Edmund Spenser (c.1552-99) is most famous for The Faerie Queen, but he also wrote a variety of other shorter poems. These were among the most important literary works of the English Renaissance - publication of The Shepherds' Calendar is often seen as a turning point in the poetry of the period. This pioneering volume is the first to offer a modernised edition of the shorter poems making these accessible for the first time to the modern reader. Other features to note are: the most detailed footnotes yet of any edition outside the massive Valiorium and detailed headnotes to each poem which not only offer literary and historical contexts but are also substantial critical essays in their own right.