Dreams, Love and Confession

The Middle Ages are notorious for their love of bizarre locales, hauntings, fear of demons, and superstitions. But the outlook of the medieval world also encouraged a love of hidden and of internal, spiritual space. This world-view attended to dreams, a complex anatomy of human love and confessions. In this course, we will examine the social and literary context of these three modes of communication in the classical and, especially, the medieval period. We will read classical and medieval poetry (Horace, Propertius, Ovid, Lucretius, Cambridge Songs, Alan de Lille, Bernardus Silvestris), late antique dream books (Aelius Aristides), medieval beastiaries and fables, vernacular Romances and lays, and the medieval confessional mode (Augustine, Guibert); we will also examine visual evidence, where possible.