antos
"which, both for Forme and Matter, appeare to be parcell of some
following Booke of the Faerie Queene, vnder the Legend of
Constancie". This fragment comprises what are now called the
"Mutability Cantos".

The edition of 1609 is fundamentally a reprint of 1596. There is
reason to suspect that its editor was guided, at least in part,
by some authorial source which has now been lost: an annotated
copy of 1596, perhaps; or material found among the assorted
papers of the Mutability Cantos.

1609 is a conscientious edition which often achieves a higher
degree of consistency and intelligibility than 1596 itself,
although it is plain that a more modern hand than Spenser's is
responsible for many of its emendations: the punctuation, for
example, though often more logical, is blander than that of the
editions produced in Spenser's lifetime. Furthermore, the editor
of 1609 virtually ignores 1590, even though knowledge of that
text is often essential for filling in the gaps left by errors in
1596.

The editions of 1611 onwards throw little light on problems
raised by the three former editions.

A modern editor, then, must go to three different sources in
order to assemble a text which tries to do justice to Spenser's
original intention.

The copy-text for this edition is the facsimile published in 1976
by Scolar Press (see Bibliography).

THE FORM OF THE POEM

The basic unit of the poem is a verse or _stanza_ made up of nine
lines. This "Spenserian stanza", much imitated (for example, by
Byron), is Spenser's own invention. Typically, it consists of
eight pentameters and a final alexandrine. Lines are sometimes
short or long, on occasion perhaps through typographical error
(see for example II iii 26.9), but at other times for deliberate
effect (e.g. III iv 39.7, IV i 3).

The rhyming scheme is generally _ababbcbcc_, though this too is
subject to change, whether by authorial oversight or authorial
intention (e.g. II ii 7, VII vii 28).

The stanzas are not numbered in the original editions.

Between 30 and 87 stanzas comprise a _canto_ (Italian, "song"), a
term borrowed from Lodovico Ariosto, the Italian poet, whose work
influenced Spenser.

A canto is preceded by a four-line verse called an _argument_.
This summarizes what follows, often with particular emphasis on
its allegorical meaning. The metre of the argument is that of
the _Book of Common Prayer_.

Each complete book is