The Structure of *The Faerie Queene*.

ʻFor all its fantastic foundation, The Faerie Queene is no elegy

upon faded glory but the eulogy of a patriot addressing 

a united people, the nearest approach to a national epic 

in the cycle of English poetry.ʼ

~B.E.C. Davis, Variorum.

My goal when publishing Sex & Fun in The Faerie Queene was to offer the reader what the poem is all about, without all that metaphysical and allegorical makeup.  The poem is about the Tudor succession, the Tudor dynasty and its continuation, thus preserving the unity of the nation. Books I and II form a pair, and then from Book III to Book V we see the evolution of Britomart, from a virgin to a woman, having met Arthegall and conceived a royal son (Book V, Canto 7, stanza 1-23). That son is the one we see in Book VI, Canto 2, hidden in the woods, Tristram. In Book VII, published in 1609 (as the Shake-speareʼs Sonnets) the author concluded the planetary week of the poem. Here it is a brief description of it all:

                 Book 1, Planet Sol.

                 Holiness: Donneʼs conversion into Protestantism.

                 Prince Arthur searchs for Gloriana. Prince Arthur

                 is a Prince Tudor not recognised.

                    (Canto 8, stanzas 5-14)

                 The true Christian faith. Mind. Veritas.

                 Book 2, Planet Luna.

                 Reason in action, prudence, avoiding sex as vice.

                 Body. Virtus. Book I-II form a pair: mind-body.

                 Book 3, Planet Mars.

                 Love, Britomart and the Tudor dynasty, its continuation.
                 Prophecy of Merlin and Nasheʼs sermon Christʼs Tears 
                 over Jerusalem of 1593 to avoid civil war.
                 Shakespeareʼs Venus and Adonis, pub. 1593,

                 his first recognised work, addressed to the Court:

                 dedication to Southampton: ʻthe worldʼs hopeful expectationʼ.

                 The purple flower is hidden by Venus. Tudor prince hidden.

                 Nashe-Marloweʼs Dido, Queen of Carthage, pub. 1594.

                 Venus hides the child of Aeneas (III.3.98-100) too.

                 Amor. The first triad: Veritas-Virtus-Amor.

                 Book 4, Planet Mercury.

                 Friendship, Britomartʼs sex maturation. Britomart and

                 Arthegall make love.

                    (Canto 6, stanza 41, ll. 1-3)

                 Marriage pageant. Destiny.
                 Books III-IV form a pair: love and wedding. 

                 A tetrad completed: Veritas-Virtus-Amor-Destiny.

                 Book 5, Planet Jupiter.

                 Justice: Marriage as an institution. Britomart is going

                 to bring forth a child for the Tudors. The Virgin Queen is a mother.

                    (Canto 7, stanzas 1-23)
                 Jupiter. Fortuna maiora.

                 The inner triad of Books III-IV-V is completed.

                 Book 6, Planet Venus.

                 Charity, the product of marriage: the child.

                 Tristram as a Tudor prince who has lost the crown.

                            (Canto 2, stanza 25, l. 8-9, stanza 26, l. 8-9, 

                            stanza 27, stanza 34, ll. 1-3: ʻrare hopeʼ)
                 Venus. Fortuna minora. Book V-VI form a pair,

                 the marriage and its product, the hidden child.

                 Prince Arthur and Gloriana never meet in the poem

                 as Elizabeth I never declared a heir. 

                 Arthegall (the equal of Arthur) and Britomart had

                 procreated and had a son: a Tudor prince, Tristram.

                 See Shakespeare, Sonnet 87, ll. 13-14.

                 The triad of Books IV-V-VI completed.

                 The Ariadne constellation seen by the poet. The End.

                 Book 7, Planet Saturn.

                 Epilogue. The succession is over. Elizabeth I is dead.

                 Cynthia reigns ʻin everlasting gloryʼ now as the Moon.

                    (Canto 6, stanza 8)
                 The Stuarts are now in power as the new dynasty.
                 Shake-speareʼs Sonnets published in 1609

                 stating the same thing: Dark Lady-the Moon dead.
                    (Sonnet 107, ʻthe mortal Moonʼ)
                 The Irish Spenser died in 1598: this poem is written
                 by John Donne with pseudonym. 

                 The poet in 1609 expects the Apocalypse in Canto 8.

                 The planetary week of seven days is finished, but

                 it remains imperfect, as the Apocalypse has not come yet.
                 Thus, Canto 8, unperfite. Donneʼs worst years of his life

                 away from London and the Court: at Mitcham, 1609-1611.

                 Holy Sonnetsʼs anguish and personal depression. 

                 Last sonnet of the sequence also appeals to the Apocalypse,

                 ʻSabbaoths endless restʼ; compare with last stanza of the

                 epic poem: ʻgraunt me that Sabaoths sightʼ (last line of the poem).