Lyrical liars, animal desires and figurative kinship: Robert Henryson's defence of poetry in the prologue to The Morall Fabillis

Abstract

This article cites Robert Henryson's Fables in order to contextualise the history of the medieval notion that the world of imaginary, poetic fiction, needs justification; and examines the theological sources which served as the foundation of that debate and provided the validation for the use of fable animals as moral exemplars.