Laughter in the Courts of Love: Comedy in Allegory from Chaucer to Spenser

Description: So rarely does medieval poetry combine comedy and allegory that superficially the two modes seem irreconcilable: for some, humor undermines allegory's decorum of high seriousness; for others, it provides (at best) only badly needed comic relief. But the tradition of allegorical love poetry in English from Chaucer to Spenser offers instructive examples in which comic action is integral to purported allegorical significance. Comedy quickens and animates abstract figurative meaning, whether through satire, irony, or simple joyous delight. Perceptually, it lends its own peculiar double focus (on what is, on what should be) to the double focus of allegory (on "figura" and referent).; Discusses the interrelations of comedy and allegory in BD, HF, PF, and LWWP; then explores how other poets (Gower, the Scottish Chaucerians, Skelton, and Spenser) similarly combine comedy with allegory in love poetry so that a given poem "illustrates a way of perceiving meanings that established their value" (57-58).

Chaucer Subjects: Background and General Criticism.; Book of the Duchess.; House of Fame.; Parliament of Fowls.; Legend of Good Women.