My first task, then, is briefly to track the history of the alliances between poetry and femininity proposed in Books 3 and 4, alliances that eventually necessitate Book 5's generic shifts. Because Book 5's attachment to history arises just as soon as its attachment to Britomart ends, it is worth remembering that Britomart's entry into The Faerie Queene came hard upon the heels of a gap in history. Near the end of Book 2, Arthur, in the castle of Alma, finds himself reading a chronicle of Britain, a chronicle that ends just after the name of Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father. Of course Arthur's name cannot be added to the chronicle because, in the time scheme of The Faerie Queene, he has not yet embarked upon the sequence of events that will lead him to the.....
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