《仙后》开篇：英文原著带中文翻译

The study of the Faerie Queene should be preceded by a review of the great age in which it was written. An intimate relation exists between the history of the English nation and the works of English authors. This close connection between purely external events and literary masterpieces is especially marked in a study of the Elizabethan Age. To understand the marvelous outburst of song, the incomparable drama, and the stately prose of this period, one must enter deeply into the political, social, and religious life of the times.

研究《仙后》之前，应当先回顾一下产生这部作品的伟大时代。英国民族的历史与英国作家的作品之间存在着密切的联系。这种纯粹外部事件与文学杰作之间的紧密关联，在研究伊丽莎白时代时尤为明显。要理解这一时期诗歌的惊人迸发、无与伦比的戏剧和庄严的散文，就必须深入那个时代的政治、社会和宗教生活。

The Faerie Queene was the product of certain definite conditions which existed in England toward the close of the sixteenth century. The first of these national conditions was the movement known as the revival of chivalry; the second was the spirit of nationality fostered by the English Reformation; and the third was that phase of the English Renaissance commonly called the revival of learning.

《仙后》是十六世纪末英格兰特定条件的产物。这些民族条件中的第一个是被称为骑士精神复兴的运动；第二个是英国宗教改革所培育的民族精神；第三个是通常被称为文艺复兴的英国文艺复兴的那个阶段。

The closing decade of Queen Elizabeth's reign was marked by a strong reaction toward romanticism. The feudal system with its many imperfections had become a memory, and had been idealized by the people. The nation felt pride in its new aristocracy, sprung largely from the middle class, and based rather on worth than ancestry. The bitterness of the Wars of the Roses was forgotten, and was succeeded by an era of reconciliation and good feeling. England was united in a heroic queen whom all sects, ranks, and parties idolized. The whole country exulting in its new sense of freedom and power became a fairyland of youth, springtime, and romantic achievement.

伊丽莎白女王统治的最后十年，以对浪漫主义的强烈回归为标志。封建制度及其诸多缺陷已成为记忆，并被人民理想化了。民族为其新的贵族阶层感到自豪，这个阶层主要出自中产阶级，依据的是价值而非血统。玫瑰战争的痛苦已被遗忘，继之而来的是和解与友善的时代。英格兰团结在一位所有教派、阶层和党派都崇拜的英雄女王周围。整个国家因新的自由感和力量感而欢欣鼓舞，变成了一个充满青春、春天和浪漫成就的仙境。

Wise and gallant courtiers, like Sidney, Leicester, and Raleigh, gathered about the queen, and formed a new chivalry devoted to deeds of adventure and exploits of mind in her honor. The spirit of the old sea-kings lived again in Drake and his bold buccaneers, who swept the proud Spaniards from the seas. With the defeat of the Invincible Armada, the greatest naval expedition of modern times, the fear of Spanish and Catholic domination rolled away. The whole land was saturated with an unexpressed poetry, and the imagination of young and old was so fired with patriotism and noble endeavor that nothing seemed impossible. Add to this intense delight in life, with all its mystery, beauty, and power, the keen zest for learning which filled the air that men breathed, and it is easy to understand that the time was ripe for a new and brilliant epoch in literature. First among the poetic geniuses of the Elizabethan period came Edmund Spenser with his Faerie Queene, the allegory of an ideal chivalry.

像锡德尼、莱斯特和雷利这样睿智而勇敢的朝臣聚集在女王周围，形成了一种新的骑士精神，致力于冒险事迹和为女王荣誉而进行的思想探索。古老的海王精神在德雷克和他大胆的海盗身上复活，他们把骄傲的西班牙人从海上扫除。随着无敌舰队的失败，这是近代最伟大的海军远征，对西班牙和天主教统治的恐惧消散了。整个土地充满了未表达的诗意，年轻人和老年人的想象力被爱国主义和崇高努力所激发，似乎没有什么是不可能的。再加上对生活及其所有神秘、美丽和力量的强烈喜悦，以及弥漫在人们呼吸的空气中的对学习的强烈热情，就不难理解，文学中一个新的辉煌时代已经成熟。伊丽莎白时期诗坛天才中的第一位是埃德蒙·斯宾塞，他带来了《仙后》，一部理想骑士精神的寓言。