The Ends of Allegory

Download or read book The Ends of Allegory written by Sayre N. Greenfield and published by University of Delaware Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book proposes that allegory is not a species of literature but a structure of reading applied to uncomfortable juxtapositions within literary texts. Examples from centuries of response to English Renaissance narrative poetry show not what poems mean but how they may be read and what cultural conditions encourage allegorical or nonallegorical readings. The study also encompasses interpretations of classical verse, biblical parable, Jacobean masque, modern lyric, and television advertising to explore how texts move in and out of the category of allegory.