Welcome to Edmund Spenser’s 1590s epic poem, The Faerie Queene. This richly illustrated, text-faithful, line-by-line prose rendering transports modern listeners into a vast narrative tapestry. Knights traverse diverse fantastical landscapes including the shadowy depths of an enchanted forest, a treacherous underwater lair, a mysterious subterranean kingdom, and the deadly Bower of Bliss.

Through these realms stride Spenser’s unforgettable knights—brave yet fallible, powerful yet vulnerable—as they confront ferocious monsters, cunning wizards, beguiling enchantresses, and even encounter young Prince Arthur, who wanders Faerie Land consumed by his passion for Gloriana, the elusive Faerie Queene.

Many have attempted to read Spenser’s original masterpiece only to retreat, daunted by language that was deliberately archaic even in Elizabethan times. Classical educator Rebecca K. Reynolds bridges this gap, crafting a prose adaptation that gradually introduces more of Spenser’s distinctive vocabulary and diction. By the final volume, listeners will find themselves prepared to engage directly with Spenser’s original text with confidence and delight.

For four hundred years, Spenser’s realm has captivated powerful creative minds, igniting literary movements and inspiring countless works. So, take a few first steps with us through the mist-shrouded edges of Faerie Land. As C.S. Lewis wisely observed: “The Faerie Queene never loses a reader it has once gained... Once you have become an inhabitant of its world, being tired of it is like being tired of London, or of life.”


VOLUME THREE:
BOOK FIVE:
Sir Artegall, champion of justice, and his merciless iron companion Talus embark on a mission that has troubled readers for centuries. Here Spenser’s allegory becomes most explicitly political, presenting a problematic defense of English policies that has challenged even his most devoted admirers. Yet within this controversial framework lie profound meditations on the nature of justice itself—questions about mercy versus rigid law, order versus freedom, and the corrupting nature of power. Book Five’s tensions and ambiguities are capable of both warning and guiding all who seek to wield power in a strange new world.

BOOK SIX:
Spenser’s pastoral roots burst forth in this tale of Sir Calidore, the knight of courtesy. Within Book Six, the most civilized knight of Faerie Land finds himself lured away from his solemn quest to capture The Blatant Beast, a monster representing slander and malicious gossip. In this last complete tale of The Faerie Queene, our weary poet seems to shed the constraints of courtly flattery, turning instead to celebrate the authentic beauties of rural life. Amidst shepherds and rustic dances, Spenser reveals some of his most profound insights, suggesting that true courtesy might flourish most naturally far from the calculated manners of court.

This set also contains a rendering of Spenser's alternate ending to Book Three as well as a rendering of the Cantos of Mutabilitie, a fragment contained after Spenser's death.