The Romance of the Rose: The Continuation

A translation into English by A. S. Kline. Published with illuminations, courtesy of the British Library. Jean de Meung (c1240-c1305) wrote this long continuation (dated to between 1268 and 1285 by internal references) of the original Roman de la Rose. Jean claimed that the original work had been conceived by Guillaume de Lorris (c1200?-c1240?) some forty years earlier. Guillaume had penned a development of the courtly love poem, allegorical in content, to act as an ‘Art of Love’ (Ovid) for his own age. Jean’s continuation is an encyclopaedic moral commentary on his world, the seeds of which lie in Guillaume’s work, but whose content and style of delivery is Jean’s own. Jean appears to have excised the last eighty lines of Guillaume’s work in order to commence his own from that point. This translation reflects that assumption, but begins from Chapter XXXIII to provide continuity with Guillaume’s original. Guillaume’s allegory of courtly love is complemented by Jean’s deeper exploration of medieval society, and the combined work must be read in verse translation to fully appreciate the poetry, humour, and richness of the original.