Jean de Meun (d. c. 1305) was the continuator of the Romance of the Rose, a poem about a lover’s quest for his beloved. Jean organized his part of the poem as a series of dialogues between the lover and various figures he encountered on his journeys. Meeting with the figure of Reason, the lover hears the following jaundiced definition of love.

[Reason says:]

If I know anything of love, it is

Imaginary illness freely spread

Between two persons of opposing sex,

Originating from disordered sight,

Producing great desire to hug and kiss

And see enjoyment in a mutual lust.

[To which the Lover responds:]

Madam, you would betray me; should I scorn

All folk because the God of Love now frowns?

Shall I no more experience true love,

But live in hate? Truly, so help me God,

Then were I moral sinner worse than thief!

Source: Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, The Romance of the Rose, trans. Harry W. Robbins (New York: Dutton, 1962), 97, 102.

Question to Consider

Whose point of view—Reason’s or the Lover’s—do you think Jean de Meun agrees with, and why do you think so?