Elde e il Topos della Vecchiaia in "The Parlement of the Thre Ages"

Aptly described as “a splendid […] morality pageant” “(Pearsall), “The Parlement of the Thre Ages” is centred upon the theme of mortality, which emerges from a token debate of Youthe, Medill Elde and Elde. Elde, the personification of age, has the best of the dispute and the poem ends with Death’s knocking at the door. This study proposes to consider Elde the pivotable and most reliable figure in the “Parlement”, as he plays the major part in the debate and announces the ultimate truth. Elde is also the actualization of a rich literary topos, whose characteristics are synthetically delineated in qualitative and quantitative terms.