Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from A Subject-Index to the Poems of Edmund Spenser
Since this is not primarily a word-index, but a subject-index, I have not thought it necessary to record all the variations of spelling. The student who is interested in this feature of Spenser's poetry may find what he seeks in the Concordance. For head-words and quota tions I have normalized and modernized the spelling, in general using the index-form preferred by the New English Dictionary. Occasion ally, however, when I have felt that something was to be gained by preserving the exact form of Spenser's language, I have not hesitated to do so from any fear of inconsistency. Words invented by Spenser, for which there is no modern equivalent, are entered under the spelling most commonly used. Frequent cross-references are employed, so that little difficulty should be experienced in locating a word.
The allegory of the Faery Queen has proved rather difficult to manage. It has not seemed necessary to identify every character of the poem, as some would do, with one or other of the figures who made the Elizabethan period illustrious. Allegorical interpretations are, however, admitted whenever there seems to be sufficient evidence to support them. Explanations by the compiler, whenever they do not immediately follow the head-word, are enclosed in parentheses.
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