The Faerie Queene feels like a mash-up of Beowulf, King Arthur's tales, biblical references and Homer's epic poetry. The setting and storyline of the first canto of The Faerie Queene feels Arthurian and the battle with the serpent-woman recalls the biblical monsters of Revelation and I couldnt help recalling Grendel from Beowulf. Subsequently the manipulations of the older Greek gods of sleep and dreams feels Homeresque and all the while theres a fair few references to the Bible. Spenser alternates between telling the story and stopping to reference and/or allude to older texts. Spenser's overreferencing demands the attention of the reader and likely accomplishes its goal of positive association.
Spenser's form allows him to complete a thought in each stanza and moves the pace of the story that much faster. It feels like, were the story written in prose that each nine-line stanza would be a sentence. This helped me personally because although it was hard to keep up with his references and language I felt I could understand a flow of the story if I understood the general idea that each stanza conveyed.
The story seems fairly run-of-the-mill but the allusions and conveyance lies in the actions and reactions of the characters to the events in the story. The redcross knight becomes more of a symbol for holy righteousness than the emblem he bears on his shield.