ABSTRACT
Spenser tells us that the Red Cross Knight, purified and strengthened by Truth, always does kill the dragon. In 1576 Spenser graduated Master of Arts, and for the next two years he lived in “the North parts”— perhaps as a tutor. In 1580, the year of Spenser’s settlement in Ireland, Francis Drake came home after a voyage of nearly three years. The ships of England were not merely engaged in Spenser’s day in discovery. Spenser was himself a man of letters, a student and a poet, and while his friends fought on land and sea, his business lay elsewhere. Spenser himself is slightly disguised as Colin Clout—a name borrowed from Skelton. Spenser’s knights are men consecrated to honour and to high purpose, who live not for themselves but for duty and service.
