52 pages • 1 hour read
C. S. LewisA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
In the opening of Chapter 3, Lewis describes influences from the classical period on medieval literature and the Medieval Model. Influences like Virgil, Ovid, and the Bible are too obvious, so he skips over them entirely. Instead, he aims to concentrate on sources that are less easily accessible to readers, focusing particularly on sources written before the third century CE.
Lewis begins with Cicero’s Republic, which dates from approximately 50 BCE. The Republic contains a dream sequence that many medieval writers referenced. It can be found in Chaucer’s Book of the Duchess and Dante’s Paradiso. Other writers also took the idea of a protagonist’s ascent to the celestial sphere from Cicero. The concept of the “celestial sphere” predates Christianity but aligns well with Christian ideas about heaven. Cicero’s works also popularized the prohibition of suicide (referenced in Donne and Spenser), which Cicero in turn took from Plato. Medieval literature owes credit to Cicero for his conception of the Earth as cosmically insignificant in comparison to the entire universe.
Cicero’s ideas often aligned with Christian philosophy, but he primarily espoused pagan philosophies. For example, he described a heaven for statesmen, an idea that runs directly counter to Christian ideas about what heaven is and who it is for.
By C. S. Lewis
A Grief Observed
C. S. Lewis
Mere Christianity
C. S. Lewis
Out of the Silent Planet
C. S. Lewis
Perelandra
C. S. Lewis
Prince Caspian
C. S. Lewis
Surprised by Joy
C. S. Lewis
That Hideous Strength
C. S. Lewis
The Abolition of Man
C. S. Lewis
The Four Loves
C. S. Lewis
The Great Divorce
C. S. Lewis
The Horse And His Boy
C. S. Lewis
The Last Battle
C. S. Lewis
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C. S. Lewis
The Magician's Nephew
C. S. Lewis
The Pilgrim's Regress
C. S. Lewis
The Problem of Pain
C. S. Lewis
The Screwtape Letters
C. S. Lewis
The Silver Chair
C. S. Lewis
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
C. S. Lewis
Till We Have Faces
C. S. Lewis
Appearance Versus Reality
View Collection
Art
View Collection
Books About Art
View Collection
Books & Literature
View Collection
Colonialism & Postcolonialism
View Collection
Earth Day
View Collection
Medieval Literature / Middle Ages
View Collection
Philosophy, Logic, & Ethics
View Collection
Religion & Spirituality
View Collection