week 11 Flashcards
exemplum VS allegory
EXEMPLUM
- concrete example that illustrates abstract point made before
- needs to be generalized
ALLEGORY
- signifies something else (figurative speech)
- needs to be translated
- relies on doctrine shared by the author and audience
allegory is used for?
Training lawyers (rhetoric)
- quintillion (1st century) saying one thing, meaning another
reading + interpreting the Bible
- origin (3th century) different levels of meaning
reading + interpreting literary texts
- Bernardus Silvestris of Tours (12th century) Christian meaning in Virgils Aeneid (pagan text)
Medieval literature
not autonomous, self-referential
external references needed to understand
- letter: linguistics construction
- sense: literal, surface meaning
- sentence: deeper, spiritual meaning
external references can be:
- imagery, figurative language (fabliau)
- symbolism (romances)
- allegory (stock allegorical symbols)
medieval methods of instruction - allegory
= a story, poem or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one
- a form of extended metaphor
- objects and person within narrative equated with meaning outside narrative self
- allegorical figures exist on 2 levels at the same time
–> literal: what figure does in narrative (crooked path)
–> symbolic: what figure stands for outside narrative (sin)
interpretation Holy Scripture - 4 things
- allegorical = what you should believe in
- moral = how to act, live
- literal = what happened
- anagogical = what to hope for
