The Romance of the Rose

154 Pages·1988·7.45 MB·English

by  Heather M. Arden

T • H • E
ROMANCE
OF «O THE
R - O - S - E
The thirteenth-century allegorical poem The
Romance of the Rose was the most widely read
secular text of the Middle Ages and the most
influential work of medieval French literature.
Begun in the early 1200s by Guillaume de Lorris,
the Rose was originally shaped as an allegorical
love poem intended for an aristocratic audience.
Several decades later, the poem was extended
by Jean de Meun, whose work broadened the
poem’s appeal to include academics and the
middle classes. No longer simply a poem written
in the tradition of courtly love literature, the
Rose became a radical questioning of life, em­
bracing complex issues such as the relationship
between men and women and the role of reli­
gious orders in society. It also presented a
timeless, philosophical rumination on the rela­
tionship between faith and reason. Read by
Dante and Chaucer, among other leading Euro­
pean literary figures, the Rose laid the founda­
tion for the development of a secular literature
for the middle classes.
Heather Arden provides readers of this chal­
lenging work with a detailed outline and plot
synopses invaluable to understanding the poem
and the history of its creation. Arden’s discus­
sion of the cultural traditions to which the two

The Romance of the Rose
Twayne’s World Authors Series
French Literature
David O’Connell, Editor
University of Illinois at Chicago
The author at work. From E Museo 65, fol. 66.
Reproduced with the permission of the Bodleian Library, Oxford University.
The Romance of the Rose
By Heather M. Arden
University of Cincinnati
Twayne Publishers
A Division of G.K Hall & Ca>. • Boston
The Romance of the Rose
Heather M. Arden
Copyright 1987 by G.K. Hall & Co.
All rights reserved.
Published by Twayne Publishers
A Division of G. K. Hall & Co.
70 Lincoln Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02111
Copyediting supervised by Lewis DeSimone
Book production by Janet Zietowski
Book design by Barbara Anderson
Typeset in 11 pt. Garamond
by Compset, Inc., Beverly, Massachusetts
Printed on permanent/durable acid-free paper
and bound in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Arden, Heather, 1943-
The romance of the Rose.
(Twayne’s world authors series ; TWAS 791. French
literature)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Guillaume, de Lorris, fl. 1230. Roman de la Rose.
2. Jean, de Meun, c. 1305r*—Criticism and interpretation.
1. Title. II. Series: Twayne’s world authors series ;
TWAS 791. III. Series: Twayne’s world authors series.
French literature.
PQ1528.A89 1986 84lM 87-15054
ISBN 0-8057-6645-6 (alk. paper)
Contents
About the Author
Preface
Chronology
Chapter One
The Authors and Their Rose 1
Chapter Two
Literary and Philosophical Traditions 20
Chapter Three
Allegory and Personification in the Rose 43
Chapter Four
The Influence of the Roman de la rose 67
Chapter Five
Critical History of the Roman de la rose 87
Chapter Six
Conclusion: Knowledge and Experience in the Rose
Notes and References 113
Selected Bibliography 128
Index 132
About the Author
Heather Arden earned her B.A. at Michigan State University (1965)
and her M.A. and Ph.D. at New York University (1967, 1974). She
has also studied in Paris and Strasbourg. Her dissertation, which ex­
amined the sottie, a type of late medieval comic play performed by fools
or jesters, was published in 1980 by Cambridge University Press under
the title Fools' Flays: A Study of Satire in the Sottie. While continuing to
work on the late medieval theater, she has also moved back in time to
study twelfth- and thirteenth-century French romance. In 1977 she
participated in a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer
Seminar on “Modern Approaches to Medieval Literature,” led by Peter
Haidu at the University of Illinois. Since then she has held a number
of grants for research on medieval romance, including an American
Council of Learned Societies Study Fellowship and a NEH Summer
Stipend. She has served as the French editor of Studies in Medievalism,
a journal devoted to studying the influence of medieval thought, art,
and literature on later periods. After teaching at Wilkes College in
Pennsylvania, in 1978 she came to the University of Cincinnati, where
she teaches courses on medieval literature and on women in French
literature.