*The Faerie Queene* Now: remaking religious poetry for today's world
Lead Research Organisation:
Royal Holloway University of London
Department Name: English
Abstract
This project investigates religion and society by rescuing a neglected poem, one of the great epics of English literature, Edmund Spenser's *The Faerie Queene*. A poem of militant Protestantism contemporary with the original establishment of the national church, *The Faerie Queene* (FQ) is remote from mainstream secular society, and from its relatively quiescent and marginalised official church. Paradoxically, in present-day England Spenser's poem has most in common with the insurgent religious intensity of other, 'minority' faiths. And yet, poetry itself has, since Spenser, lost much of its power to speak to and intervene in issues of fundamental social and religious concern.
*The Faerie Queene Now* (TFQN) responds by remaking religious poetry for today's world. It speaks to where we have come from and where we are going by exploring Spenser's foundational poem in various present-day religious, educational and cultural contexts. But it also aims to recreate and refunction Spenser's epic as a positive contribution to contemporary life. In doing this it hopes to bring some of the energy of Spenser's art and moment into official English religion, which it also hopes to open further to energetic and diverse elements not allowed for or even foreseen by the original national church. At the same time, it aims to bring official religion into creative dialogue with other groups in English society that are entirely beyond incorporation into any established church. In short, TFQN seeks via poetry and the imagination the greatest possible representation of religious and secular interests in relation to our shared inheritance and to those issues of religion and society which, one way or another, matter to us all.
The project splits into two main component projects.
One is the Liturgy Project, which seeks to create new liturgical texts and solidarity-builiding rituals for contemporary society inspired by the quest for holiness in Book 1 of Spenser's epic. Here the PI, Ewan Fernie, will work in conjunction with major poet and Co-I Jo Shapcott, and the theologian Andrew Shanks, who has made a case for 'shaken poetry' as a source of religious renovation. This team will prepare two extraordinary, inclusive services for the two very different environments of Manchester Cathedral and St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, working in each case with an impressive group of consultants including scholars, artists and theologians. The culminating event in Windsor will feature Andrew Motion and form part of the Windsor Spring Festival. The St George's Day event in Manchester will be preceded by a procession, through the city streets, with Catalan-style 'gegants', giant puppet figures, representing Spenserian figures. The liturgical texts will be published with a critical introduction.
This will be complemented by the Fable and Drama Project, in which writer Simon Palfrey and director Elisabeth Dutton will evolve new stories and a play through intense collaboration with heterogeneous educational communities: two ethnically diverse comprehensive secondary schools, both from socially deprived wards; and the radically different students of Oxford University. The aim here will be to recover and communicate the trials and possibilities of virtue - religious and secular - in contemporary life. The culminating events will be the publication of a book of the project, illustrated by student collaborators, and a closed performance at Shakespeare's Globe.
The projects will come together in two events of reflection, dialogue and synthesis: a public arts event run by the Poet in the City charity at major London venue King's Place and a two-day cross-sector conference at Cumberland Lodge.
The overall project will come to fruition in a major collection of essays revealing what Spenser has to give to the arts, society and religion, entitled *The Faerie Queene Now!*, and modelled on fernie and palfrey's Shakespeare Now! Series.
*The Faerie Queene Now* (TFQN) responds by remaking religious poetry for today's world. It speaks to where we have come from and where we are going by exploring Spenser's foundational poem in various present-day religious, educational and cultural contexts. But it also aims to recreate and refunction Spenser's epic as a positive contribution to contemporary life. In doing this it hopes to bring some of the energy of Spenser's art and moment into official English religion, which it also hopes to open further to energetic and diverse elements not allowed for or even foreseen by the original national church. At the same time, it aims to bring official religion into creative dialogue with other groups in English society that are entirely beyond incorporation into any established church. In short, TFQN seeks via poetry and the imagination the greatest possible representation of religious and secular interests in relation to our shared inheritance and to those issues of religion and society which, one way or another, matter to us all.
The project splits into two main component projects.
One is the Liturgy Project, which seeks to create new liturgical texts and solidarity-builiding rituals for contemporary society inspired by the quest for holiness in Book 1 of Spenser's epic. Here the PI, Ewan Fernie, will work in conjunction with major poet and Co-I Jo Shapcott, and the theologian Andrew Shanks, who has made a case for 'shaken poetry' as a source of religious renovation. This team will prepare two extraordinary, inclusive services for the two very different environments of Manchester Cathedral and St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, working in each case with an impressive group of consultants including scholars, artists and theologians. The culminating event in Windsor will feature Andrew Motion and form part of the Windsor Spring Festival. The St George's Day event in Manchester will be preceded by a procession, through the city streets, with Catalan-style 'gegants', giant puppet figures, representing Spenserian figures. The liturgical texts will be published with a critical introduction.
This will be complemented by the Fable and Drama Project, in which writer Simon Palfrey and director Elisabeth Dutton will evolve new stories and a play through intense collaboration with heterogeneous educational communities: two ethnically diverse comprehensive secondary schools, both from socially deprived wards; and the radically different students of Oxford University. The aim here will be to recover and communicate the trials and possibilities of virtue - religious and secular - in contemporary life. The culminating events will be the publication of a book of the project, illustrated by student collaborators, and a closed performance at Shakespeare's Globe.
The projects will come together in two events of reflection, dialogue and synthesis: a public arts event run by the Poet in the City charity at major London venue King's Place and a two-day cross-sector conference at Cumberland Lodge.
The overall project will come to fruition in a major collection of essays revealing what Spenser has to give to the arts, society and religion, entitled *The Faerie Queene Now!*, and modelled on fernie and palfrey's Shakespeare Now! Series.
Planned Impact
TFQN is from the first and throughout concerned to link up with users and beneficiaries of research outside the academic community. There is no need for an additional 'action plan' to assure the impacts listed here as they are already thoroughly integrated in the project.
WHO WILL BENEFIT?
The specific beneficiaries will be the project partners and the wider communities they belong to:
in the ecclesiastical sector-primarily, Manchester Cathedral and St George's Chapel, but also other churches and the Church of England more generally
in the schools sector-primarily, the George Mitchell and Bishop David Brown schools but also Eton College and the sector in general
in the cultural sector-primarily, the Windsor Festival, Cumberland Lodge, the Poet in the City charity, Shakespeare's Globe
As well as, more broadly,
the local communities of London E10, Woking, the Windsor area and the Manchester Metropolitan area.
HOW WILL THEY BENEFIT?
THE ECCLESIASTICAL SECTOR
Manchester Cathedral and St Georges will benefit by: developing new liturgical resources which negotiate with the wider community, as well as from being brought into conjunction with an impressive group of artists, scholars and religious authorities and from bringing in an extraordinary congregation for the culminating events; Manchester will benefit by establishing a new liturgical and civic celebration of St George's day, and from strengthening its bid to be considered The Poetry Cathedral in England.
It is anticipated that other churches will benefit from the published liturgies.
Moreover, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Liturgical Commission are aware of the project and there will be a publication in *Church Times* as well as considerable other press.
THE SCHOOLS SECTOR
George Mitchell and Bishop David Brown schools will benefit by: trialling new engagements with English literature which address and involve the distinctive cultural and religious experience of their pupils and by involvement in a creative and exciting research project and new contacts with various 'high art' institutions.
Eton College will benefit from its Muslim Tutor 's involvement in the liturgy project and by participation in the event in St George's Chapel.
The schools sector more generally will benefit from reports in the *English Association Newsletter* and *The English Subject Centre Newsletter* and from teachers' participation in the Cumberland Lodge conference, as well as from the reusable resource of Palfrey's book of the schools project, *Virtue!*.
THE CULTURAL SECTOR
The Windsor Festival will benefit from the project by running the culminating event of The Faerie Queene Liturgy Project as its central event for the 2011 Spring Festival.
Cumberland Lodge will benefit by acquiring a conference that fits in with its mandate to bridge the academic and wider cultural spheres and to address and discuss matters of contemporary social significance.
The Poet in the City charity will benefit from the project by acquiring a major event to run in central London which fits in with its general mission to link poetry with social health and wellbeing.
Shakespeare's Globe will benefit from the project by collaborating on a set of workshops which resonate with objectives of improving knowledge of Shakespeare's Elizabethan contexts and involving school children who would not normally interact with and benefit from 'high art' institutions.
LOCAL COMMUNITIES
The Windsor area will benefit from the project inasmuch as it brings together a group of local institutions in a high-profile project which will enhance social, cultural and religious life in the locality.
The Manchester Metropolitan area will benefit from a major St George's Day event.
Representatives from the very different localities involved - East London, Woking, Windsor,
WHO WILL BENEFIT?
The specific beneficiaries will be the project partners and the wider communities they belong to:
in the ecclesiastical sector-primarily, Manchester Cathedral and St George's Chapel, but also other churches and the Church of England more generally
in the schools sector-primarily, the George Mitchell and Bishop David Brown schools but also Eton College and the sector in general
in the cultural sector-primarily, the Windsor Festival, Cumberland Lodge, the Poet in the City charity, Shakespeare's Globe
As well as, more broadly,
the local communities of London E10, Woking, the Windsor area and the Manchester Metropolitan area.
HOW WILL THEY BENEFIT?
THE ECCLESIASTICAL SECTOR
Manchester Cathedral and St Georges will benefit by: developing new liturgical resources which negotiate with the wider community, as well as from being brought into conjunction with an impressive group of artists, scholars and religious authorities and from bringing in an extraordinary congregation for the culminating events; Manchester will benefit by establishing a new liturgical and civic celebration of St George's day, and from strengthening its bid to be considered The Poetry Cathedral in England.
It is anticipated that other churches will benefit from the published liturgies.
Moreover, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Liturgical Commission are aware of the project and there will be a publication in *Church Times* as well as considerable other press.
THE SCHOOLS SECTOR
George Mitchell and Bishop David Brown schools will benefit by: trialling new engagements with English literature which address and involve the distinctive cultural and religious experience of their pupils and by involvement in a creative and exciting research project and new contacts with various 'high art' institutions.
Eton College will benefit from its Muslim Tutor 's involvement in the liturgy project and by participation in the event in St George's Chapel.
The schools sector more generally will benefit from reports in the *English Association Newsletter* and *The English Subject Centre Newsletter* and from teachers' participation in the Cumberland Lodge conference, as well as from the reusable resource of Palfrey's book of the schools project, *Virtue!*.
THE CULTURAL SECTOR
The Windsor Festival will benefit from the project by running the culminating event of The Faerie Queene Liturgy Project as its central event for the 2011 Spring Festival.
Cumberland Lodge will benefit by acquiring a conference that fits in with its mandate to bridge the academic and wider cultural spheres and to address and discuss matters of contemporary social significance.
The Poet in the City charity will benefit from the project by acquiring a major event to run in central London which fits in with its general mission to link poetry with social health and wellbeing.
Shakespeare's Globe will benefit from the project by collaborating on a set of workshops which resonate with objectives of improving knowledge of Shakespeare's Elizabethan contexts and involving school children who would not normally interact with and benefit from 'high art' institutions.
LOCAL COMMUNITIES
The Windsor area will benefit from the project inasmuch as it brings together a group of local institutions in a high-profile project which will enhance social, cultural and religious life in the locality.
The Manchester Metropolitan area will benefit from a major St George's Day event.
Representatives from the very different localities involved - East London, Woking, Windsor,
Organisations
- Royal Holloway University of London (Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- Bishop David Brown School (Project Partner)
- Poet in the City (Project Partner)
- Shakespeare Globe Trust (Project Partner)
- Manchester Cathedral (Project Partner)
- Windsor Castle (Project Partner)
- Cumberland Lodge (Project Partner)
- George Mitchell School (Project Partner)
- Windsor Festival (Project Partner)
Publications
Fernie E
(2013)
Storytelling: Critical and Creative Approaches
Fernie, Ewan
(2012)
Redcrosse: Remaking Religious Poetry for Today's World
Title | Demon's Land |
Description | A funded film being made by Professor Simon Palfrey which grows out of the original grant |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Impact | This will be shown widely, including at Stow, National Trust, and joins original project team members with new collaborators such as Tom de Freston. It has been funded by the John Fell Fund and the Torch Fund, both of Oxford University. |
Title | Edmund Spenser |
Description | Liturgy and fable drama peformances |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2011 |
Impact | Major King's Place Performance |
Title | RSC Redcrosse: A New Celebration of England and St George |
Description | Play/poetic liturgy with music |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2011 |
Impact | Premieres of new liturgy in Windsor Castle and Manchester Cathedral |
Title | Redcrosse: The Music |
Description | Musical Performance |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2011 |
Impact | Major performance by Acoustic Triangle and the Choir of RHUL in Romsey Abbey |
Title | Redcrosse:A New Celebration of England and St.George |
Description | New poetic liturgy with music |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2011 |
Impact | Symbolically significant performance in Royal Chapel, Windsor |
Title | Redcrosse:A New Celebration of England and St.George |
Description | Poetic Liturgy with Music |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2012 |
Impact | RSC Performance in Coventry Cathedral |
Title | The Faerie Queene Play: The Wounds of Possibility |
Description | Play |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2011 |
Impact | Useful feedback, leading to further development of play |
Title | The Sunday Programme, Radio 4, 7.10-7.50, 8/05/11 |
Description | Radio Broadcast |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2011 |
Impact | Widespread impact, stimulating further interest |
Title | The Wounds of Possibility |
Description | Play |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2011 |
Impact | Feedback resulted in further development of the play |
Description | •The Poetry and Spirituality Conference at Cumberland Lodge in January 2011, which showcased the liturgy project in the Royal Chapel and the play-in-process before prominent poets, theologians and other interested stakeholders, who otherwise addressed and contextualised the themes this creative work engaged •Dalya Alberge's article on the liturgy project in The Guardian on the 24th of January •The King's Place event in March 2011 which filled Hall 1 to its 200 seat capacity and featured the new creative work as well as reflections on Spenser's relevance to contemporary religion and society •The premiere of the liturgy project's work, Redcrosse, in Windsor Castle in March 2011 which was also full to capacity •Redcrosse in Manchester, which was the first outing for the Catalan giants we commissioned •Ewan Fernie's and Andrew Shanks's appearance on the Sunday programme on Radio 4 to talk about Redcrosse •Further funding gained from LCACE, The PRS for Music Foundation, The Arts Council of England and Oxford and Royal Holloway Universities •The adoption of Redcrosse by the RSC for Coventry Cathedral's jubilee in 2012, and the associated funding secured from Coventry, the RSC and Birmingham University •The contract for publication by Continuum of Redcrosse: Remaking Religious Poetry for Today's World, which will feature a full-text of our new poetic liturgy and reflections on the project from Ewan Fernie, Andrew Shanks, Michael Symmons Roberts, Jo Shapcott, Salley Vickers, and John Milbank: the book will be launched at the RSC performance in Coventry Cathedral •With regard to the FQ play, the highlights were the 4 performances, which shocked a few and delighted many •The most important finding in adapting FQ into a contemporary piece of theatre is that the nature of the story (repetitive, recursive, often static) and the peculiarity of the characters (allegorical, lacking conventional inwardness, with psychology projected into place and mental activity extended into scenography) all required a very different model of drama from the ones we are used to. None of the most common modes of theatre - Shakespearean; topic-based/controversialist conversation pieces; immersive theatre in which the boundaries between play and audience disappear - quite suited the material. Instead we developed a highly patterned, harmonically contrapuntal piece, its structures influenced more by music than drama or poetry. |
Exploitation Route | In further research into the interface between literature, liturgy and society. |
Sectors | Creative Economy,Other |
URL | http://www.rhul.ac.uk/English/faeriequeene/index.html |
Description | The Redcrosse liturgy, which was a major output of the grant, has been adopted by various churches including St George's in the East, Birmingham, and St George's Edgbaston. The latter held an event which performed the liturgy but also involved debating the issues raised and the research involved. The Oxford Centre for Christianity and Culture has developed a project arising directly out of The Faerie Queene Now and investigating literature and liturgy, in consultation with the PI. It will premiere a new Shakespeare liturgy at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford during the Shakespeare anniversary of 2016. The RSC adopted the liturgy for theatrical performance in 2012 and this has influenced their internal programming. The PI is currently developing another project with them exploring Shakespeare, theatre and depression, and runs an MA course in collaboration with the RSC which partly grew out of this grant. |
Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
Description | AHRC Follow-on Fund RC Grant reference: AH/P004652/1 |
Amount | £98,325 (GBP) |
Funding ID | AH/P004652/1 |
Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start |
Description | John Fell Fund / Torch Fund, Oxford University |
Amount | £11,400 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Oxford |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2015 |
End | 09/2015 |
Description | A Midsummer Night's Dream Liturgy for 2016 |
Organisation | University of Oxford |
Department | Regent's Park College |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I have been a consultant on this new initiative which grows directly out of the Redcrosse project of remaking religious poetry to today's world and has commissioned major contemporary poets to produce a new liturgy for the Shakespeare anniversary of 2016 |
Collaborator Contribution | They have commissioned and written a new poetic liturgy which follows on from the aims of the Redcrosse project which was a major outcome of the original grant |
Impact | The collaboration will result in a new liturgy, to be performed at Holy Trinity Church in the anniversary year. It is multi-disciplinary, involving literary studies, poetry, and theology, much like the original project |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | A Fairy Tale for the 21st Century |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Article and Interview with Ewan Fernie Further interest in the topic and an increase in its media profile |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
Description | Being an Allegory |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Lecture and Seminar Further enquiries into the work of the project |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
Description | Blowing Up the Faerie Queene |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Lecture given at Brasenose College More engagement from schools |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
Description | Manchester Cathedral event depicting St George as black goes ahead despite controversy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Newspaper article helped to raise profile |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
Description | Poets Enlist for Quest to Pull St George from the Jaws of Far Right |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Guardian newspaper article Much public and media interest |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
Description | Saint George, the Canon and a Flood of Right Wing Hate' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Newspaper article National newspaper, The Independent, brought the work of the project to the attention of a large number of people |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
Description | The Wounds of Possibility |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
Results and Impact | Lecture International intellectual interest and exchange |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |