Reinventing Allegory asks how and why allegory has survived as a literary mode from the late Renaissance to the postmodern present. Three chapters on Romanticism, including one on the painter J.M.W. Turner, present this era as the pivotal moment in allegory's modern survival, while other chapters describe larger historical and philosophical contexts, from classical rhetoric to recent theory and metafiction. Using a series of key historical moments to define the special character of modern allegory, this study assesses allegory's role in comtemporary literary culture.