The poem served as a type of propaganda to the proposal. Spenser recognized that the poem was for his own financial and political gains, but it also sets the idea of standing behind one's work. The work was a success; between 1579 and 1597 five editions were published. One thing that separates the poem from others of its time is Spenser's use of allegory and his dependence on the idea of antiquity. The poem also set the groundwork for Spenser's best known work The Faerie Queene. "The Shepheardes Calender" was also crucial to the naturalization of the English Language and the introduction of vocabulary along with literary techniques.