I am sometimes alarmed and dismayed by the way some
historians, especially when interpreting a literary or quasi-literary text, do
not seem to understand anything about literary conventions, figures of speech
&c. This leads to all kinds of misunderstandings about what is actually
being said.
The demise of traditional English teaching in
favour of creativity may be to blame.
I suspect art historians may see a parallel problem
with allegorical pictures ...
This might be a topic MeRel could explore
.....
Brenda M.C.