allegory
A form of narrative in which the characters and places are symbols.
analog
A counterpart to another person or thing. Spenser used many fictional characters in The Faerie Queene to represent their real-world analogs of his own era.
bower
A bower can be either a medieval woman's private chamber or an arbor filled with trees and flowers. Spenser uses it to mean both in Acrasia's sinful Bower of Bliss.
canto
The principal form of division in a long poem. Cantos serve the purpose that chapters fill in prose works.
Catholic
The tradition of Christianity that traces its spiritual hierarchy to the Apostle Peter from the New Testament. In Spenser's day, the Roman Catholic church was a political as well as a religious organization, and its adherents were often people groups opposed to British dominance, such as the Irish.
chastity
In Spenser, chastity is more than simply sexual abstinence. It is a singleness of purpose in pursuing only one beloved and remaining faithful to that love even prior to marriage.
chivalric epic
A long narrative telling the adventures of medieval knights who engage in behavior appropriate to the code of conduct for noble warriors.
courtesy
In Spenser's day, courtesy was more than simply good manners. Courtesy is derived from the courts, where noble men and women would gather and practice appropriate etiquette. Courtesy is evidence of one's noble heritage and (in the sixteenth-century mind) inherent superiority to lower-born people.
dwarf
A person whose body does not produce the proper growth hormones to reach the commonly attained height. In medieval romances, dwarfs were often made the servants of ladies, implying that they were considered "safe" in that they were believed to be sexless an posed no threat to a lady's virtue.
faerie
Strange or different in a supernatural way.
girdle
A wide belt, often worn for decoration but also functional in holding a dress in place.
holiness
The state of being set apart for God's special purposes.
justice
The ability to hand out wise and fair decisions balanced between mercy and truth.
noble
In Spenser's England, noble meant more than today's definition as "praiseworthy." Nobility was a part of one's heritage, related to rank in society and position in a family of aristocratic background.
Protestant
So-named for the protests against Catholicism by Martin Luther and many others, the Protestantism of Spenser's day was as much political as it was religious. Queen Elizabeth was of the Protestant persuasion, giving Protestant writers and politicians the freedom to denigrate and vilify the Catholic Church in England and abroad.
squire
A servant dedicated to a knight; many squires were of noble birth, but lacked the finances to become fully-fledged knights. For many, their apprenticeship to a knight was their best chance at attaining knighthood themselves.
symbol
A person, place, or thing that stands for something other than, and usually more universal or abstract than, itself.
temperance
The virtue of self-control in the face of temptation or frustration.
tetrad
A group of four. Spenser used tetrads in Book 4 of The Faerie Queene in keeping with his Platonist philosophy, in which the number four was the number of balance and completion.
virtue
A moral quality of the highest order that should be practiced both privately and publicly.
