ABSTRACT
Spenser, Milton, and Renaissance allegory
The story of Venus and Adonis, unlike that of Orpheus, was not particularly popular in the Middle Ages. Chaucer has a couple of passing references to the love of Venus for ‘Adoun’, and Lydgate tells the story of ‘Adonydes’ at tedious length as a warning against the dangerous wild beasts that lurk in the garden of Love. On the whole, though, medieval writers seem to see little potential in the story, either as romance (perhaps Adonis was too passive for a knightly hero) or as Christian allegory.
