h idiom.

300. AS EAGLE FRESH OUT OF THE OCEAN WAVE, etc. There was an ancient
belief, that once in ten years the eagle would soar into the empyrean, and
plunging thence into the sea, would molt his plumage and renew his youth
with a fresh supply of feathers.

312. HIS BRIGHT DEAW-BURNING BLADE, his bright blade flashing with the
"holy water dew" in which it had been hardened (l. 317).

322. NE MOLTEN METTALL IN HIS BLOOD EMBREW, i.e. nor sword bathe itself in
his (the dragon's) blood.

335. WITH SHARPE INTENDED STING, with sharp, outstretched sting.

366. THE GRIPED GAGE, the pledge (shield) seized (by the dragon).

386. MISSED NOT HIS MINISHT MIGHT, felt not the loss of its diminished
strength; i.e. though cut off, the paw still held to the shield.

xliv. In comparing the fire-spewing dragon to a volcano, Spenser follows
Vergil's _Aeneid_, iii, 571, and Tasso's _Jerusalem Delivered_, iv, 8.

406. A GOODLY TREE. Cf. _Genesis_, ii, 9, and _Revelation_, xxii, 2.

409. OVER ALL WERE RED, everywhere were spoken of.

414. Cf. _Genesis_, iii, 2. Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden lest
they should eat and live forever.

434. DEADLY MADE, a creature of death, i.e. hell-born.

469. An imitation of an incident in the _Seven Champions_ in which a winged
serpent attempts to swallow St. George; i, 1.

477. AND BACK RETYRD, and as it was withdrawn. A Gallicism.

490. WHICH SHE MISDEEM'D, in which she was mistaken. Una feared that the
dragon was not dead.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

(Canto XI)

1. Describe the three days' fight between the Knight and the Dragon. 2.
What advantages does each gain? 3. Study the Dragon as a type of the
conventional monster of romance, contrasting his brutal nature with the
intellectuality and strategy of the Knight. 4. Study the battle as an
allegory of the victory of mind over matter, of virtue over vice, of
Protestantism over Romanism. 5. By what devices does Spenser obtain the
effects of _terror_? Mystery and terror are prime elements in romance. 6.
Find examples of another romantic characteristic, _exaggeration_. 7. Do you
think that in his use of hyperbole and impossibilities Spenser shows that
he was deficient in a sense of humor? 8. Observe the lyric note in iii and
liv. 9. How does the poet impress the reader with the size of the Dragon?
10. Which Muse does he invoke? 11. Spenser's poetry is richly _sensuous_:
find passages in which he appeals to the sense of _sight_ (iv, v