Lines 3190-3334 Summary

As the narrator sits lamenting outside the hedge, he sees Lady Reason looking down at him from her high tower. Reason descends to him and reprimands him from entering the Garden of Mirth where Idleness holds the key and leads the dancing. She counsels him to forget the God of Love and to beware of Daunger and the other guardians of the Rose, including her daughter Shame. She points out the folly of Courtly Love but the narrator angrily tells her to be silent.

Lines 3190-3334 Analysis

A debate between Love and Reason was a commonplace incident in Courtly Love literature and, indeed, is found in much later post-Renaissance works. This passage stands in opposition to the section where Love outlines the demands of his followers.

It is unclear whether the author (as opposed to the twenty-year-old persona) sympathizes with Reason...