The Defeat of the Cursed Dragon

A Beautiful Sunny Day.

Stretched upon a great hill he lay,

The dragon spots his first meal of the day.

Soaring he goes, 

Running all exposed,

His jaw filled with the gore of his last few victims.

Heading into his own death,

Redcrosse pokes him beneath the neck.

Blood of the cursed dragon fills the land,

As it continues to try and kill the devoted man.

A Sunny Day

The breath of the dragon released fire and rage,

Burning through the knights armor

Who sought to be so brave.

When the scorching flame flourished all over his face,

He found his life to quickly be in disgrace.

Wishing for death and ready to retire,

He must’ve forgotten,

Death will never come when needs require.

A Day

A fountain of life,

Which healed him stronger than ever.

With his fate,

It seems he can live forever!

Yet the dragon charged once again,

And in a dash, his skull was bashed.

He went in with a slash and the poke of his tail,

Lighting up the sky with fire and black detail.

Day

Until the night falls again,

Redcrosse found another life saving zen.

The dragon charges again on his third attempt,

Jaws wide open as the knight stabs him with devotion.

The dragon falls and takes his last breath,

As the last two things he sees,

Is the knight and death.

A Beautiful Sunny Day.

For my unessay, I decided to write a poem based on The Faerie Queene, Book 1, Canto 11, (Spenser, Edmund 1552-1559). I revised and re-wrote this section by creating a free verse poem based on this portion of the story. I wanted to focus on this scene specifically because I found it to be an interesting read and it was one of the most important scenes in the story. The final defeat of the dragon. I wanted to rewrite Book 1, Canto 11 in a creative way that allowed  for an easier yet interesting read. Throughout the entire book, I’ve been having trouble reading parts of The Faerie Queene. Therefore, it was something that I was interested in doing and decided to translate it poetically instead. I believe that modern translation exercises can be a good technique when teaching students difficult reads such as The Faerie Queene. Translating complex books allows students to emotionally connect with the story and better convey their ideas. Although this book can be read without translation, I believe that at least one translation activity within the text could benefit the students. As for the planning of my unessay, I arranged it by taking out the most significant parts of Book 1, Canto 11 and combining it into one whole poem that was easier to read than the story. The poem is a free verse poem which means that it does not involve any set rules or specific form. I organized my poem by involving the setting and themes that occurred in the story. I began and ended the poem with the phrase “A beautiful sunny day”. This was because it was the general setting and overall feel at both the beginning and end of The Faerie Queene, Book 1, Canto 11. The story began with the dragon relaxing in the sun over the hill and ended with a celebration of joy and success. This was the celebration of Una and Redcrosse when he finally killed the dragon. As for the parts in between the first and last stanza, I chose to cut out one word in the phrase each time a new stanza arrived. The setting of the story went from what seemed to be a peaceful sunny day and slowly turned into a theme that was more violent and grim. The entire purpose of the knight’s mission was to complete his duty and slay the dragon that seized Una’s parents. He protected Una during their journey while also proving his worthiness on multiple occasions. The occasion of Redcrosse killing the dragon seemed to be his biggest accomplishment. I believe that there were a few other instances that led to the dragon’s death. The dragon believed that he could easily defeat Redcrosse and from what I believe, he jinxed or cursed himself. He underestimated the knight which essentially could have been what cursed the dragon and led to his great defeat. The evilness that the dragon carried represented another creature of some demonic sort. When Redcrosse killed off this cursed dragon, he killed off the evilness as well. Redcrosse not only freed Una and her family but the community’s terror of sin as well. When the knight got back to his land, Una’s parents rushed to give thanks to him. The entire community realized that they were finally free and no longer had to hide from the dragon. This led to a wonderful celebration with music and gifts for Redcrosse. That is why I ended the poem as I began it, with the verse “A beautiful sunny day”. The community was at least at peace.