Alisoun is presented as an object of sexual desire, she
is also endowed with her own power in the poem. She
has not yet acquiesced to the speaker’s requests, and
the speaker himself notes that there is no man in the
world so clever that he can tell all of her excellence.
While this may be read as a commentary on the extent
of Alisoun’s good qualities, it can also be read as a
comment that no man may recount these qualities
because none has been able to be sexually intimate
with her. Alisoun retains her own mystery, and with it,
her own power.
See also MIDDLE ENGLISH LYRICS AND BALLADS.
FURTHER READING
Brook, G. L., ed. The Harley Lyrics. Manchester, U.K.: Man-
chester University Press, 1948.
Fein, Susanna, ed. Studies in the Harley Manuscript. Kalama-
zoo, Mich.: Medieval Institute Publications, 2000.
Stemmler, Theo. “An Interpretation of Alysoun.” In Chaucer
and Middle English Studies in Honor of Rossell Hope Robbins,
edited by Beryl Rowland, 111–118. Kent, Ohio: Kent
State University Press, 1974.
Kathryn C. Wymer
ALLEGORY Allegory, in the broadest sense,
refers to any fi gurative, or secondary, meanings that
exist simultaneously with the literal, or primary, mean-
ing of a text. The term’s etymology from the Greek
words allos (other) and agoreuien (to speak openly)
refl ects this defi nition and suggests why allegory has
had so controversial a history. Speaking or writing alle-
gorically allows one to make public declarations while
concealing certain ideas from some part of the audi-
ence. Thus, allegory functions as the perfect vehicle for
expressing political, theological, or other ideas not
intended for general consumption.
Unlike related rhetorical forms such as irony, sar-
casm, and enigma, where the secondary meaning cor-
rupts or contradicts the primary one, in allegory the
two levels are generally congruous with each other. In
fact, the characters and actions on the literal level pro-
vide the hints by which readers are enabled to discover
the allegorical meanings. For example, in the morality
play Everyman (1500), the title character’s name pro-
vides a hint that his experiences apply literally to him
but fi guratively to all people.
In addition to the broad defi nition, by the early
modern era (see EARLY MODERN V. RENAISSANCE), allegory
had acquired a number of specifi c and signifi cant con-
notations, which for clarity’s sake have been organized
into three categories: rhetorical fi gure, interpretive
scheme, and narrative text. While dividing allegory in
this manner simplifi es the process of understanding
the uses of the term, it should be kept in mind that in
practice the categories tend to overlap.
Understanding allegory as a rhetorical fi gure requires
a turn to the rhetorical handbooks of the CLASSICAL TRA-
DITION, where fi gures were discussed for their value as
devices to enliven a speech. Starting with Quintilian’s
Institutes oratorio (Principles of Oration), allegory
tended to be defi ned as a kind of extended metaphor,
differing from it only in duration. Allegory might con-
tinue through an entire oration or poem, whereas met-
aphor is typically restricted to a line or short sentence.
To illustrate this point, Quintilian offers as an example
of allegory Horace’s Odes (l. 14) where the state is com-
pared to a ship sailing on a stormy sea. While classical
rhetoric placed signifi cant value on allegory’s orna-
mental value, some rhetoricians noted that allegory
could also infl uence ideas being expressed, an observa-
tion that later writers would exploit in various ways.
Direct evidence that the infl uence of classical rhetoric
extended through the early modern period can be seen
in the fact that English rhetorical handbooks, includ-
ing those by Thomas Wilson (Arte of Rhetoric) and
Henry Peacham (Garden of Eloquence), and related
works such as George Puttenham’s guide to writing
poetry (ARTE OF ENGLISH POESIE) generally do little more
than repeat ideas developed by Quintilian or Cicero.
Perhaps the most original aspect of early modern treat-
ments of allegory is in the increased emphasis they give
to the pleasure writers have in creating allegories and
that readers take in unraveling them.
The history of allegorical interpretation (allegoresis),
like that of allegory as rhetorical fi gure, reaches back
into the classical world, where scholars used it to rein-
terpret signifi cant earlier texts, most notably Homer’s
great EPICs, in ways that showed those texts’ relevance
to contemporary events. Late in the fi rst century, Ori-
gen, a Christian scholar in Alexandria, combined this
classical tradition with the Jewish interpretive traditionALLEGORY 7