< Previous Page | Next Page >

Chapter 3: Literary, Visual and Dramatic Allegories

One of the most striking characteristics of The Assembly of Gods is the way that its surface is made up of various allegories popular in its time. This practice of compiling popular images was common in literature and the arts during the middle ages, but it is particularly pronounced in The Assembly of Gods. Among the many types of allegory that The Assembly of Gods includes are those that could be categorized as literary, visual and dramatic. As Gradon points out, these three modes were particularly closely connected by their use of allegory.

I would suspect that the static nature of late medieval allegory, in which we have, rather than a real action, a series of panels, was to some extent due to the popularity of moralised pictures, a popularity which manifested itself also in the late medieval passion for pageants. The pageant, the tournament, the plays, indeed, all testify to this late medieval urge towards visual representation, which is the logical outcome of the allegorical mode of thought . . . (50).

The mosaic of medieval allegorical elements that make up the surface, or sensual aspect, of the poem, is interesting and even distracting. So much so, in fact, that these individual allegories have become the focus of critical discussion of the poem and are often considered the primary, or even the only value of the poem.*e.g. Triggs (Assembly xl-lxxvi), Lewis 260-262, Allegory, 260, O’Reilly 60, Potter 25, Bloomfield, Seven 227-28, Benson 1817. Individually, as examples of medieval allegory, the different elements of the poem are very interesting and although most of what has been written about the poem in this century has focused on the various conventional elements of the poem, there is still much to be said about the details of the poem’s use of these forms. However, as Gregory said, “A man would be extremely stupid to confine his attention to the colors and to ignore the things that are depicted. And we, if we embrace only what the words say on the surface and ignore the other senses, are like those who ignore the things depicted and see only the colors” (quoted in Robertson 58).

The author of The Assembly of Gods uses individual allegories in a variety of ways, but for the most part the collection serves two main functions. First, using popular images allows the author to tap into the reservoir of medieval ideas (Assembly li), to benefit from the knowledge that readers already possess. This use of recognizable elements allows the author to call complex ideas to mind quickly and to emphasize a point by altering a well known allegory in a way that accentuates an idea or theme. Second, by including allegories of all types in a poem about the need to use reason and sensuality together to understand allegory, the author effectively universalizes the theme. From the simplest personifications, Discord who has no lines and whose primary function in the poem is to do just what her name suggests, to the complex system that has a field represent “man” with highways for senses and segments of the soul battling each other for control of the individual, the poem includes allegorical forms from across the spectrum of medieval allegorical practice. Each of these forms of allegory requires that reason and sensuality work together if we are, as Dante said, to “strip off that vesture and show the true sense” (Quoted in Lewis, Allegory 48). By including allegories of all kinds the poet makes it clear that the process is the same for all allegory.

< Previous Page | Next Page >

Introduction

Chapter 1
a. Reason and Sensuality in Medieval Literature
b. Reason and Sensuality in The Assembly of Gods

Chapter 2
a. Reason, Sensuality and Allegory
b. Reason, Sensuality and Allegory in The Assembly of Gods

Chapter 3: Literary, Visual and Dramatic Allegories
a. Literary
b. Visual
c. Dramatic

Chapter 4: Death and the accord of Reason and Sensuality
a. The Allegory of Death
b. The Accord of Reason and Sensuality in Death

Conclusion

Appendix 1
a. The Poem
b. Authorship and Date
c. Manuscripts
d. Title

Appendix 2: Critical response to The Assembly of Gods

Works Cited

Chapter 3: Literary, Visual and Dramatic Allegories

Contents