History of English Literature
– Dr. S. Vasu
Professor Academy UGC NET / SET
Chennai English
Today’s Class
The Age of Chaucer
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Introduction
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1066: The Norman Conquest
Old English Period
the Anglo-Saxon Period (450–1066)
Middle English Period (1066–1500)
the Anglo-Norman Period,
1100–1350
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Poets
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Geoffrey Chaucer
(1340 – 1400)
English poet
The Father of
English Literature
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Diplomat and civil servant
Edward III
Richard II
Henry IV
His works: the French
the Italian
the English
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1. The French Group
The Romaunt of the Rose
(allegorical poem
in octosyllabic couplets)
The Complaint of Mars
A Complaint to his Lady
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Rhyme Royal
A 7-line decasyllabic stanza:
ababbcc
Chaucerian stanza:
Complaint unto Pity
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“Scottish Chaucerians”
“Makaris”: makers or poets
James I of Scotland
Robert Henryson
William Dunbar
Gavin Douglas
David Lyndsay
Harry the Minstrel
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An elegy
A dream-poem in 1,334 lines:
(in octosyllabic couplets)
John of Gaunt’s first wife –
Blanche of Lancaster
A knight in black:
His queen to Fortune
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2. The Italian Group
In rhyme royal:
Troilus and Criseyde
Anelida and Arcite
In octosyllabic couplets:
The House of Fame
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In the heroic couplet
Nine stories of famous
(ten) women:
Cleopatra, Thisbe,
Dido,
Hypsipyle and Medea,
Lucrèce, Ariadne,
Philomela, Phyllis,
Hypermnestra
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3. The English Group
The Complaint of Chaucer
to His (Empty) Purse:
A love poem to the purse:
King Henry IV
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The General Prologue
When that April with
his showers sweet
The drought of March
has pierced root deep
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858 lines
The Prologue:
’Tis sufficient to say . . .
that here is God’s Plenty
Chaucer:
the father of English poetry
a rough Diamond; and must
first be polish’d e’er he shines
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Frame narrative
The Canterbury Tales:
The Tabard Inn,
Southwark (London)
St. Thomas Becket,
Canterbury (Kent)
Host: Harry Bailey
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A collection of 24 tales
Narrator (Chaucer) + some 29 pilgrims:
120 tales (30 pilgrims x 4 tales)
Narrator:
“The Tale of Sir Thopas” (doggerel / incomplete)
“The Tale of Melibee”
Only 23 pilgrims tell tales.
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Blake: The Portraits of the Pilgrims
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1. The Knight:
the first pilgrim described
by the narrator
fifteen mortal battles
2. The Squire:
a 20-year-old bachelor
the son of the Knight
“as fresh as is the month of May”
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3. The Yeoman:
a servant to the Knight and
his son the Squire
in a woodman’s clothes
a mighty bow and arrows
like a hunter
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4. The Prioress: Madame Eglentine
faulty French
a brooch: “A”
‘Amor vincit omnia’
no leftovers to the poor
roasted flesh to her dogs
5. Little Nun and 6. 7. 8. Three Priests
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9. The Monk:
no monastic life
hunting hares
bald: shines like glass
10. The Friar: Hubert
“a noble pillar of his Order”
seller of forgiveness
flirt: barmaids
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11. The Merchant:
in debt
a forked beard
motley-dressed
12. The Clerk:
poor Oxford scholar
twenty books
of Aristotle
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13. The Man of Law:
large fees
extensive knowledge
of legal cases
14. The Franklin:
Epicurus’ very son
the best wine cellar
diet to the season
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The members of the Guild:
15. Haberdasher
16. Carpenter
17. Arras-maker
18. Dyer
19. Weaver
well-adorned clothes
(prosperity)
aspiration: an alderman
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20. The Cook:
Roger
with the traders
a deadly sore
21. The Seaman:
sailor of Dartmouth
like a pirate
wine from the traders
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22. The Doctor of Physic
(The Physician)
Grounded in astronomy
one’s health & planetary signs
partnership with apothecaries
true love: gold
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23. The Wife of Bath: Alison
gap-toothed, a bit deaf
good at cloth-making
five marriages
Married: 12 years of age
5th husband:
“for love, not for riches”
4th husband: “reveler”
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24. The Parson:
a poor holy man
rich in virtues
a fine example to his flock
25. The Plowman:
the god-fearing brother
of the Parson
an honest labourer
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26. The Miller: Robin
red beard like a fox
a wart on his nose
mouth as large as a furnace
the bagpipe: leads the company
of pilgrims out of town
27. The Manciple:
the art of buying food and drink
outwits even the lawyers
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28. The Reeve: Oswald
tonsures his top
managing his lord’s granary
a luxurious cottage
hindmost of the troop
29. The Summoner:
scabby brows (skin disease)
reeks of garlic and onion
pretends to speak Latin
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30. The Pardoner:
hair as yellow as wax
straight from Rome
fake relics: a pillowcase
as Virgin Mary’s veil
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Two newcomers: alchemists
The Canon:
leaves
The Canon’s Yeoman:
stays
reveals their secret in
The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale
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The list of characters
The Narrator (Chaucer)
The Host (Harry Bailey)
30 pilgrims (at the Tabard Inn)
2 newcomers (1 leaves)
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The 24 Tales
1. The Knight’s Tale 7. The Friar’s Tale
2. The Miller’s Tale 8. The Summoner’s Tale
3. The Reeve’s Tale 9. The Clerk’s Tale
4. The Cook’s Tale 10. The Merchant’s Tale
5. The Man of Law’s Tale 11. The Squire’s Tale
6. The Wife of Bath’s Tale 12. The Franklin’s Tale
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13. The Physician’s Tale 19. The Monk’s Tale
14. The Pardoner’s Tale 20. The Nun’s Priest’s Tale
15. The Shipman’s Tale 21. The Second Nun’s Tale
16. The Prioress’s Tale 22. The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale
17. The Tale of Sir Thopas 23. The Manciple’s Tale
18. The Tale of Melibeus 24. The Parson’s Tale
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The Nun’s Priest’s Tale
(Sir Russell & Chanticleer)
Sire, if I were you, I’d shout:
“Turn back again, you proud
peasants all!”
Of your good father,
and such subtlety!
Now sing on, sire,
for holy charity
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Of the tales
In prose:
The Tale of Melibee, The Parson’s Tale
Incomplete:
The Tale of Sir Thopas, The Monk’s Tale
Unfinished:
The Squire’s Tale, The Cook’s Tale
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On Chaucer
Francis Meres:
Palladis Tamia
‘the God of English poets’
Edmund Spenser:
‘well of English undefiled’
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Roger Ascham:
‘the English Homer’
John Lydgate:
The Fall of Princes
the “lodestar” of English
Matthew Arnold:
“The Study of Poetry”
‘With him is born
our real poetry.’
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John Gower
(1330? – 1408)
English poet
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Speculum Meditantis
Written in : French
Title (Lt.) :
‘mirror of meditation’
French title:
Mirour de l’Omme
‘the mirror of mankind’
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Vox Clamantis
Written in: Latin
Title:
‘the voice of one
crying out’
The Peasants’ Revolt
of 1381 (allegory)
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Confessio Amantis
Written in: English
Title:
‘the lover’s confession’
Love tales: 8 books
the priest – Genius
the poet – Amans
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William Langland
(1330/32? – 1400)
English writer
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Dream visions
The Vision Concerning Piers Plowman
The narrator: Will
the Malvern Hills
Eight Visions:
sub-divisions –
Passus (‘steps’)
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The first vision
A tower
— Heaven
A dungeon
— Hell
“a fair field full of folk”
— the physical world
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A parliament of rats
Belling
the cat
Who
will
bell
the cat?
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The rest of Will’s visions
The confessions:
the Seven Deadly Sins
The three allegorical characters:
Do-well, Do-better, Do-Best
The spiritual journey of an everyman:
Piers Plowman
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John Barbour
(1320/25? – 1395)
Scottish poet
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The Brus (1375)
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The Battle of
Bannockburn (1314)
Robert the Bruce,
the King of Scots
Edward II,
King of England
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Harry the Minstrel
Blind Harry (1440 – 1492)
Henry the Minstrel
Scottish poet
(William Dunbar’s
The Lament for the Makaris)
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The Battle of Stirling Bridge (1297)
The Wallace
The Acts and Deeds of
the Illustrious and Valiant
Champion Sir William
Wallace, Knight of Elderslie
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1305: King Edward I
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Thomas Hoccleve
(1368/69 – 1450?)
English poet
and clerk
(Privy Seal Office)
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A contemporary of
Chaucer
La Mâle Règle (1406)
“The Male Regimen”
Moder of God
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“The Hoccleve Portrait of Chaucer”
The Regiment of Princes (1411)
[The Governail of Princes]
the virtues and
vices of rulers
Prince Henry,
the future Henry V
of England
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John Lydgate
(1370 – 1451)
English poet
Benedictine monk
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A friend of Chaucer
(the “lodestar”)
Siege of Thebes
[Storie of Thebes designed as a
new Canterbury Tale]
The Temple of Glass
The Troy Book
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John Skelton
(1460 – 1529)
English poet
and satirist
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Thomas Wolsey Cardinal
“Speke Parrot”
“Collyn Clout”
“Why come ye nat
to courte?”
Bowge of courte
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Skeltonics: ‘tumbling verse’
“Colin Clout”:
He is but a fool;
Let him go to school,
On a three footed stool
That he may down sit
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Prose writers
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Geoffrey Chaucer
(1340 – 1400)
English poet
The Father of
English Literature
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a handheld model of
the universe
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John Mandeville
(14th c.)
British travel
writer
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Travellers’ tales
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John Wycliffe
(1328/30? – 1384)
English theologian
Oxford scholar
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1382
The first English translation of the Bible
(from the Latin Vulgate)
The Lollards:
Middle Dutch lollaert, ‘mumbler’
Nicholas of Hereford
John Purvey:
the 1382 translation (revision)
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1526:
William Tyndale’s translation of New Testament
1535:
Miles Coverdale’s translation of the Bible
(the first complete Bible in English)
1611:
the King James Version or
the Authorised Version of the Bible
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Thomas Malory
(1400? – 1470?)
English writer
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The Arthurian legend
Geoffrey of Monmouth’s
Historia Regum Britanniae
[The History of the Kings of Britain]
(1136?)
Thomas Malory’s
Le Morte d’Arthur
(1485, p. William Caxton)
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William Caxton
(1422 – 1491)
The first English
printer
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1476
the printing press
in Westminster
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Translation
The first book to be printed in English:
The Recuyell of the Historyes
of Troye, a French romance
by Raoul Lefèvre
(trans. 1464; p. 1474)
The Game and Playe of the Chesse
(from French; p. 1476)
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Printing
Geoffrey Chaucer’s
The Canterbury Tales (1478? and 1484?)
John Gower’s
Confessio amantis (1483)
Sir Thomas Malory’s
Le Morte D’Arthur (1485) . . .
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Thomas Elyot
(1490 – 1546)
English author
and administrator
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The Boke named
the Governour
(1531)
Dictionary (1538
Latin and English)
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Thomas Wilson
(1524 – 1581)
English diplomat
and rhetorician
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“the first complete works on
logic and rhetoric in English”
Logique (1551)
The Arte of Rhetorique (1553)
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William Painter
(1540 – 1594)
English author
1566
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Thomas More
Sir / St. Thomas More
(1478 – 1535)
Canonized: 1935
English humanist
Chancellor of England
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1516: Latin
(Trans. 1551: Ralph Robinson)
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“no place” (ou topos)
Peter Giles; Cardinal John Morton (patron)
Raphael Hythloday (‘distributor of idle talk’)
Amerigo Vespucci, Italian explorer
54 cities: Amaurot (‘dim city’), chief town
Anider (‘waterless’)
Women (not before 18), Men (not before 22)
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1535: Beheading
King Henry VIII
Head of the Church
of England
1st wife:
Catherine de Aragon
nd
2 wife:
Anne Boleyn
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1534: Imprisoned
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Canonization
The Roman Catholic Church:
1935: martyr
Pope Pius XI
2000: patron saint of politicians
Pope John Paul II
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omnium horarum homo
Erasmus
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Other works
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De Quatuor Novissimis (1522)
Four last things:
Death, Doom (Judgment),
Pain, Joy
Seven deadly sins:
Pride, Envy
Wrath, Covetousness
Gluttony, Sloth
Lechery (Lust)
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Roger Ascham
(1515 – 1568)
English prose
writer
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‘The Lover of the Bow’
Chaucer:
‘the English Homer’
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1570
Tutor in Greek and Latin:
Princess Elizabeth
Latin secretary:
Queen Mary
Queen Elizabeth I
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The Development
of the Drama
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Liturgical drama (10th c.)
The liturgy:
the ritual form of worship (the Christian Mass)
the chanted dialogue between
the priest and the congregation
Trope: Quem Quaeritis (Whom do you seek?)
the visit of the three Marys to Christ’s tomb
the angles who announce the Resurrection
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Mystery plays
The Bible: (on feast days, Corpus Christi)
the Creation to the Last Judgment
‘Mystery’:
the trade guild of the town
wagons as stages
The Second Shepherd’s Play
by The Wakefield Master
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Miracle plays
The lives and legends of saints:
or of the Virgin Mary
In French:
the 14th-c.
Miracles of Notre Dame,
a cycle of 42 plays
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Morality plays
Allegories:
didactic in nature
the battle of good and evil
Everyman (anon. 1510?)
The Castle of Perseverance (anon. 1420?)
Mankind (anon. 1465?)
John Skelton’s Magnificence (1515)
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John Heywood
(1497 – 1580)
English playwright
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Interlude
A short stage entertainment:
the courses of a feast
the acts of a play
Heywood’s The Four P’s (1522):
Palmer, Pardoner,
’Pothecary, Pedlar
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Nicholas Udall
(1504 – 1556)
English playwright
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1552: the first English comedy (in verse)
Matthew Merrygreek:
Ralph Roister Doister to woo
Christian Custance, a widow
betrothed to a London merchant,
Gawyn Goodluck
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1575: The second English comedy (in verse)
Attributed to: John Still, or William Stevenson
Gammer Gurton:
the breeches of Hodge
Diccon the Bedlem:
Gurton and Dame Chat
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George Gascoigne
(1535 – 1577)
English poet and
playwright
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The first English comedy (in prose)
The Supposes (1566):
trans. of
I Suppositi (1519)
by the Italian poet
Ariosto
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Thomas Norton
(1532 – 1584)
Thomas Sackville
st
1 Earl of Dorset
(1536 – 1608)
English playwrights
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1561: the first English tragedy
The 1st English play: blank verse
Based on: Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae
Modeled on the Senecan tragedy:
Gorboduc, King of Britain
The younger [Porrex] killed
the elder [Ferrex]
The mother [Videna]
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