Editing The Faerie Queene (section)

===Politics===
The poem celebrates, memorializes, and critiques the [[House of Tudor]] (of which Elizabeth was a part), much as [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' celebrates [[Augustus]]'s Rome. The ''Aeneid'' states that Augustus descended from the noble sons of [[Troy]]; similarly, ''The Faerie Queene'' suggests that the Tudor lineage can be connected to King Arthur. The poem is deeply [[allegory|allegorical]] and [[allusion|allusive]]; many prominent Elizabethans could have found themselves partially represented by one or more of Spenser's figures. Elizabeth herself is the most prominent example. She appears in the guise of Gloriana, the [[Fairy Queen#In literature and media|Faerie Queen]], but also in Books III and IV as the virgin [[Belphoebe]], daughter of Chrysogonee and twin to Amoret, the embodiment of womanly married love. Perhaps also, more critically, Elizabeth is seen in Book I as Lucifera, the "maiden queen" whose brightly lit Court of Pride masks a [[dungeon]] full of prisoners.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McKay |first=Belinda |date=1975-01-01 |title=The female rulers in The Faerie Queene |url=https://www.academia.edu/25121596}}</ref>

The poem also displays Spenser's thorough familiarity with literary history. The world of ''The Faerie Queene'' is based on English [[Matter of Britain|Arthurian legend]], but much of the language, spirit, and style of the piece draw more on Italian epic, particularly [[Ludovico Ariosto]]'s ''[[Orlando Furioso]]'' and [[Torquato Tasso]]'s ''[[Jerusalem Delivered]]''.{{Sfn|Abrams|2000|p=623}}
Book V of ''The Faerie Queene'', the Book of Justice, is Spenser's most direct discussion of political theory. In it, Spenser attempts to tackle the problem of policy toward Ireland and recreates the trial of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McCabe|first=Richard|date=Spring 1987|title=The Masks of Duessa: Spenser, Mary Queen of Scots, and James VI|journal=English Literary Renaissance|volume=17|issue=2|pages=224–242|doi=10.1111/j.1475-6757.1987.tb00934.x|s2cid=130980896}}</ref>