Allegory in Medieval English Literature
Allegory is a fancy word that really just means "extended metaphor." In an allegory, people, places, things, and happenings (oh, those nouns) have two layers of significance.
First, there's the literal level: whatever actually happens within the narrative. Second, there's the figurative or symbolic level: what those people, places, things, and happenings stand for outside of the narrative—like, The Big Picture. The Thematic Head Honchos. You know?
And way back when, those medieval writers were super into allegory. Some of the most popular works of the period were very long and involved allegories, in fact. The French had The Romance of the Rose. The Italians had Dante's Divine Comedy. And the English had William Langland's Piers Plowman.
Everyone wanted to get in on this hot allegorical action.
Anyway, these texts investigated the essential elements of the human condition and experience—that Big Picture we were on about before. The Romance of the Rose personifies abstract qualities like Courtesy, Youth, Love, and Idleness, while Piers Plowman allegorizes the social classes of the 14th century. As an added bonus, Piers represents Jesus Christ in its main character, Piers the Plowman.
Allegory is fun for everyone. It's Shmoop-analyzed, and English teacher-approved.
Chew on This
What Would Chaucer Do? Jump right on that allegory bandwagon along with all the other great writers of the medieval period, of course. Not only did Chaucer write an English translation of The Romance of the Rose, but he also inserted allegory into his Canterbury Tales. Why don't you take a ride on the Allegorical Express and unpack the extended metaphor of his Canterbury pilgrims?
Piers Plowman is one of the great English allegories of the medieval period. Our friends at Harvard have put together a nice modern English translation of the text's Prologue. Now, head on over and skim that Prologue to get a sense of how allegory works in the text. In particular, check out the "belling the cat" story about the rats and mice. How does this story work on both a literal and a figurative level? What do you think Langland is allegorizing with this story?