The 'Book of the Duchess' as a Philosophical Vision: The Argument from Form

Description: BD is considerably more complex than some critics have believed: it is a "philosophical vision," not a "dream of folly" (Zimbardo); an "autobiography by dream" (Shoaf); a "literary sampler," or a "Boethian apocalypse" (Cherniss). It is not monologic, like earlier dream visions, but dialogic, engaging in a dialogue with the past, a conversation from which it winnows its own truth. Compulsively exploring love and loss, it culminates in understanding.