On the surface, the thirteenth-century poem "The Romance of the Rose" exists as an allegory of courtly love set in a dream vision narrative. While the first part, composed by Guillaume de Lorris, differs slightly in tone and style from the rest of...

The influence of Greek philosophy on the theologies of the traditional monotheisms was immense, shaping each theology’s conception of God according to the doctrines of such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, and Zeno. The interaction between...

Boethius’s <i>The Consolation of Philosophy</i> and the Old English poem “The Wanderer” are both testament to the enduring quality of literature. Writing in the sixth century A.D., Boethius discusses such varied topics as happiness,...

In The Consolation of Philosophy, the main character and author of the work, Boethius, faces the hardest time in his life when he is imprisoned and sentenced to death. Boethius is mourning the loss of his privileges, influence, and freedom, and...

The nature of true happiness has been the subject of many a discussion by philosophers and scholars alike for countless generations. It seems that every man who could call himself a true philosopher, men such as Aquinas, Augustine, Plato,...

In Boethius’s The Consolation of Philosophy, Lady Philosophy comes to console Boethius, who is imprisoned for execution and despairing of his fate. After a discourse on her own nature, Lady Philosophy begins Book II by describing Fortune...