Monsters and the poetic imagination in The Faerie Queene

The first ever book-length account of Spenser's monsters and their relation to the poetic imagination in the Renaissance.

IntroductionPart I: 'Complicated monsters head and tail': A primer in Spenser, monsters, and teratology1. The Faerie Queene - A poem of monsters?2. The monstrous in the early modern period3. Historical perspectives on the monstrous4. How to read monsters: A survey of Spenser studies, and teratologyPart II: Reading the monster: Taxonomy5. Taxonomic considerations6. Monsters and monstrous beings in The Faerie Queene7. Monstrous animals (1): dragons8. Monstrous animals (2): four-footed beasts9. Human-animal composites10. Giants11. Monstrous humans12. Automata13. Taxonomy reconsideredPart III: Making monsters: The monstrous imagination and the poet's autonomy in The Faerie Queene14. The problem of the literary monster in the discourse of the poetic imagination15. The monstrous and the literary heterocosm16. In Phantastes's chamber17. Animating the monstrous imagination in The Faerie Queene18. Poetic creation: Spenser as Prometheus19. The poet's autonomy and the use of the monstrous imagination20. Interpreting the monstrousConclusionBibliographyIndex