Political allegory in late medieval England

Ann W. Astell here affords a radically new understanding of the rhetorical nature of allegorical poetry in the late Middle Ages. She shows that major English writers of that era - among them, William Langland, John Gower, Geoffrey Chaucer, the Gawain-poet, and Thomas Malory - offered in their works of fiction timely commentary on current events and public issues.

Poems previously regarded as only vaguely political in their subject matter are seen by Astell to be highly detailed and specific in their veiled historical references, implied audiences, and admonitions.