psychomachy

psychomachy [sy‐kom‐ăki], a battle for the soul. The term comes from the Latin poem Psychomachia (c.400 CE) by Prudentius, describing a battle between virtues and vices for the soul of Man. This depiction of moral conflict had an important influence on medieval allegory, especially in the morality plays. Later echoes of medieval psychomachy can be found in Shakespeare's 144th sonnet and in Tennyson's poem ‘The Two Voices’ (1842).