accelerating one's apprehensionof the poem. The sustained power and scope of Spenser's master-work, of his"sacred fury", comprise a feat unsurpassed in English literature.But, by its very nature, language changes with time, and accessto Spenser's magic kingdom is becoming ever more difficult. Ihope this edition provides a key.
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