13 Geoffrey Chaucer
Dr. Mahuya Bhaumik
OBJECTIVES OF THE CHAPTER: This module is an attempt to trace the journey of one of the most influential writers in the entire range of English literature. It attempts to discuss the various periods in which his literary career has been divided in order to facilitate our understanding of Chaucer’s seminal works. However, the English period has just been referred to here, since a separate module (Module 14) has been allotted for its discussion elaborately.
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TIMELINE
1343: Chaucer Born Geoffrey Chaucer is born to upper-middle class parents, John and Agnes Copton Chaucer. Scholars believe he was born in London, but the exact place and year of his birth is unknown.
1357: Becomes a Page A teenage Chaucer gets a job as a page to the Countess of Ulster.
1359: Joins the Army Edward III invades France during the Hundred Years’ War between France and England. Chaucer fights in the English Army.
1360: Captured Chaucer is captured during the Seige of Rheims in north-eastern France. He is ransomed for sixteen pounds.
1366: Marriage Geoffrey Chaucer marries Philippa de Roet, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Philippa of Hainault. . Jun 20, 1367: Becomes a Member of Court Chaucer becomes a member of the royal court as a valet to King Edward III.
1369: Begins Book of the Duchess Chaucer begins work on the Book of the Duchess, an elegy for noblewoman Blanche of Lancaster that is commissioned by her husband. It is completed by 1374, when her widower John of Gaunt pays Chaucer for the book.
1370: Second Tour of Duty Chaucer completes his second tour in the English Army, after spending one year fighting in France under John of Gaunt.
1373: Travels to Italy Chaucer visits Genoa and Florence. He reads Italian medieval poetry, an influence on his own creative work.
Jun 8, 1374: Becomes Comptroller Chaucer is appointed to the lucrative job of Comptroller of Customs for the Port of London. In the twelve years during which he holds this position, he writes most of his poetic works.
1375: Anelida and Arcite Around this time, Chaucer begins work on the poem Anelida and Arcite. Like most of Chaucer’s works, it’s impossible to know the exact date at which the poem was written. Scholars believe the poem was composed in the late 1370s.
1377: Change of Kings King Edward III dies. His grandson Richard II takes the throne. He is the nephew of Chaucer’s political patron, John of Gaunt, which is favourable for Chaucer’s career.
1379: The House of Fame Chaucer begins The House of Fame. It describes a vision he received in a dream, and is completed the following year. May 4, 1380: Accused of Crime Chaucer appears in a legal document in connection with the raptus – either rape or kidnapping – of Cecilia Chaumpaigne. The legal matter is evidently resolved fairly quickly, since there is no other mention of it in Chaucer’s records.
1382: Troilus and Criseyde and Parlement of Foules Chaucer composes the 700-line poem Parlement of Foules (also spelled Fowles). Around this time, Chaucer also begins work on the epic poem Troilus and Criseyde. Scholars believe Troilus and Criseyde was composed between 1382 and 1388.
1385: Justice of the Peace
1386: Joins Parliament, begins The Legend of Good Women Geoffrey Chaucer resigns as Comptroller and becomes a member of Parliament, representing Kent. He also begins work on The Legend of Good Women, a poem completed between 1386 and 1388.
1387: Wife Dies Philippa Chaucer dies. The causes and exact date of her death are unknown.
1388: Begins Canterbury Tales Chaucer begins work on his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales. The collection of stories about religious pilgrims is written over a period of about ten years, between the late 1380s and the late 1390s.
Jul 12, 1389: Receives Royal Appointment Chaucer is appointed Clerk of the King’s Works, a job akin to chief overseer for all royal building projects. In this capacity, he oversees jobs at the Tower of London, Westminster Palace, Windsor Castle, and St. George’s Chapel.
Sep 1390: Robbed Chaucer is robbed while at work. Records show that he may have been injured during the robbery.
Jun 1391: Changes Jobs Chaucer leaves the King’s job and begins working as a Deputy Forester in the royal forest of North Petherton.
1398: Completes Canterbury Tales As the end of the 1390s approaches, Chaucer ceases work on The Canterbury Tales. Oct 25, 1400: Chaucer Dies Geoffrey Chaucer dies of unknown causes.
1556: Tomb Moved Chaucer’s remains are moved to a more elaborate tomb in a different part of Westminster Abbey. He is the first resident of what is now called Poet’s Corner, a section of the abbey reserved for writers. |
INTRODUCTION:
The most important writer of Middle English Period without whom any discussion of Middle English poetry becomes absolutely insignificant is Geoffrey Chaucer. He is undoubtedly that poet of the Middle English period in whose capable and confident hands both English language and literature attained maturity. His range, complexity, humorous tone, essentially humane outlook and technical brilliance place him much above the other poets of his times. His acquaintance with European literature enabled him to deal in English with themes and attitudes prevalent in European literature. He was a keen observer of human nature and portrayed it with a balance between sympathy and irony. His training in courtly and diplomatic lifestyle helped him to present diverse characters in his works with utmost conviction.
His employment in diverse forms of public and civil services and his journeys abroad on the business of the King gave him opportunity to come across different kinds of people ranging from aristocracy to the lower segments of the society. His journeys to France and Italy are particularly significant because these helped him to be acquainted with Italian literature, especially the works of Dante and Boccaccio. During his second voyage to Italy he met Barnabo Visconti, Lord of Milan, whose death is the subject matter of one stanza in the Monk’s Tale.
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POINTS TO REMEMBER
Chaucers’s literary career can be divided into three periods:
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FRENCH PERIOD:
The fascination of Chaucer for everything French can be understood because of his long association with people belonging to the royalty, court and government spheres, the people for whom French was the chosen aristocratic language. Chaucer was deeply inspired by the Rose tradition and the later French developments on it. His early works bear testimony to his fascination with French poets like Deschamps and Froissart. This phase of Chaucer’s writing is termed as the French period. The poems belonging to the French group include The Romaunt of the Rose which is a lengthy allegorical poem of which only a fragment is available. It is inspired by the French original Le Romaunt de laRose and Chaucer translated only a part of it (fragment A). The poem is in the form of a dream. It is a vision of a dreamer who strolls by the side of a river one fine May morning and enjoys the sweet melodious songs of the birds, the blossoming of flowers, the cosy warmth of the pleasant weather. It is the season of love when both the humans and the animals choose their partners. The Dreamer arrives at a garden surrounded by a wall which is painted on the outside with different allegorical and disagreeable characters like Covetousness, Ill-breeding and Old Age. A young girl called Idleness opens the gate and allows the Dreamer in. Inside the garden he observes much more delightful objects as beautiful flowers, tall trees, chirping birds, small animals, melodious tune and dancing led by the allegorical figures, Mirth and his retinue. The Dreamer sees reflections of the delightful garden, particularly a rose bush surrounded by a hedge but exuding intoxicating fragrance. The Dreamer’s eyes are fixed on one particular bud which is beautiful. Fragment A comes to an end here. The other parts of the French poem are translated by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun.
The other important book belonging to this group of poems is The Book of the Duchesse which draws heavily on Machaut, Ovid and Froissart and retains the dream form. But it is marked by Chaucer’s own treatment of it. The poem is probably Chaucer’s earliest composition and dates back to 1369. It is written in dream allegory tradition on the death of Blanche, the Duchess of Lancaster. It is an elegy on the demise of Blanche who was the first wife of Chaucer’s lifelong friend and patron, John of Gaunt and mother of Henry of Lancaster, the future Henry IV. Blanche has been depicted as beautiful and accomplished and Chaucer emphasises on her sociability and gaiety. The poem begins with the poet reading the tragic story of Queen Alcyone who fervently prays to Juno for the news of the ship-wrecked Ceyx in Ovid’s Metamorphoses xi. Ceyx, though drowned, appears in the dream of Alcione to let her know about his death:
And called hir right as she het
By name, and sayde, ‘My swetewyf,
Awake! Let be your sorwfullyf!
For in your sorwe there lyth no red.
For, certes, swete, I nam but died;
Ye shul me never on lyveyse.
… … …
And farewell, swete, my worlds blysse!
I praye God youresorwelysse.
Tolytel while oureblysselasteth!
Alcione dies two days later. Eventually, the poet falls asleep and dreams about a sorrowful knight, clad in black, sitting under an oak tree in a forest. The dreamer sincerely tries to engage the distraught knight into a conversation so that he can express the cause of his sorrow. The knight explains the reason of his sadness- after a game of chess the goddess of Fortune has taken away his queen White. He elaborately describes the charm, beauty, gentleness and essential goodness of his lady love and how they lived a perfectly blissful life. His pangs of separation from her are expressed by Chaucer with simplicity, directness of emotion and restraint that show the intensity and sensitivity of the poet. It is a poem which reveals Chaucer’s skill to bring emotion, situation and language together harmoniously. Here, Chaucer is deeply inspired by Machaut, particularly his Jugementdou Roy de Behaingne which focuses on a debate between a knight lamenting about his unrequited love and a lady lamenting for her dead lover. Other poems of this period include An A.B.C., The Compleynt of Mars and The Compleynt unto Pite.
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POINTS TO REMEMBER FRENCH PERIOD Some of the important works of this period are:
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ITALIAN PERIOD:
The Italian stage is marked by significant advances upon the French stage in Chaucer’s increasing sense of perception, greater technical expertise and originality. Anelida and Arcite and The Parliament of Foules belong to this group of poems. The former is an incomplete work and it seems as if after around three thousand lines the poet abandoned the project altogether. However, the ‘Complaint’ of Anelida, with its perfect balance of strophe and antistrophe, can be considered to be one of the most beautiful and finished instances of the kind in Middle English literature. It is a pity that only a fragment of it remains.
The Parliament of Foules uses the convention of dream allegory and the demande d’amour and is marked by a celebration of St. Valentine’s Day. The poem is divided into three parts. The poet is acquainted with love not in dede, but from books only. The poet is busy reading Somnium Scipionis in Cicero’s DeRepublica Book IV for the whole day and falls asleep because of exhaustion. Quite naturally he dreams of Scipio who desires to reward the Dreamer and takes him to a park surrounded by walls. The poet is confused to observe inscriptions over the two sides of the gate. However, he understands that these inscriptions are not meant for him but for ‘Love’s servants’. The second part of the book describes the garden and reminds us of the setting of the Roman de la Rose. The mesmerising beauty of the garden with trees, flowers, birds, small rivers, Cupid and his assistants has unmistakable echoes of paradise:
Th’air of that place so attempre was
That nevere was ther grevaunce of hot ne cold;
There wexek every holsom spice and gras;
No man may there waxesek ne old;
Yit was there joye more a thousandfold
Than man can telle; ne neverewolde it nyghte,
But ay cler day to any manes syghte.
While wandering through the garden, the Dreamer sees a temple of Venus and this section is inspired by Boccaccio’s Teseida. After being fascinated by the look of Venus, he comes to the goddess Nature who is presiding over the birds and their debate. This part of the poem is based on a popular belief that the birds choose their partners on St. Valentine’s Day. Thus Chaucer presents a group of birds with a female eagle being the centre of attraction because of her goodness and beauty. She has three suitors eagerly awaiting her response to their plea. Though Nature suggests her to select the royal suitor, she asks for one year span in order to make her choice. The poem is a marvellous example of Chaucer’s comic spirit revealed through the characterization of the birds, the stiff competition among the suitors for the hand of the former and through the by-play over the diverse opinions and impatience of the inferior birds regarding this situation. There are speculations that the poem is a celebration of the engagement of Richard II with Anne of Bohemia. The other suitors are thought to be Charles IV of France and Friedrich of Meissen. There are other interpretations as well. The three parts of the poem are connected through the character of Somnium who acts as the guide of the Dreamer. However, these three parts are marked by different styles of writing. The first part is philosophical, the second one is slow in movement and the debate is an instance of a variety of language depending on the status of the birds. The Parliament of Foules is considered to be one of Chaucer’s small yet perfectly finished work.
Around this time Chaucer translated Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy in the early eighties and the influence of this work is palpable in poems like Palamon and Arcite included as Knight’s Tale in the Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde which were composed between 1382 and 1386. This speaks of Chaucer’s wide range of interest though his prose tales are often without proper form as we find in the Canterbury Tales.
During his travel to Italy Chaucer read Divina Commedia and was inspired by the greatness of Dante’s vision depicted through the journeys to Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise. The grandeur of Dante could not be captured by Chaucer in his work. However, the concept of journey to unknown places was employed by him in The House of Fame. This poem is also in the dream form and is one of the significant poems in English, particularly from the perspectives of character delineation and conversational elements. It departs from the environment of trance, though the dream framework is still retained. The poem is divided into three books among which the first one describes a dream in the similar manner as the opening of Roman de la Rose. This is followed by an invocation to the God of Sleep, Morpheus. Then the poet visits the temple of Venus and reads the story of Aeneas and Dido on its wall. Though it is a digression and a blemish, this part shows Chaucer’s artistic temperament in a pleasant way. When the poet comes out of the temple he observes a huge, golden eagle shining brightly and approaching him. This eagle can be related to the one in Dante’s ninth book of Purgatorio. The eagle comes to the poet and soars high up the sky along with him. During the journey it explains that it has come to take him to the house of Fame to fulfil Jove’s wish to reward the poet by letting him listen to the tidings of Love’s folke because of his long service to Cupid and Venus. During this journey the eagle explains that the house of Fame is situated midway between earth, air and sea and also explains how sound finds its way there. The second book concentrates upon the eagle’s flight and is a proof of Chaucer’s brilliance in the use of humour that is brought about through the contrast between the poet’s terrible fears which is in sharp contrast to the friendliness of the eagle. The talkativeness of the eagle and the utterly terrified monosyllabic replies of the poet create a hilarious impact and is a brilliant example of high comedy. However, the third book is incomplete and breaks off at the point when the poet is about to hear an announcement outside the house of Fame. The readers are left pondering what the news is all about. We even do not know whether it was deliberate on the part of Chaucer to intentionally suppress the announcement. Many are of the opinion that Chaucer wanted to introduce a series of stories as in The Legend of Good Women and the Canterbury Tales. Scholars have viewed the poem as an allegory of the life of the poet. Some consider it as a conventional love poem inspired by French literature. Whatever the case may be, this poem is a fine instance where passion and desire, innocence and knowledge are all blended together using the new verse form of rhyme royal.
Troilus and Criseyde is considered to be one of Chaucer’s best narrative works. It is the longest complete poem written by Chaucer spanning for 8000 lines. It narrates a tragic love story beginning with Troilus’ first glance of Criseyde who is a beautiful, young widow. She has been left alone by his father, Calchas, who has abandoned Troy and joined the Greek side. Troilus and Criseyde consists of three neatly ordered books and the poet makes the story reach its climax when Troilus, assisted by his friend and uncle of Criseyde, Pandarus, becomes successful to overcome the hesitance, reserve and cautious nature of Criseyde, and gets united with her. For the next three years they are happily together in each other’s company and share mutual love. But in the next two books the events proceed towards a tragic conclusion when Criseyde has to go to Greece in her father’s camp as a part of the scheme of exchange of prisoners. So she has to go away from Troilus but promises to make plans to come back to him within ten days. However, even before those days pass by, she falls in love with Diomede, the handsome escort of Criseyde and within a few months she gifts Diomede the brooch that was given by Troilus to her when she had departed from Troy.
The focal point of interest of Troilus and Criseyde is the portrayal of the character of Criseyde. She is a combination of beauty and mystery. We can never get a clear understanding of her psyche. Initially when she is defensive in her attitude it is a blending of courtly love tradition and her cautious nature. But during her involvement with Troilus her emotions seem to be sincere. However, when she goes away and easily forgets her lover, it becomes obvious for the readers to point at her fickleness and wavering nature. She does not possess the steadfastness and depth of feeling. But the poet is not willing to be too harsh with her and declares that he is ready to excuse her. In fact, her behaviour is more the consequence of the essential weakness of her character rather than baseness and infidelity. The author describes that she is ‘slydynge of courage’. In fact, Chaucer’s description of Criseyde as ‘tender-hearted’ is far from Boccaccio’s realization that love must empower the lover to be graceful and wise enough as not to die for a worthless lover. The character of Troilus is mostly like the one delineated by Boccaccio, except the fact that he is much more considerate like a courtly lover. His is a journey from ignorance and inexperience to maturity as a lover who considers himself dead at the news of exchange of prisoners. Though he knows deep inside his heart that he has lost Criseyde he finally admits it to himself when he sees the brooch, his parting gift to Criseyde, pinned to the tunic of Diomede. He is true lover who does not stop loving his beloved even after this. The role of the narrator is very crucial in this poem. Here he is a reader like everyone else with the only difference that he knows the finale of the story. He regards himself more like that historian who has gone through multiple sources of the story and has taken the responsibility to unravel the truth behind the matter. However, this is undeniable that he is a creative artist who is regretful about the end of the story. Perhaps that is the reason of the tension between the two temperaments- one is that of the objective historian and the other is that of the artist for whom it is immensely difficult to maintain the objective distance. The second reason can be traced as the cause of the narrator’s urge and attempt to justify Criseyde’s action by emphasising the obstacles that come her way.
This poem is a brilliant example of Chaucer’s skill in description, both of characters and scenes. Here the poet uses his authorial technique and the ability of the readers to recognise and relate with what is being described by the poet. The poet describes himself as ‘the servant of the servants of the God of Love’ and declares that he will be dealing with a tale of love between a faithful lover and his faithless beloved. He asserts:
For now wil I gonstreght to my matere,
In which ye may the double sorwes here
Of Troilus in lovynge of Criseyde,
And how that she forsook hymer she deyde.
Thus, from the very beginning, the readers are made aware of what will happen. The interest lies somewhere else- why the things will happen and how.
The chief source of Troilus and Criseyde is Boccaccio’s poem IlFilostrato. The latter was again inspired by Benoit de Saint-More who conceived the plan of filling up the intervals between the fights in Roman de Troie with a love story. Troilus and Criseyde harmoniously blends together the classical story of the Trojan War, the Italian version of the story, the philosophical work of Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy. However, Chaucer’s own contribution towards this great work is immense. It should be remembered that only around 2500 lines have their counterparts in Boccaccio. Moreover, the complexity of Criseyde’s character which makes the poem so interesting is Chaucer’s own creation. The narration of a love story enriched with psychological intensity, use of controlled digressions, acute sense of structure and handling of detail bring this work very close to the genre of the novel. Retaining all the conventions of the courtly love tradition, Troilus and Criseyde has become successful to possess certain elements of psychological novel. The intense feeling of pathos and the deft employment of the rhyme royal elevate the stature of this Chaucerian work to a masterpiece.
The Italian group also includes The Legend of Good Women where Chaucer plans to tell nineteen tales of virtuous and loving women but ultimately finishes eight of them. Unfortunately, the poem breaks off in the middle of the ninth poem. Here Chaucer comes back to the love vision and regards this work as a penance for having written heresies against love and portraying faithless woman in Troilus and Criseyde and the Romance of the Rose. This poem deals with some of the famous classical women who sacrificed themselves for the sake of love:
And Cleopatre, with all thy passioun,
Hide ye your trouthe of love aand your renoun;
And thou, Tisbe, that hast for love swichpeine:
My lady comth, that al this may desteine.
The long Prologue is marked by the amusing picture of the God of Love’s anger at the poet, the enjoyment of nature and particularly spring and the intervention of the Queen. As per the prologue of The Legend of Good Women, through this poem Queen Alceste, who sacrificed her life for her husband and is thus considered to be an embodiment of pure and true love, imposed this penance on Chaucer:
Thow shalt, while that thou lyvest, yer by yere,
The mostepartye of thy tymespende
In making of a glorious legend
Of good wymmen, maydenes and wyves,
That werentrewe in loving al hire lyves;
And telle of false men that hem bytraien,
That al hirlyf ne do nat but assayen
How many women they may doon a shame;
For in youre world that is now holde a game.
The women who are depicted are always ready, like Hypsipyle, to render their assistance to men in distress:
Of hire goodnesseadoun she sendeth blithe
To wyten if that any straungewight
With tempest thider were yblowe a-nyght,
To don him socour, as was hire usaunce
To fortheren every wight, and don pleasaunce
Of verreybounte and of curteysye.
These women, like Dido, provide shelter to the shipwrecked, like Phyllis, are patient listeners to the experiences full of troubles and hardships at the sea, like Ariadne, seek to find every possible way to take her man out of prison. However, despite all the goodness of these women they are often betrayed and ill-treated by men. Both Hypsipyle and Medea are deserted by Jason, Ariadne is left alone by Theseus, Philomela is ravished by Tereus, Lucrece’s honour is violated by Tarquin and she is thus compelled, as it were, to commit suicide.
Chaucer refers to this poem as The SeintesLegende of Cypyde and The Book of the XIX Ladies. Most of the subjects chosen in this poem are not new altogether. In fact, these are chosen from multiple sources as the writings of Ovid, Boccaccio, Guido delleColonne and Virgil. These sources are compared by Chaucer when he writes:
Al be this natrehersed of Guido,
YitseythOvyde in his Epistels so.
The poem is significant for certain details like the description of the battle of Actium, Ariadne’s failure to find Theseus in the bed at dawn, the sudden impulse of Lucrece’s husband to pay a visit home and Lucrece’s awakening by the weight of Tarquin and his sword when he presses down on her bed. These are situations which bear testimony to Chaucer’s narrative skill. Though this work seems to be a kind of regression from the perspective of verisimilitude and characterisation, considering the temperament of the fifteenth century readers who stressed upon morality and eloquence in poetry, The Legend of Good Women is undoubtedly a good creation of Chaucer. This poem is the first example of the use of heroic couplet, and that too, with skill and freedom. Some assume that Chaucer wrote the poem for Joan, the widow of the Black Prince and her death in 1385 took away from Chaucer the reason for writing this poem. Another very logical reason behind the incompleteness of this poem is Chaucer’s engagement with The Canterbury Tales.
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POINTS TO REMEMBER
ITALIAN PERIOD
Some of the important works of this period are:
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ENGLISH PERIOD:
The English stage of Chaucer is considered as the stage of his greatest achievement when he composed one of the landmarks of English literature, TheCanterbury Tales. Chaucer was deeply influenced by Boccaccio for the general idea of this poem but that influence was tempered by his English sensibility. It deals with twenty-nine pilgrims who are going to pay a visit to the tomb of Thomas Becket at Canterbury and during the course of this journey meet at the Tabard Inn in Southwark where they are telling tales from diverse literary and folk sources to while away their time. Chaucer, with his keen power of observation and having great knowledge about human character, chooses the pilgrims from all ranks of the society from the chivalrous knight to the humble ploughman. This gives Chaucer the opportunity to blend his literary knowledge with his observant nature. The General Prologue succeeds to set the scene and establish the characters. It is an unfinished work and is marked by a fresh approach to literature, brilliant use of irony, humour and spontaneity. This magnum opus of Chaucer will be dealt with in great detail in the next module.
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POINTS TO REMEMBER
ENGLISH PERIOD
This period is marked by Chaucer’s outstanding work The Canterbury Tales. |
CONCLUSION:
To conclude this module it will not be impertinent to assert that Chaucer’s followers lacked both his range of vision and the technical skill and it was only after the arrival of Shakespeare into the English literary scene that Chaucer’s unique combination of broad genial humour, penetrating insight into characters, range of knowledge and sheer technical mastery could be compared with.
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Reference
- Baugh, A.C. Literary History of England vol 1. London: Routledge, 1994
- Boitani, Piero and Mann, Jill (eds.) TheCambridge Chaucer Companion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980
- Ford, Boris. The Pelican Guide to English Literature: The Age of Chaucer. London: Penguin Books, 1971
- Hussey, S. S. Chaucer: An Introduction. London: Methuen and Co. Ltd., 1971, repr. 1981
- Miller, R. P. Chaucer: Sources and Backgrounds. New York, 1977
- Rowland, B. A Companion to Chaucer Studies. Toronto, 1979
- Chaucer and the English language: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxqAwT5IpL8
- Life and works of Chaucer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0CQSK6atwM
- Chaucer’s England with special emphasis on The Pardoner’s Tale: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9TXiUBOXAw
- Important facts about Chaucer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_emcmTKQdM
- Alternative link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2KS2sysQ5I