Sciences and the Self in Medieval Poetry: Alan of Lille's Anticlaudianus and John Gower's Confessio Amantis

by James Simpson

This study examines two great poems of the later medieval period, the Latin philosophical epic, Alan of Lille's Anticlaudianus (1181-3), and John Gower's English poem, the Confessio Amantis (1390-3). James Simpson locates these works in a cultural context dominated by two kinds of literary humanism, in which the concept of self is centered in the intellect and the imagination respectively, and shows the very different modes of thought that lie behind their conceptions of selfhood and education.

334 pages, Hardcover

First published April 20, 1995

About the author

William James Simpson (writing as James Simpson), Ph.D., is a lecturer and Chair of the English Department at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Girton College. His primary focus is on medieval literature, as well as Middle English and early modern literature and culture (1150-1600).