About this Book

The Consolation of Philosophy is a literary and philosophical masterpiece of late antiquity: this book is the first extended study in English of its poems. It shows that they form a vigorous and sophisticated sequence in their own right, reflecting and elaborating the Latin poetic tradition from Lucretius to Seneca's tragedies, and adapting that tradition's imagery, myths and motifs to the work's overall structure. There are discussions of Boethius' career, his other writings, the generic affiliations of the Consolation, and its poetics; and there are detailed studies of the themes of tyranny, order and disorder in nature, and of Boethius' uses of myth. All Latin quotations are accompanied by translations. The book is addressed to anyone interested in the literature and thought of Classical and late antiquity, as well as those concerned with Boethius' considerable influence in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.