This very little book deals with a very big author. It might be helpful to say briefly what goes on in it. The first two chapters cover Spenser's life and shorter works, with the exception of the Fowre Hymnes and the Amoretti, which are considered in the last chapter. The next five deal with some of the more major questions which arise from the breathtaking complexity of The Faerie Queene. These chapters approach the poem thematically rather than sequentially, but the majority of examples in Chapters 3 and 4 come from the first three books of the poem. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 range more widely, but shift their attention towards the second three books of the poem. These later chapters are a shade more difficult, too, since the issues which they address take me into some of the more complex areas in a very complex poem. The Mutabilitie Cantos, which were published after Spenser's death, are discussed under several headings. They reflect on so many of the areas which Spenser was exploring in the rest of the poem that I found the best way to deal with them was to approach them from several angles. At the back of the book there is a summary of the main actions in The Faerie Queene to assist those who have not read, or who cannot remember, all of it. Notes have been kept to the barest minimum, often, I fear, to the extent of being rude to the very many scholars to whom I owe debts. I hope that in the Select Bibliography I have done something to redress the balance.

I would like to thank Gavin Alexander and J. A. Burrow for their expert scrutiny, and Miranda for being so tolerant of the many occasions on which I was in the loft writing it when I should have been somewhere else. And, although it is a small book, I would like to dedicate it to her with love.