Chaucer.docx

**Chaucer** - All poems of Chaucer are written in English. - The dialect Chaucer use was East Midlands. **The French Phase** **The Book of the Duchess:** Written in octosyllabic couplets, it is a dream-poem on the death in 1368 of Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, the wife of John of Gaunt. The...

**Chaucer** - All poems of Chaucer are written in English. - The dialect Chaucer use was East Midlands. **The French Phase** **The Book of the Duchess:** Written in octosyllabic couplets, it is a dream-poem on the death in 1368 of Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, the wife of John of Gaunt. The poem is Chaucer's first work and is an Elegy. **The Romaunt of the Rose:**It is a translation of a French allegorical poem le Roman de la Rose by French authors Jean De Meun and Guillaume de Lorris. The poem is written in octosyllabic couplets. **An ABC (The Prayer of Our Lady).** **The Italian Phase** **Anelida and Arcite** - "Anelida and Arcite" tells the tragic love story of Anelida, the queen of Armenia, and Arcite, a Theban knight. Initially, Arcite woos Anelida with promises of love and fidelity, and she falls deeply in love with him. However, Arcite soon proves to be disloyal, abandoning Anelida for another woman. - The poem is unfinished and 370 lines long. The preface that is in varying rhymes is called the Complaint of Anelida. - The main poem is in rhyme royal (seven-line stanzas of iambic pentameter that rhyme ababbcc). **The House of Fame** - The poem is a dream vision in octosyllabic couplets and is divided into three books in 2,005 lines. - In Book I, the narrator, named Geoffrey, falls asleep and dreams that he is in a temple of glass, where he sees engraved stories of famous works of literature, particularly Virgil's Aeneid. A golden eagle swoops down and carries him away. - In Book II, as the eagle flies, it explains that Geoffrey is being taken to the House of Fame, a place where the reputations of people are decided. It was sent by Zeus. The eagle engages in a philosophical discussion about the nature of fame and astronomy. - Geoffrey arrives at the House of Fame. Inside, he sees the goddess Fame, who is depicted with multiple tongues, eyes, and ears. Geoffrey observes how Fame arbitrarily grants or denies renown to people. He also sees the House of Rumor, a whirling cage filled with news and gossip. The poem ends abruptly. **The Parlementof Foules** - The poem begins with the narrator reading Cicero's "The Dream of Scipio," which leads him to fall asleep and dream. - In his dream, he finds himself in a beautiful garden, presided over by Nature. This garden is filled with various birds who have gathered to choose their mates on St. Valentine's Day. Nature, personified as a regal figure, oversees the proceedings. - Three male eagles vie for the love of a single female eagle. Each presents his case, arguing why he should be chosen as her mate. The female eagle, however, requests more time to make her decision. - Ultimately, the poem concludes without a definitive resolution to the female eagle's choice. **Troilus and Criseyde** - It is Chaucer's longest complete poem in 8,239 lines of rhyme-royal, probably written in the second half of the 1380s. - Chaucer takes his story from Boccaccio's [II filostrato], adapting its eight books to five and changing the characters of Criseyde and Pandarus. - The poem relates the love of Troilus, a noble young warrior second only to Hector, and Criseyde, the widowed daughter of Calchas, an astronomer who had foreseen the fall of Troy and switched to the Greek camp. Troilus falls in love with Criseyde and through the help of her uncle and guardian, Pandarus, they begin a secret affair. - They live very happily until Calchas and the Greeks demand Criseyde in exchange for a prisoner of war. - Criseyde goes to the Greeks promising to return as soon as possible. When she does not come Troilus becomes desolate, consumed with grief. Meanwhile, Criseyde has reluctantly, at first, taken the Greek Diomede as a lover. - Troilus senses her betrayal in a dream by seeing a brooch he had given Criseyde worn by Diomede and, on creeping into the enemy camp, hears the two together. In despair he devotes himself to the battle and dies in glory. - In Boccaccio's poem Pandaro was not an uncle, but a cousin. **The Legend of Good Women** - It tells the stories of various women from classical and medieval literature who are celebrated for their virtues, particularly their faithfulness in love. - The poem is framed by a prologue in which Chaucer, as the narrator, falls asleep and dreams that he is visited by the God of Love and his queen, Alceste. The God of Love is angry with Chaucer for his previous works that depicted women unfavorably, while Alceste intervenes and convinces him to write about virtuous women instead. - The poem is written in decasyllabic couplets. **The English Phase** **The Canterbury Tales** - It is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines. - The frame of the story might be influenced by Boccaccio's Decameron in which varies narrators are telling stories while fleeing from Black Death. - In Chaucer's hand in the "Prologue" thirty pilgrims (including the poet) are gathered in an inn to continue their journey to visit the shrine of Thomas Beckett in Canterbury church. - To reduce the boredom of the journey the inn-keeper (who appoints himself as their guide) suggests them to tell two tales each on the onward journey and two again on their return. The best story teller would be treated with a free meal by others. - The "Prologue" section concentrates on the description of these story tellers. - Only two moral characters in the prologue: the Parson and the Plowman. - **The Knight's Tale:**It centers around two knights, Palamon and Arcite, who are imprisoned by Theseus, Duke of Athens. From their prison tower, they both fall in love with Emily, Theseus's sister-in-law, whom they see in the garden below. After some time, Arcite is released but banned from Athens. He disguises himself and returns to serve in Emily's household. Meanwhile, Palamon escapes from prison. The two knights encounter each other in a grove and, despite their past friendship, decide to duel for Emily's love. Theseus discovers them and arranges a formal tournament for their contest. Arcite wins the battle but is mortally wounded by a divine intervention. On his deathbed, he reconciles with Palamon and entrusts Emily to him. - **The Nun's Priest's Tale:**Chanticleer is a magnificent rooster with a beautiful crow. He has several hens, but his favorite is the lovely Pertelote. One night, Chanticleer has a frightening dream about being captured by a fox. Pertelote dismisses his fears, attributing them to indigestion, and advises him to take some herbs to calm his stomach. Despite Pertelote\'s reassurances, Chanticleer\'s dream comes true when a sly fox named Sir Russell tricks him. The fox flatters Chanticleer\'s singing and, when the rooster proudly stretches his neck to crow, the fox grabs him by the throat and runs off. Using his wits, Chanticleer tricks the fox into opening his mouth to boast about his cunning, allowing Chanticleer to escape and fly into a tree. - **The Millar's Tale:** The tale begins with John, a gullible and jealous carpenter, who is married to a beautiful young woman named Alison. Nicholas, a clever and cunning scholar lodging with them, falls in love with Alison and devises a plan to seduce her. Alison reciprocates Nicholas's feelings, and they conspire to trick John. - **The Wife of Bath's Prologue:** Having been married five times, Alisoun considers herself an authority on the subject and challenges the traditional views of her time. She defends her multiple marriages by citing Biblical male figures like King David and Abraham who had numerous spouses, arguing that God never explicitly condemned remarriage.Alisoun reveals that her first three husbands were rich but old and easily controlled. She used her sexual power and cunning to gain mastery over them, often manipulating them with false accusations and feigned affection. Her fourth husband was a philanderer, and she took revenge by making him jealous. Her fifth husband, Jankyn, was younger and more difficult to dominate. He would read misogynistic texts, which led to physical confrontations. However, after a particularly violent fight, they reached a truce, and she gained sovereignty over him. - **The Wife of Bath's Tale:**The message of the story is what women most desire is sovereignty over their own lives and choices. - **The Reeve's Tale:** Itis an example of 'Quayte tales' (tale of insult), where he targets Miller's daughter. - **The Clerk's Tale:** Itis about patient Griselda (a character in folklore who represents patience and loyalty). The Clerk mentioned that he was inspired by Petrarch. - **The Pardoner's Tale:**He is a greedy person who used to sell false relics. He told a moral story about three riotous young men who seek to kill Death after it takes a friend. An old man directs them to a tree where they find gold coins instead. Greed overtakes them, and they plot to kill each other to keep the treasure. - **The Parson's Tale:** It is the final story. Unlike the other tales, it is not a narrative but a lengthy prose sermon on penitence. The Parson, a devout and humble clergyman, discusses the importance of repentance and the steps necessary for achieving it: contrition (sorrow), confession and satisfaction. - Chaucer told Tale of Sir Thopas and The Tale of Melibee. - The Parson's Tale and 'The Tale of Melibee are in prose.