Pilgrimage as a Literary Frame
Introduction
Pilgrimage, as both a physical act and a figurative journey, has been a powerful framework
for literary exploration for centuries. Pilgrimage can serve as not just a setting for stories to
unfold, but as a frame to explore spiritual, moral, and existential transformations. In all times
and cultures, pilgrimage as a literary frame provides writers a robust framework to weave
scenarios together, develop a character, and unravel contested themes such as faith,
redemption, identity, and the human search for meaning.
The Idea of Pilgrimage in Literature
A pilgrimage is often thought of as a journey made for spiritual reasons, and thus implies
elements of growth, hardship, and enlightenment. In literature, we also think of pilgrimage in
terms of physical motion across a landscape, as well as in terms of internal motion of the
mind and spirit. As literary critics like Jill Mann suggest, pilgrimage is effectively "a dynamic
metaphor for life's struggles and goals" (Mann, 1973). Therefore, many pilgrimage stories
illustrate the shift from ignorance to knowledge, alienation to communion, or even sin to
salvation.
Medieval Beginnings: Chaucer, Dante
One of the earliest and most important uses of pilgrimage as a frame in literature, appears in
Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, written between 1387 and 1400. Chaucer
employs the pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral as previously mentioned, a structure to bind
together a series of distinct tales told by a diverse group of pilgrims. The use of a pilgrimage
in this way not only reflects the diversity of medieval society but also provides a thematic
cohesion to the tales through the common goal of arriving at a sacred destination. Each tale
also reflects the teller's character and social status, creating a rich snapshot of contemporary
life.
Likewise, the Divine Comedy (c. 1308-1320) by Dante Alighieri tells of a spiritual pilgrimage
through the afterlife. The guide of Dante's three-part journey - through Hell, Purgatory, and
Paradise - illustrates the soul's journey to God with a guide, blending piety with philosophy.
As Teodolinda Barolini points out, Dante's pilgrim represents "the universal human striving
for understanding, for salvation" (Barolini, 1984).
The use of pilgrimage in literature underwent a transformation in the early modern period, as
pilgrimage became more deliberately allegorical. John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress
(1678) is perhaps the example that most clearly depicts an allegorical pilgrimage, where
Christian travels from the "City of Destruction" to the "Celestial City." Every element of
Christian's pilgrimage has symbolic weight, illustrating spiritual obstacles and victories.
Bunyan's text highlights the personal introspective nature of spiritual pilgrimage, coinciding
with Protestant notions of individual faith and salvation.
Pilgrimage in Modern
and
Contemporary Literature
In many modern literature examples, the form or narrative that once overtly served as a
vehicle for religious pilgrimage shifts, instead, often becomes existential or proscribed
location. In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha (1922), the pilgrimage is not a destination, but
enlightenment found within. The narrative depicts Siddhartha's spiritual process and
evolution through experiences of his life, which extends the journey of pilgrimage into a
quest for truth among social institutions of religion, and therefore making pilgrimage
experience a profoundly personal search for truth.
Paolo Coehlho's The Alchemist (1988) acts as a re-imagining of the pilgrimage narrative. In
the narrative, Santiago's pilgrimage of searching for his treasure shifts as he examines the
potential metaphor of the pilgrimage of POSITIVE WANDERING toward his potential - as
one may conceive as a "Personal Legend." The story suggests, as does all pilgrimage, the
importance of faith, persistence, and listening to oneself, which maintains a connection to
the sacredness of the pilgrimage frame, albeit in a unconventional approach to establish
transformative potential.
Furthermore, Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir, Eat, Pray, Love (2006), illustrates continuing pilgrim
frames. Her travels through Italy, India and Indonesia involve a journey to heal herself and
achieve spiritual growth. While secular in nature, the printed setting of the memoir follows
the emotional structure of a pilgrimage story: departure, trial, self-discovery, and return.
Structural and Thematic Elements of Pilgrim Frames
There are several structural and thematic advantages of pilgrimage in a literary context:
Diversity with Unity: The pilgrimage brings together a variety of pilgrims which allows for
multiple narrative threads to exist within a coherent overarching structure.
Progression with Transformational Change: Pilgrimage implies movement through time
and space, which tracks with character development and thematic change.
Moral Reflection and Allegorical Significance: The trials and tribulations engenders
opportunities for moral reflection and allegorical significance.
Involvement of the Reader: The pilgrim's journey embodies a parallel journey of the reader
through the text, encouraging reading reflection and emotional engagement.
In The Canterbury Tales the joint pilgrimage to Canterbury allows Chaucer to investigate
different scales for morality, values, and social structure. In The Divine Comedy,
Dante creates a detailed map of the soul's journey to educate and inspire the reader to
experience the same journey through metaphorical means.
Subversion and Reinterpretation in Postmodern Pilgrimage
Postmodern literature often subverts traditional pilgrimage frameworks which is used to
undermine the constructs of purposefulness and fulfillment. Jack Kerouac's On the Road
(1957) acknowledges the element of a pilgrimage marked by run away travel t JulyAmerica,
but cargo road novels serve as a pilgrimage for meaning and spirituality in a dislocated
space. In retrospect, the journeys of the characters have no moral significance and are
chiefly marked by existential searching.
As Berger and O'Connor (Southampton, 2020) indicate, without any moral significance
pilgrimage can undermine purpose. Similar to traditional pilgrimages with the pilgrim as the
subject and the experience treated as open-ended rather than with concrete sacred value,
the postmodern pilgrimage is treated as a quest rather than a pilgrimage. A postmodern
pilgrim is not in fear for their life, but they do live with the ambiguity associated with life and
society today.
Conclusion
As a literary frame, pilgrimage provides a vibrant and living way to examine human
transformation, hope, and selfhood. From Chaucer's animated medieval pilgrims to Dante's
spiritual ascension; Bunyan’s allegorical struggles and back again to contemporary
examples of personal discovery, the motif is well-suited to respond to the changing stories
humans tell one another to reckon with life’s journey. Through stories of pilgrimage, literature
acknowledges and coincides with an important, lasting human desire to do— to leave the
self, to connect with other, to transcend boundaries of space and identity.
In an increasingly fractured and secularized world, frames referencing pilgrimage have
particular potency because they reflect an inborn human affirmation of purpose and
transformation. Literature allows readers a symbolic pilgrimage, a pilgrimage through the
imagination and human soul.
