This book considers four centuries of Spenser criticism, locating critics in ongoing discussions of Spenser's poetry and the cultural contexts of their time.

The first comprehensive study of the eighteenth-century response to the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser, from editions to influence.

The life.--The works.--Criticism, influence, allusions.--Various topics.--Index.

"Edmund Spenser's epic poem The Faerie Queene (1590-96) occupied an important place in eighteenth-century culture. Spenser influenced almost every major writer of the century, from Alexander Pope to Samuel Johnson. What was it like to read Spenser in the eighteenth century? Or, in some cases, what was it like to not read Spenser? The first comprehensive study of all of the eighteenth-century editions of Edmund Spenser addresses these questions through bibliographical analysis, and examination of the history of the book, and eighteenth-century literature and culture. Within these contexts, Hazel Wilkinson provides new information about the production, contents, texts, and reception of the eighteenth-century editions of Spenser to illuminate how his cultural presence became so far-reaching. With each chapter structured around a major edition of Spenser's work this volume provides a timely addition to arguments about the nature of literary history and the growing cult of great writers of the past"--