‘From Dragoun to Dragon: The role of the Dragon in Medieval and Early Modern English Literature’.
ACL Research Seminar Series
- Location:
- Teams Online
- Time:
- Wednesday 23 February 2022, 14:10–15:10
Stevie Fox - Bangor University
This thesis explores the literary representation of the dragon and its change in cultural significance and interpretation.
Beginning with its origins in earliest Mesopotamian Sumerian culture, and moving through its reinterpretation during the classical period, the thesis then uses this early material to explain the representation and interpretation of dragons in key medieval literary genres in which they appear.
Having explored the significance of dragons in medieval literature, the thesis then moves to what becomes of the dragon in the early modern period, and the final part of the thesis explores the way in which Edmund Spenser has inherited medieval literary tastes into his allegorical epic romance, The Faerie Queene.
During the Renaissance period, and the fluctuating religious disharmony, the dragon fell out of favour, due to being associated with the Catholic saints. The first major work to resurrect the dragon is Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene in which the dragon is transformed into the representation of the Catholic religion, which must be defeated at all costs. A political and social statement, as well as an epic polemical poem, the FQ still remains as enigmatic and entertaining today as when it was first written.
To conclude, there is a brief look at the afterlives of dragons in modern culture.