Allegory is used extensively in Renaissance literature. Developing from the use of allegory in the Middle Ages, Renaissance literature exhibits an increased emphasis on courtly love, sometimes abandoning intelligibility for deliberately unintelligible allegories. The early modern theory of allegory is discussed in Sir John Harington's '' Apology for Poetry'' (included in his translation of

Ariosto Ludovico Ariosto (; 8 September 1474 – 6 July 1533) was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic ''Orlando Furioso'' (1516). The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's ''Orlando Innamorato'', describes the ...

's '' Orlando furioso'', 1591).

Continuous/intermittent

Renaissance allegories could be continuous and systematic, or intermittent and occasional. Perhaps the most famous example of a thorough and continuous allegorical work from the Renaissance is the six books of Edmund Spenser's ''

The Faerie Queene ''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 sta ...

''. In book 4, for example,

Agape In Christianity, agape (; ) is "the highest form of love, charity" and "the love of God for man and of man for God". This is in contrast to philia, brotherly love, or philautia, self-love, as it embraces a deep and profound sacrificial love ...

has three sons: Priamond (from one), Diamond (from two), and Telamond (from ''téleios'', perfect, but emended by Jortin to 'Triamond' in his 1734 edition). The three sons correspond to the three worlds, born of love. Cambell's battle with the three sons is an allegory of "man's battle with the three worlds to find his place in the universe, to establish harmony in God's creation, and ultimately to achieve salvation". Thomas P. Roche: ''The Kindly Frame'', 1964, excerpted in Paul. J. Alpers (ed): ''Elizabethan Poetry. Modern Essays in Criticism''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967: 418 Furthermore, since any triad may be an analogue of another, the three brothers could also be an allegory of the three worlds of man's soul: the vegetative, the sensitive, and the angelic". Spenser's (multi-layered) allegory is similarly worked out through all six books.

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' ( Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

also wrote continuous allegory, as opposed to the intermittent allegory of an

, for example.

Three-world theory

By the 16th century, allegory was firmly linked to what is known as the '' Elizabethan world picture'', taken from

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

and

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (or Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite) was a Greek author, Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, who wrote a set of works known as the ''Corpus Areopagiticum'' o ...

. This theory postulates the existence of three worlds: * the sublunary world we live in, subject to change. * the celestial world, the world of the planets and stars, unchanging. * the supercelestial world, where angels and the Godhead are. Pico della Mirandola discusses the interrelations between these three worlds in the introduction to his '' Heptaplus'': 'For euen as the...three worlds being girt and buckled with the bands of concord doe by reciprocall libertie, interchange their natures; the like do they also by their appellations. And this is the principle from whence springeth & groweth the discipline of allegoricall sense' (translated by

Pierre de la Primaudaye Pierre de La Primaudaye (1546–1619) was a French writer. He is known particularly for ''L'Academie Française'', which was influential in English translations, from 1584 onwards, particularly ''The French Academie'' of 1618. La Primaudaye came ...

in ''The French Academie'', London, 1618, p. 671).

Further examples

*Kenneth Borris has argued that

Philip Sidney Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

and John Milton were also major allegorists.Kenneth Borris, ''Allegory and Epic in English Renaissance Literature: Heroic Form in Sidney, Spenser, and Milton'', 2000.

Notes

* Allegory

Continuous/intermittent

Three-world theory

Further examples

See also

Notes