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A review by heliogabalous_vrz
The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser
5.0
I picked up this book on a whim from a local vintage shop, and after some research on it discovered its reputation as extremely difficult, and after reading the first line decided to let it sit on my shelf to collect dust.
A few months later after reading through Harold Bloom's "Best poets of the English language" I encountered Spenser again and was intrigued again by Spenser, so I picked up my copy expecting the previous difficulty, but I was instead greeted with one of by best reading experiences ever.
The Faerie Queen makes almost every other poets magnum opus read like some undergrad's notes app poetry. The world he creates is intoxicating, shockingly modern, but also indescribably ancient. Anyway I don't have much to say besides it's fantastic, one of the best books of all time, and if you can get through two pages of unmodernised Chaucer with notes, this should be light-effort if you're invested enough to do a little side research while reading it.
A few months later after reading through Harold Bloom's "Best poets of the English language" I encountered Spenser again and was intrigued again by Spenser, so I picked up my copy expecting the previous difficulty, but I was instead greeted with one of by best reading experiences ever.
The Faerie Queen makes almost every other poets magnum opus read like some undergrad's notes app poetry. The world he creates is intoxicating, shockingly modern, but also indescribably ancient. Anyway I don't have much to say besides it's fantastic, one of the best books of all time, and if you can get through two pages of unmodernised Chaucer with notes, this should be light-effort if you're invested enough to do a little side research while reading it.