294 i Flora Unveiled
in the tradition of courtly love— into an erudite, but bawdy satire.^17 His conclusion to the
poem provoked a strong negative reaction because of its pornographic aspects, so much so
that an alternative version was composed by a third poet who recast the entire poem as a
Christian allegory.^18
In Guillaume de Lorris’s poem, a young man falls asleep in the month of May and dreams
he is walking along a river bank. He soon comes upon a beautiful garden surrounded by a
high wall. After being admitted into the garden, he joins others in a dance. He then goes
off to explore the garden more fully, stalked secretly by Cupid. Arriving at the very spring
(b)Figure 11.1 Continued