Poetry and Animals

THE ANIMAL IN ALLEGORY43

One might speculate that however strongly human culture (particu-
larly the Judeo-Christian tradition) has worked to separate the human
and animal and to see allegory as purely a representational device, the
natural world and our perception of actual animals have constantly
reminded us of the deep connections. We are of the same world, and
imagination recognizes this. In turning animals into allegorical figures,
poets do not leave these connections behind.
The animal fable as a species of poem did not become extinct in the
early modern period. Of course, it has always continued to exist in its
“pure” Aesopic form in prose as educational texts for children, but it has
also continued to serve as a trope for poetry in interesting and complex
ways. The animal fable is a way of allowing writers to talk about the ani-
mal nature of human being, but it is also an early bridge to the animal
world, a way of marking the presence of animals. A version of the animal
fable—that is, the animal as allegorical figure—appears in the Renais-
sance sonnet, which is not surprising, since sonneteers were keen to
display both their knowledge of literary convention and their own
inventiveness. An interesting example is Edmund Spenser’s sonnet 67,
“Lyke as a huntsman,” inspired by a Petrarchan sonnet that Thomas
Wyatt also imitated.

Lyke as a huntsman after weary chace,

Seeing the game from him escapt away:

sits down to rest him in some shady place,

with panting hounds beguiled of their prey.

So after long pursuit and vain assay,

when I all weary had the chace forsooke,

the gentle deare returned the selfe-same way,

thinking to quench her thirst at the next brooke.

There she beholding me with mylder looke,

sought not to fly, but fearlesse still did bide:

till I in hand her yet halfe trembling tooke,

and with her owne goodwill hir fyrmly tyde.

Strange thing me seemd to see a beast so wild,

so goodly wonne with her owne will beguyld.^22