Personification, neoplatonic allegory, and Biblical typology: The syntheses of allegorical methods in Spenser's 'The Faerie Queene', Books III--V

This dissertation argues that through Spenser's syntheses of various allegorical traditions before and in his time, his "continued allegory," The Faerie Queene, builds a didactic artistry with a complexity in unity that is dependent on the understanding of allegory and of the belief systems in his time. It also argues that if the reader reads his allegory in accordance with these allegorical traditions and belief systems, he or she will find it to be aesthetically attractive and didactically effective.;To understand Spenser's didactic artistry, this dissertation begins with a survey from antiquity to the Renaissance of the formal and semantic characteristics of three allegorical methods familiar to Spenser and his contemporary reader, including personification, Neoplatonic allegory, and biblical typology. The dissertation first examines how Neoplatonists turned classical mythology and epics into philosophical treatises through etymology and suggestive images to give the reader intellectual pleasure. The introduction also examines how commentators on the Bible used Christ's life, death, resurrection, and Second Coming as the model of a providential plan to persuade the reader to participate in a religious reality by making ethical choices. Finally, the introduction examines how allegorical poets turned Neoplatonic allegory inside out by using abstract ideas as characters to give the reader clear instruction. The main chapters then analyze Spenser's allegorical syntheses from Books III to V in the light of these allegorical traditions to elucidate his didactic artistry.;In addition to an analysis of Spenser's didactic artistry, the dissertation analyzes Spenser's didactic ingenuity by studying the subtlety of his allegorical syntheses. In comparison, no earlier allegorist had created such closely-knit and balanced allegorical syntheses. Spenser even prepares the reader for increasingly complex allegorical syntheses by adding complexity episode by episode. In Book III, the three allegorical methods complement one another. Book IV expands the network of meanings so that in Book V, images or ideas can suggest two or three allegorical methods at once.;The conclusion analyzes Spenser's original didactic artistry throughout The Faerie Queene. It shows how he maximizes his didactic power with the help of various allegorical traditions without sacrificing artistic subtlety.