Editing The Faerie Queene (section)

==Language and diction==

===Archaisms===
Spenser's language in ''The Faerie Queene'', as in the earlier ''[[The Shepheardes Calender]]'', is in part deliberately archaic.{{Sfn|McElderry|1932|p=144}} Seventeenth-century philologist [[William Davenant|Sir William Davenant]] considered Spenser's use of "obsolete language" as the "most vulgar accusation that is laid to his charge".{{Sfn|Pope|1926|p=576}} [[Samuel Johnson]] found Spenser's writings "a useful source for obsolete and archaic words", but also asserted that "in affecting the ancients Spenser writ no language".{{sfn|Turnage|1970|p=567}} Herbert Wilfred Sugden argues in ''The Grammar of Spenser's Faerie Queene'' that the archaisms reside "chiefly in vocabulary, to a high degree in spelling, to some extent in the inflexions, and only slightly in the syntax".{{Sfn|Cumming|1937|p=6}}

Examples of medieval archaisms (in [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] and diction) include:
* Infinitive in ''-en'': ''vewen'' 1. 201, "to view";
* Prefix ''y-'' retained in participle: ''yclad'', 1. 58, 254, "clad, clothed";
* Adjective: ''combrous'', 1. 203, "harassing, troublesome";
* Verb: ''keepe'', 1. 360, "heed, give attention to".{{Sfn|Parker|1925|p=85}}

Allowing that Johnson's remark may only apply to Spenser's ''Calender'', Bruce Robert McElderry Jr. states, after a detailed investigation of ''The Faerie Queene''{{'}}s [[diction]], that Johnson's statement "is a skillful epigram; but it seriously misrepresents the truth if taken at anything like its face value".{{Sfn|McElderry|1932|p=170}} The number of archaisms used in the poem is not overwhelming—one source reports thirty-four in Canto I of Book I, that is, thirty-four words out of a total forty-two hundred words, less than one percent.{{Sfn|Parker|1925|p=85}} According to McElderry, language alone does not account for the poem's archaic tone. "The subject-matter of ''The Faerie Queene'' is itself the most powerful factor in creating the impression of archaism."{{Sfn|McElderry|1932|p=159}}

===Classical references===
''The Faerie Queene'' relies on classical vocabulary and proper names, especially in the later books. Spenser coined names based on [[Greek language|Greek]], such as "Poris" and "Phao lilly-white".{{sfn|Draper|1932|p=97}} 

One scholar argued that both classical epic literature and Spenser's work "involve[s] the principles of imitation and decorum", which explains and justifies the use of classical vocabulary and forms.{{Sfn|Pope|1926|p=580}}

===Overall assessment===
Spenser is "a conscious literary artist", and his language is "the only fitting vehicle for his tone of thought and feelings".{{Sfn|Pope|1926|p=580}} Spenser's language may be contrasted with that of the "free and unregulated" grammar of Shakespeare.{{Sfn|Cumming|1937|p=6}} Overall, Spenser's style is standardized, lyrically sophisticated and occasionally archaic, all of which give the poem its character.