In this course we will be exploring Spenser’s epic romance The Faerie Queene with the partial aim of seeing whether or not it still has things to say and enjoyment to offer to twenty-first century readers.
To accomplish this end, individually or in a small group, students may chose to direct their research towards a public scholarship project that will hopefully entice new readers to this old poem.
The parameters of this assignment are broad: you can do any number of things but your project / intervention will be linked to this site for the use of the general public.
Some Ideas:
- editing a children’s adaptation of The Faerie Queene. Available public domain texts can be found at The Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books (Toronto Public Library): https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/search/Spenser
- preparing and recording a short puppet show or other short video presentation of a scene from the poem
- visualizing a scene from the poem through drawing, building, crafting, etc. (in any medium you are comfortable with, such as LEGO; colored pencils, pens, watercolour, etc. on paper; digital drawing, mapmaking, etc.)
- create a game based on the narrative of one or more plot strands of the poem.
These are just examples; I am happy to entertain any ideas that you would like to explore.
Image Credit: “Princess Britomart, disguised as a knight, fulfilling a vow to her absent lover, rescues the Lady Amoret from durance vile by slaying the monster Busyran.” – Spenser’s Faerie Queene, Book IV. Canto I.” Artist: Mary F. Raphael. Type: Oil on canvas. Date: 1898. Source: Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1898. Wikimedia Commons from https://www.flickr.com/photos/sofi01/8557228456 Public Domain.