Allegory and Personification

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ID: 318137
2026
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Abstract
Abstract Allegory needs narrative, and narrative needs agents. But allegorical narratives put pressure on agents by asking them both to act and to signify. From the battling virtues of Prudentius’ Psychomachia to the saints of medieval hagiography, allegorical agents participate both in a narrative world and in orders and identities beyond that narrative world. As persons, these agents are marked by dynamism and freedom, but as signifiers, they tend towards emblematic stillness, often towards immateriality. In this chapter, I consider an exemplary sort of allegorical agent: the personification. I consider the problems that personifications tend to raise and the contexts in which they might make sense as representations of human life. And I consider some of the theological paradigms and narrative structures within which personification develops: incarnation (word becomes body), transfiguration (body becomes a sign of the word), and desire (body strives towards its other).
Reference Key
openalex_W7165555847 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Jason Crawford
Journal Oxford University Press eBooks
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192894359.013.0026
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192894359.013.0026
Keywords Keywords not found

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