This is the first comprehensive edition of Spenser’s shorter poems since the Variorum Minor Poems published in the 1940s.  In the interval our understanding of Renaissance culture of Spenser’s work has changed greatly.  The new Shorter Poems has a double purpose: to provide a modern edition responding to the changes in our knowledge of Spenser over the past four decades and to create a text that can be used in graduate and undergraduate courses.In this edition, substantial introductions to each of the poems discuss their generic and historical backgrounds, responding to the concerns raised by recent scholarship.  The newly edited texts of the poems generally retain original spelling and punctuation.  Extensive notes gloss archaic and obscure words and include up-to-date information on historical, mythological, and iconographic material.  The book includes a chronology of Spenser’s life and a list of critical works for further reading.William Oram is associate professor of English at Smith College.  Einar Bjorvand is lecturer at the Institute of English Studies, University of Oslo.  Ronald Bond is professor of English at the University of Calgary.  Thomas Cain is professor of English at MacMaster University.  Alexander Dunlop is assistant professor of English at Auburn University.  Richard Schell is associate professor of English at Laurentian University.

Along with the Book of Common Prayer and the Articles of Religion, the first book of homilies (1547) is the major legacy of the Edwardian Reformation. Its twelve sermons articulated a doctrinal standard, assisted the parochial clergy in their preaching, and served the religious establishment as a means of propaganda. The sermons are plain but sophisticated expression of the interests of the early protestants in England. They are concerned with not only the primacy of the Bible and the relationship of faith to good works, but also matters of Christian conduct such as sexual morality, swearing, the attitude to death, charity, and obedience. Since they were required reading from most English pulpits these homilies were probably heard by writers as different as Shakespeare, Spenser, and Donne and eventually influenced John Wesley in the eighteenth century, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Cardinal Newman in the nineteenth.The first book of homilies was joined by a second in 1563 and by the long, polemical homily against rebellion. The introduction traces the development and decline of interest in the homilies both as aids for preachers and as statements of reformed doctrine. In addition it analyses the themes, organizations, and styles of the homilies presented. The text preserves the original spelling and is accompanied by brief explanatory notes and a critical apparatus.

Along with the Book of Common Prayer and the Articles of Religion, the first book of homilies (1547) is the major legacy of the Edwardian Reformation. Its twelve sermons articulated a doctrinal standard, assisted the parochial clergy in their preaching, and served the religious establishment as a means of propaganda. The sermons are plain but sophisticated expression of the interests of the early protestants in England. They are concerned with not only the primacy of the Bible and the relationship of faith to good works, but also matters of Christian conduct such as sexual morality, swearing, the attitude to death, charity, and obedience. Since they were required reading from most English pulpits these homilies were probably heard by writers as different as Shakespeare, Spenser, and Donne and eventually influenced John Wesley in the eighteenth century, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Cardinal Newman in the nineteenth.The first book of homilies was joined by a second in 1563 and by the long, polemical homily against rebellion. The introduction traces the development and decline of interest in the homilies both as aids for preachers and as statements of reformed doctrine. In addition it analyses the themes, organizations, and styles of the homilies presented. The text preserves the original spelling and is accompanied by brief explanatory notes and a critical apparatus.

This is the first comprehensive edition of Spenser’s shorter poems since the Variorum Minor Poems published in the 1940s.  In the interval our understanding of Renaissance culture of Spenser’s work has changed greatly.  The new Shorter Poems has a double purpose: to provide a modern edition responding to the changes in our knowledge of Spenser over the past four decades and to create a text that can be used in graduate and undergraduate courses.In this edition, substantial introductions to each of the poems discuss their generic and historical backgrounds, responding to the concerns raised by recent scholarship.  The newly edited texts of the poems generally retain original spelling and punctuation.  Extensive notes gloss archaic and obscure words and include up-to-date information on historical, mythological, and iconographic material.  The book includes a chronology of Spenser’s life and a list of critical works for further reading.William Oram is associate professor of English at Smith College.  Einar Bjorvand is lecturer at the Institute of English Studies, University of Oslo.  Ronald Bond is professor of English at the University of Calgary.  Thomas Cain is professor of English at MacMaster University.  Alexander Dunlop is assistant professor of English at Auburn University.  Richard Schell is associate professor of English at Laurentian University.

Along with the Book of Common Prayer and the Articles of Religion, the first book of homilies (1547) is the major legacy of the Edwardian Reformation. Its twelve sermons articulated a doctrinal standard, assisted the parochial clergy in their preaching, and served the religious establishment as a means of propaganda. The sermons are plain but sophisticated expression of the interests of the early protestants in England. They are concerned with not only the primacy of the Bible and the relationship of faith to good works, but also matters of Christian conduct such as sexual morality, swearing, the attitude to death, charity, and obedience. Since they were required reading from most English pulpits these homilies were probably heard by writers as different as Shakespeare, Spenser, and Donne and eventually influenced John Wesley in the eighteenth century, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Cardinal Newman in the nineteenth.The first book of homilies was joined by a second in 1563 and by the long, polemical homily against rebellion. The introduction traces the development and decline of interest in the homilies both as aids for preachers and as statements of reformed doctrine. In addition it analyses the themes, organizations, and styles of the homilies presented. The text preserves the original spelling and is accompanied by brief explanatory notes and a critical apparatus.

Along with the Book of Common Prayer and the Articles of Religion, the first book of homilies (1547) is the major legacy of the Edwardian Reformation. Its twelve sermons articulated a doctrinal standard, assisted the parochial clergy in their preaching, and served the religious establishment as a means of propaganda. The sermons are plain but sophisticated expression of the interests of the early protestants in England. They are concerned with not only the primacy of the Bible and the relationship of faith to good works, but also matters of Christian conduct such as sexual morality, swearing, the attitude to death, charity, and obedience. Since they were required reading from most English pulpits these homilies were probably heard by writers as different as Shakespeare, Spenser, and Donne and eventually influenced John Wesley in the eighteenth century, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Cardinal Newman in the nineteenth.The first book of homilies was joined by a second in 1563 and by the long, polemical homily against rebellion. The introduction traces the development and decline of interest in the homilies both as aids for preachers and as statements of reformed doctrine. In addition it analyses the themes, organizations, and styles of the homilies presented. The text preserves the original spelling and is accompanied by brief explanatory notes and a critical apparatus.