Anonymous, The Cloud of Unknowing

Rebecca Hill

Ed. by Jamie McKinstry, University of Durham
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.02: English Writing and Culture: High and Late Medieval, 1066-1485.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Rory Critten (Université de Lausanne), David Fuller (University of Durham), Natalie Hanna (University of Liverpool), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast), Jamie McKinstry (University of Durham), Sarah Peverley (University of Liverpool), Sebastian Sobecki (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1350 - c. 1400

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Religion and Spirituality (any)
- Religious writing

Resources

Produced in England in the second half of the fourteenth century, the Cloud of Unknowing is a Middle English devotional manual designed to teach an novice, or someone relatively new to a life of Christian devotion, how to achieve union with God by means of negative or apophatic theology. The anonymous author’s main tenet is that if one stops contemplating God’s manifestations, one may know him by surrendering to nothingness; in other words, one must quiet the mind in order to give way to the workings of the heart. Despite relying on some positive (kataphatic) language and imagery, the most salient of which is the cloud-piercing love-dart, to assist the reader in this achievement, both image and rationality collapse. …

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3258 words

Citation: Hill, Rebecca. "The Cloud of Unknowing". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 July 2018 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16094, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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