Historians of medieval art and letters have failed satisfactorily to explain the gruesome images of death occurring at the end of that period. The explanation offered here is that the images are a form of symbolism based on body metaphors. By means of the decomposing bodies, the artists and poets symbolized the disintegration of medieval institutions and the transition to the early modern period in Europe. This view of symbolism depends on the work of Mary Douglas who has shown that the human body is the first, most natural symbol for describing social groups and institutions. A corollary of this argument is that the relationship between the vividness and fear of death and the collapse of institutions is reciprocal.
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