Rufus Wood contextualizes his study of The Faerie Queene through an initial discussion of attitudes towards metaphor expressed in Elizabethan poetry. He reveals how Elizabethan writers voice a commitment to metaphor as a means of discovering and exploring their world and shows how the concept of a metaphoric principle of structure underlying Elizabethan poetics generates an exciting interpretation of The Faerie Queene. The debate which emerges concerning the use and abuse of metaphor in allegorical poetry provides a valuable contribution to the field of Spenser studies in particular and Renaissance literature in general.

Acknowledgements - Introduction: The Elizabethan Poetics of Metaphor - Metaphor as an Act of Faith - Metaphor as a Process of Change - Metaphor as an Act of Idolatry - Meta-Metaphors - Notes - List of Works Cited - Index