Edited by G W Kitchin with a glossary by the Rev A. L. Mayhew. 
 
The Faerie Queene is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books I–III were first published in 1590.” Spenser's “The Faerie Queene” is an allegorical romance, symbolizing the moral and spiritual journey of an individual through innumerable temptations of sins towards the ultimate attainment of glory and truth.

It follows the adventures of a number of medieval knights. The poem, written in a deliberately archaic style, draws on history and myth, particularly the legends of Arthur. Each book follows the adventures of a knight who represents a particular virtue (holiness, temperance, chastity, friendship, justice and courtesy) and who has that quality in him or herself tested by the plot.