Faerie Queene, Book Two

From its opening scenes--in which the hero refrains from fighting a duel, then discovers that his horse has been stolen--Book Two of The Faerie Queene redefines the nature of heroism and of chivalry. Its hero is Sir Guyon, the knight of Temperance, whose challenges frequently take the form of temptations. Accompanied by a holy Palmer in place of a squire, Guyon struggles to subdue himself as well as his enemies. His adventures lead up to a climactic encounter with the arch-temptress Acrasia in her Bower of Bliss, which provides the occasion for some of Spenser's most sensuous verse. With its mixture of chivalric romance, history, and moral allegory, Book Two succeeds in presenting an exuberant exploration of the virtue of self-restraint.