He also explores how these visions of the perfect life were used by artists poets and preachers to express their own longings and fears. The book is divided into four parts: Part One: The Dream of Cockaigne-The Perfect Life Part Two: The Birth of Utopia-The Ideal Society Part Three: The End of Time-The Eternal Present and Part Four: The Last Judgment-The Final Reckoning. Dreaming of Cockaigne: Medieval Fantasies of the Perfect Life In the medieval period, people yearned for a utopian society where life was perfect and free from suffering. This dreamland was called Cockaigne, a place where roasted pigs wandered around with knives in their backs, grilled geese flew directly into one's mouth, cooked fish jumped out of the water and landed at one's feet, and the weather was always mild, with wine flowing freely and sex readily available. This imaginary land became the most pervasive collective dream of the time, an earthly paradise that countered the anxieties about an increasingly elusive heavenly paradise.

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