ts of deepe woundes did remaine,
The cruell markes of many' a bloody fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield.
* * * * *
"And on his brest a bloodie Crosse he bore,
The deare remembrance of his dying Lord,
For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore.
* * * * *
"Upon a great adventure he was bond.
That greatest Gloriana to him gave,
That greatest glorious Queene of Faerie lond."

The entire poem really typifies the aspirations of the human soul for
something nobler and better than can be gained without effort. In
Spenser's imaginative mind, these aspirations became real persons who
set out to win laurels in a fairyland, lighted with the soft light of
the moon, and presided over by the good genius that loves to uplift
struggling and weary souls.

The allegory certainly becomes confused. A critic well says: "We can
hardly lose our way in it, for there is no way to lose." We are not
called on to understand the intricacies of the allegory, but to read
between the lines, catch the noble moral lesson, and drink to our fill
at the fountain of beauty and melody.

Spenser a Subjective Poet.--The subjective cast of Spenser's mind
next demands attention. We feel that his is an ideal world, one that
does not exist outside of the imagination. In order to understand the
difference between subjective and objective, let us compare Chaucer
with Spenser. No one can really be said to study literature without
constantly bringing in the principle of comparison. We must notice the
likeness and the difference between literary productions, or the faint
impression which they make upon our minds will soon pass away.

Chaucer is objective; that is, he identifies himself with things that
could have a real existence in the outside world. We find ourselves
looking at the shiny bald head of Chaucer's Monk, at the lean horse
and threadbare clothes of the Student of Oxford, at the brown
complexion of the Shipman, at the enormous hat and large figure of the
Wife of Bath, at the red face of the Summoner, at the hair of the
Pardoner "yelow as wex." These are not mere figments of the
imagination. We feel that they are either realities or that they could
have existed.

While the adventures in the Irish wars undoubtedly gave the original
suggestions for many of the contests between good and evil in the
_Faerie Queene_, Spenser intentionally idealized