Which C.S. Lewis work was published in 1936 as a study of medieval allegorical love?

The Allegory of Love was published in 1936 as C.S. Lewis’s study of medieval allegorical love.

The full title is The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition. It examines the development of allegorical treatments of love from classical and medieval sources, including texts associated with courtly love and the Roman de la Rose. Lewis combines literary history, close reading, and broad claims about changing ideas of love in Western literature.

The book was an important early success in Lewis’s academic career and helped establish his reputation as a scholar of medieval and Renaissance literature. Its arguments also show the literary interests that shaped his imaginative fiction, especially his attention to symbolism, moral imagination, and the relationship between desire and virtue.

It is sometimes confused with The Four Loves, a later popular work about affection, friendship, erotic love, and charity. The two books share a subject word but differ greatly in date, purpose, audience, and method.