This revised and enlarged Fourth Edition expands and improves on the
strengths of the previous three editions. All selections are based on
early and established texts, fully glossed, and carefully annotated. An
Editor's Note follows each section.
This new edition addresses the shifts in scholarly and critical
interests in Spenser studies since 1993 as well as access provided by
new technology. Notes reflect the information that Spenser's best
readers would have at their fingertips without spoiling the pleasure of
reading Spenser for the first time. Mother Hubberds Tale from the 1591
Complaints is newly included. The Ruines of Rome, Spenser's
translation of Joachim Du Bellay's Antiquitez, is also added to give
readers the chance to see Spenser at work as a translator and to give
the English perspective on Rome. Sixteen critical essays have been added
to supplement fourteen earlier commentaries. Among the perspectives new
to the Fourth Edition are those of C. S Lewis, Martha Craig, Gordon
Teskey, Jeff Dolven, David Wilson-Okamura, and Jennifer Summit.
In keeping with the last edition, critical pieces on the House of
Busyrane, Spenser's pastoral, Muiopotmos, and Amoretti are grouped
together to facilitate classroom discussion. New selections from Jane
Grogan, Andrew D. Hadfield, Colin Burrow, Lynn Staley, Lauren Silberman,
and A. E. B. Coldiron join the readings on House of Busyrane, and
"Amoretti" grows with selections by A. Leigh DeNeef and Helena Mennie
Shire.
A Chronology of Spenser's life and an extensive Bibliography are also
included.
