The Age of Chaucer

Background Information
 1340/1300-1400
 Age of transition between the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance.
 Remarkable social, political and religious changes.
 English was now gaining shape in the works of Chaucer,
Langland and Wycliffe.
The Hundred Years War
 1337-1453
 A series of wars between France and England.
 In France, with the death of Philip IV and his sons, Edward III
showed interest in the French throne because he was Philip IV’s
grandson by his mother Isabella.
 The French nobility rejected his claim over the throne and
wished Philip IV’s nephew Philip of Valois to take over.
 After episodes of unsatisfactory settlements between the two
countries, a series of wars was fought between them-
1. Edwardian Era War (1337-1360)
2. Caroline War (1369-1389)
3. Lancastrian War (1415-1453)
 France won the major wars, but both the nations emerged as
strong nations in Europe.

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  To compensate war expenses, taxes were increased in England,
leading to wide unrest.
The Black Death
 1348-1350
 Bubonic plague
 Killed more than 4 million people over Europe.
 Caused by bacterium Yersinia pestis spread via wild rodents.
 Killed 30-40% of English population.
 The loss of population led to a higher demand for the labor.
 The laborers now were at an advantageous position to choose
the work with higher income. They often moved to get better
wages.
 More and more poorly qualified people took up various new
jobs. These people cared less about the church and more about
themselves.
 This led to a decline in the church authority and an increase in
Renaissance spirit (individualism).
The Peasant’s Revolt
 1381
 3rd time in 4 years poll tax was imposed.
 Everyone over the age of 15 had to pay one shilling.
 Due to wars and the plague, people were already under
economic distress.
 They chose not to pay the tax, which led to serious official
investigations against them.

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  A royal tax commissioner, John Bampton, was attacked during
one of his investigations when he reached the Essex village of
Fobbing in May 1381. He was thrown out of the village.
 This revolt spread from village to village under the leadership of
Wat Tyler.
 Wat Tyler marched towards London with the rebels and
explained to the king his demands.
 This meeting led to a second one, during which Tyler was killed.
 This led to the end of the revolt.
 Other demands of Tyler and the revolutionaries- freedom from
serfdom, free pardon of all offences committed during the
rebellion, no upper limit on wages and free contract.

John Gower
 He was a court poet of the 14th century.
 Friends with Chaucer who calls him “Moral Gower” in his
dedication to Troilus and Cressid.
 He is considered more typical of his age than Chaucer because
he is more conservative, technical and moralistic with his
writing.
 Wrote in 3 languages- Latin, French and English.

His works
1.Miroir de l’Omme or Speculum Meditantis
 Began writing in about 1376.
 Written in French.

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  It is a long sermon in verse.
 It is a manual of sins and sinners with an account of how the
vices of the day have corrupted the man.
 Virtues, Repentance and invocation to Virgin Mary will save the
soul of the man.
2. Vox Clamantis
 Written in 1385.
 “the voice of one crying out”.
 A dream allegory.
 Written in Latin.
 Based on the Peasant’s Revolt of 1381.
 In this poem he draws a moral analysis of the social decay and
corruption prevalent in the contemporary society and
denounces them vehemently.
 Though he does not align himself with the popular cause, he
still makes a moral appeal to the high people in power to
choose the way of God and act in right authority.
3. Confessio Amantis
 Published in 1389.
 33,000 Octosyllabic lines.
Written at the request of King Richard II, who requested to read
“som newe thing” in English.
 Dedication Ist version: Richard II.
 Dedication in a later version: Henry of Derby, the future King
Henry IV.
 It translates into “The Lover’s Confession”.

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  In this poems Gower, rather reluctantly, gives up morality for
love and entertainment-
“For thilke cause, if that ye rede,
I wolde go the middel wey
And write a boke betwene the twey
Somwhat of lust, somwhat of lore”
 The narrative opens on a conventional May morning.
 An ageing lover, Amans, goes to the woods and approaches
Venus, Goddess of Love. Venus asks Amans to make confession
to her priest, Genius, a figure inspired from French Poem
Roman de la Rose (a dream allegory by Guillaume de Lorris).
 But before Amans makes his confession, Genius tells him
stories of the seven deadly sins so that Amans could judge if he
is guilty and could confess accordingly.
 After the long series of tales, Amans makes his confession.
 But Venus mocks Amans for being too old to love and advises
him to stick to the path of morality.
 At the end, Amans is cured of his love and recovers his reason-
Christian theme.
 The work is written in 8 books with tales from Ovid’s
Metamorphoses and the Bible.

William Langland
 The last great English poet to write in Anglo-Saxxon alliterative
verse.
 Little is known about his own life.
 The ascribed author of Piers Plowman.
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Piers Plowman
 The Vision of Williams Concerning Piers the Plowman.
 Allegorical poem in unrhymed alliterative verse.
 It is a social satire on the 14th century’s ecclesiastical
corruption.
 It idealizes simple Christian life and honest labor as the purest
form of life. It sympathizes with the poor.
Its 3 main versions have been found, distinguished by Dr. Skeat-
 Version A- written around 1362
 Version B- 1377
 Version C- 1398
Only the first version is purely ascribed to Langland. The later two
versions have elements added by other writers as well.
The poem begins with a Prologue; it is divided into various Visions,
subdivided into various Passus.
 A man named Will, falls asleep on a May morning by a brook on
the Malvern Hill and sees a vision or dream of “a faire felde ful
of folke”- a scene bustling with all kinds of honest and
dishonest people.
 Plowman, wasters, hermits, merchants, jesters, beggars,
pilgrims, friars, pardoners, King etc.
 The protagonist is Piers, an honest and hardworking plowman.
 The poem then runs through a series of Passus and visions.
 The later two versions of the poem have the additional
characters of Dowel (Do well), Dobet (Do better) and Dobest
(Do best).

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  Like Canterbury Tales, Piers Plowman draws on the social
classes and its representatives of the contemporary society and
handles the social issues of the day with dexterity.

Geoffrey Chaucer

• He lived through 3 kings-

1. Born: Edward III
2. Wrote: Richard II
3. Died: Henry IV
• He fought in the 100 years war and traveled to France, Spain
and Italy.
• His poetry also had major French and Latin influences.
French Phase
• His early works were grounded in French poetic tradition and
court culture.
• He was particularly inspired by Roman de la Rose.
• Works- The Romaunt of the Rose, ABC (The Prayer of Our Lady)
and The Book of the Duchess., which he wrote on the request of
John of Gaunt for the memorial of his wife Blanche, Duchess of
Lancaster.
Italian phase
• From 1370 onwards, his works found inspiration from Latin
works.
• Particularly influenced by Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio.

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 • Works- Troilus and Criseyde, The House of Fame, The
Parliament of Fowls, The Legend of Good Women and the
translation of De consolation philosophiae.
English phase
• Considered as Chaucer’s mature phase in literary creation.
• Works- The Canterbury Tales.

Famous quotes for Chaucer

• American poet Robert Lowell- “found his native tongue a
dialect and left it a language”.
• Matthew Arnold- “the father of our splendid English poetry”.
• William J. Long- Calls Canterbury Tale’s Prologue as “the
prologue to modern fiction”- for its characterization, vividness
and realism.
• SD Neil- Calls Troilus and Criseyde “a novel in verse”.
• In the Ist version of Confessio Amantis, John Gower claims that
Chaucer composed “ditees and songes glad”.
• John Lydagete tries to emulate Chaucer’s heroic couplets in his
poem The Siege of Thebes.
• In its prologue he even tries to adopt the narrative framework
of the Canterbury Tales. Lydgate as a pilgrim-narrator in the
work meets Chaucer’s pilgrims at their inn at Canterbury.

Important sources and influences

Boccaccio
• Troilus and Criseyde- Il Filostrato.
• The Knight’s Tale- Il Teseida.
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 • The Franklin’s Tale- Il Filocolo.
• The Clerk’s Tale- Patient Griselda, last tale of Decameron.
• The Monk’s Tale’s subtitle- “De Casibus Virorum Illustrum” (It is
the inspiration for Lydgate’s The Fall of Princes).
Virgil
• The House of Fame- The dreaming poet sees the tale of Aeneid
written on the walls of the Temple of Venus.
Ovid
• The tale of Philomela in The House of Fame- Book 8 of
Metamorphoses and Ovide Moralise (A 14th century French
translation of Metamorphoses).
• The Book of Duchess- The story of Ceyx and Alycone from Book
9 of Metamorphoses.
Boethius- a Latin senator & philosopher
• Chaucer translated his De consolatione philosophiae (AD 523)
from Latin to Middle English as Boece.
• In the original work, the allegorical figure Philosophia enters
into a conversation with Boethius and explains to him the
importance of Philosophy in the life of man to rise him into a
state of enlightenment.
• It became one of the most important philosophical tracts of
Philosophy in the Middle English period.

Works
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 The Romaunt of the Rose
• Allergorical poem.
• Translation of one of the most famous secular works of the
Middle Ages, Le Roman de la Rose (13th century), by Guillame
de Lorris and Jean de Meun.
• Written in octosyllabic verse.
• Only 1/3rd of the original is translated.
• It is translated in 3 fragments- A, B and C.
• Though only A is typically ascribed to Chaucer, C also closely
resembles Chaucer’s style of writing as both A and C are written
in the London dialect.
• In a dream vision, the narrator enters the Garden of Mirth and
sees various allegorized figures.
• The first half (A ) by Lorris has the instructions of the God of
Love to the poet- his love symbolized by the Rose.
• Part B by Meun satirizes the hypocricy of Religion in the
contemporary society. The allegorical figure of Jealousy also
appears here.
• His views particularly on women attracted some criticism.
• Part C has the confession of Fals-semblant (false seeming), his
going to the fortress of Jealousy and purging Wikked-tunge, the
gatekeeper of the fortress, of his sins.
The Book of the Duchess
• It was written in 1369.
• A dream allegory.
• 1334 lines.

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 • As an elegy on the death of Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, wife
of John of Gaunt.
• Octosyllabic verse form.
• The poet falls asleep while reading the story of Ceyx and
Alcyone (Metamorphoses).
• In the dream he meets a knight in black who laments the loss of
his lady love. He describes her virtues, beauty and their
courtship. She is now dead.
• Suddenly, a hunting party appears, the clock strikes 12 and the
poet wakes up to find the book still in his hand.
The Legend of Good Women
• Written between 1372-1386.
• A dream vision.
• Written in Heroic couplet (first attested use by Chaucer).
• Prologue + 9 stories; Prologue is more admired.
• Important sources- Ovid’s Heroides, Boccaccio’s De Claris
Mulieribus and Vitae Vitorium et Feminarum Illustrium.
• The prologue is written in two parts-
1. The opening lines are in praise of daisy flower, conforming
to the poetic tradition of French poetry Marguerite poems
by Guillaume de Machaut.
2. The sleeping poet is rebuked by Cupid, the God of Love, for
writing ill of women (in his Troilus and Criseyde).
3. Queen Alcestis, the queen of Thrace, suggests Chaucer that
he writes a book in praise of women and their fidelity in love
as an act of atonement.
4. Chaucer is able to recount tales of loving and faithful women
from history and legends- Cleopatra, Thisbe, Dido, Hypsipyle,
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 Medea, Lucrece, Philomela, Phyllis, Hypermnestra and
Ariadne.
• Unfinished work.
An ABC (The Prayer of our Lady)
• A close translation of a French prayer “The Pilgrimage of
Human Life” written in allegorical verse.
• Survives in 16 manuscripts.
• Written in praise of Virgin Mary .
• Form- Acrostic- Each stanza begins with a Latin alphabet in
sequence. Each stanza evokes a different symbol over the
length of the poem.
• Chaucer describes the qualities and aspects of Virgin Mary in
almost sensual details, blurring the line between Marian poetic
tradition and courtly poetic tradition.
The House of Fame
• Between 1374-1385 Oxford; 1379-1380 Wiki.
• Unfinished dream poem.
• Written in 3 books of octosyllabic couplets.
• 2158 lines (over 2000).
• The Book begins with a Prologue on dreams. The God of Sleep
is invoked.
• In Book I, the poet falls asleep and in a dream vision finds
himself in a Temple of Glass dedicated to Venus. Here he finds
the story of Aeneid inscribed on the walls .
• In Book II, the poet sees an eagle, who tells him that Jove has
decided to send him to the House of Fame, through which he
can become his guide.

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 • In this book, the eagle explains to the poet in philosophical
tone all the arbitrary ways in which fame functions.
• In Book III, the eagle departs and the poet enters in the House
of Fame where he sees all kinds of figures from Biblical and
Classical lore.
• Eolus blows a trumpet to summon all the figures so that they
can introduce themselves (from Dante’s Divina Comedia).
• Now, the poet meets goddess Fame.
• Towards the end of the poem, many other allegorical figures
appear but the description is left unfinished.
• The poem can be read as an autobiographical account on
poetic creation.
The Parliament of Fowls
• 1382-1386.
• To celebrate the wedding of King Richard II with Anne of
Bohemia in 1382.
• Dream vision.
• Rhyme royal- ABABBCC in iambic pentameter.
• Uses Beast Fable tradition.
• An example of “occasional poetry”.
• Conference of birds to choose their mates on the St.
Valentine’s Day.
• In the Prologue, the poet is seen reading Cicero’s Dream of
Scipio. He laments that he does not have what he wants and he
has what he does not want.

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 • As he falls asleep, he sees a dream vision in which he sees
Goddess Nature.
• He is led to the Temple of Venus where a parliament of birds
enter into a debate on the right way to choose one’s mate.
• While 3 eagles support courtly love tradition, the duck supports
his claim on a more pragmatic approach to courtship
(recognized in the poem as bourgeois ).
• The debate remains unresolved and the birds decide to gather
here again a year later.
Troilus and Criseyde
• Written in around 1380s.
• It is his longest complete poem- 8239 lines of Rhyme Royal.
• Boccaccio’s Il Filostrato’s 8 books are turned into 5.
• Story revolves around the tragic love story of the Trojan prince
Troilus and the beautiful widow Criseyde.
• Criseyde’s father turns his loyalty from Trojan side to the
Greek.
• In exchange of a couple of prisoners, Criseyde is to be returned
to her father in the Greek camp. She promises Troilus that she
will return to him.
• However, in the Greek camp she meets Diomede, a Greek
escort and proves disloyal to Troilus.
• Chaucer deepens the psychological aspect of the tale by
introducing the character of Pandarus, Criseyde’s uncle.
• He also has Criseyde written a mysterious, deep and
psychologically intense character . Her long deliberations with
her uncle in Book II are notably one of the most worthy parts of
the work.

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 • Chaucer is, though, never contemptuous of Criseyde’s
unfaithfulness; he explores her psychology artistically.
Anelida and Arcite
• It is an incomplete poem in 357 lines.
• Divided into 2 parts-
1. Preface- About faithfulness of Arcite to Queen Anelida in 210
lines of Rhyme Royal.
2. ‘Compleynt of Anelida’- 140 lines of varying lengths and
meters.
A Treatise on Astrolabe
• Written in Middle English in prose.
• Describes a scientific instrument.
• Written on the request of Lewis, could be his own son or his
friends’-
“Lyte Lowys my sone”
The Canterbury Tales
Some Important Details
 30 pilgrims, including Chaucer the Pilgrim, gather around at the
Tabard Inn, Southwark, on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas
Beckett of Canterbury- Pilgrimage
 The Host- Harry Bailly.
 Story telling contest for free dinner at the Tabard Inn- for
entertainment, not for religious purpose.
 Harry himself will judge.
 Tales to be told- 30 x 2 x 2 = 120 tales
 Only 24 could be written in his lifetime.

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  Estate satire- representatives of different “estates” or
professions are described with certain irony.
 Exceptions- The Knight, The poor Parson and the Plowman (They
are depicted as almost ideal figures.)
 Setting: Springtime
 Month: April
 No particular social hierarchy is maintained in the narration. The
order is consciously contrived to suggest an air of naturalness in
the descriptions.
 Tales in prose- Parson’s Tale and Tale of Melibee.
 Narrated by fictitious Chaucer- Tale of Melibee and Sir Thopas
Tale.
 Character not described in the Prologue- Nun’s priest, Second
Nun and Chaucer himself.
 Female characters displayed in the Prologue- Wife of Bath and
Prioress.
 Last portrayal in the General Prologue- The Pardoner.
 Harry Bailey- Name is mentioned only in the Prologue to the
Cook’s Tale.
 Prioress, Monk, Friar, Parson, Summoner, Pardoner and Clerk-
Church
 Knight and Squire- only characters from the house of chivalry.
 The General Prologue is written in 857 lines.
Medieval Literary Forms
 The Knight’s Tale- Romance
 The Miller’s and Reeve’s Tale- Fabliau
 The Nun’s Priest’s Tale- Beast Fable
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  The Pardoner’s Tale- Exemplum
 The Wife of Bath’s Tale- Arthurian Romance
 The Clerk’s Tale- Folk tale
 The Franklin’s Tale- Breton Lay
 The Prioress’ and Second Nun’s Tale- Miracle story; saint’s
legend
 The Parson’s Tale- Sermon

CHARCTERS IN THE PROLOGUE

• The Narrator - The narrator makes it quite clear that he is also

a character in his book. Although he is called Chaucer, we
should be wary of accepting his words and opinions as
Chaucer’s own. In the General Prologue, the narrator presents
himself as a gregarious and naïve character. Later on, the Host
accuses him of being silent and sullen. Because the narrator
writes down his impressions of the pilgrims from memory,
whom he does and does not like, and what he chooses and
chooses not to remember about the characters, tells us as
much about the narrator’s own prejudices as it does about the
characters themselves.
• The Knight - The first pilgrim Chaucer describes in the General
Prologue, and the teller of the first tale. The Knight represents
the ideal of a medieval Christian medieval Hero. He has
participated in no less than fifteen of the great crusades of his
era. Brave, experienced, and prudent, the narrator greatly
admires him.
• The Wife of Bath - Bath is an English town on the Avon River,
not the name of this woman’s husband. Though she is a
seamstress by occupation, she seems to be a professional wife.
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 She has been married five times and had many other affairs in
her youth, making her well-practiced in the art of love. She
presents herself as someone who loves marriage and sex, but,
from what we see of her, she also takes pleasure in rich attire,
talking, and arguing. She is deaf in one ear and has a gap
between her front teeth, which was considered attractive in
Chaucer’s time. She has travelled on pilgrimages to Jerusalem
three times and elsewhere in Europe as well.

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 • The Pardoner - Pardoners granted papal indulgences—
reprieves from penance in exchange for charitable donations
to the Church. Many pardoners, including this one, collected
profits for themselves. In fact, Chaucer’s Pardoner excels in
fraud, carrying a bag full of fake relics—for example, he claims
to have the veil of the Virgin Mary. The Pardoner has long,
greasy, yellow hair and is beardless. These characteristics were
associated with shiftiness and gender ambiguity in Chaucer’s
time. The Pardoner also has a gift for singing and preaching
whenever he finds himself inside a church.
• The Miller - Stout and brawny, the Miller has a wart on his
nose and a big mouth, both literally and figuratively. He
threatens the Host’s notion of propriety when he drunkenly
insists on telling the second tale. Indeed, the Miller seems to
enjoy overturning all conventions: he ruins the Host’s carefully
planned storytelling order; he rips doors off hinges; and he
tells a tale that is somewhat blasphemous, ridiculing religious
clerks, scholarly clerks, carpenters, and women.
• The Prioress - Described as modest and quiet, this Prioress (a
nun who is head of her convent) aspires to have exquisite
taste. Her table manners are dainty, she knows French (though
not the French of the court), she dresses well, and she is
charitable and compassionate.
• The Monk - Most monks of the Middle Ages lived in
monasteries according to the Rule of Saint Benedict, which
demanded that they devote their lives to “work and prayer.”
This Monk cares little for the Rule; his devotion is to hunting
and eating. He is large, loud, and well clad in hunting boots and
furs.
• The Friar - Roaming priests with no ties to a monastery, friars
were a great object of criticism in Chaucer’s time. Always ready
to befriend young women or rich men who might need his

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 services, the friar actively administers the sacraments in his
town, especially those of marriage and confession. However,
Chaucer’s worldly Friar has taken to accepting bribes. The
• Summoner - The Summoner brings persons accused of
violating Church law to ecclesiastical court. This Summoner is a
lecherous man whose face is scarred by leprosy. He gets drunk
frequently, is irritable, and is not particularly qualified for his
position. He spouts the few words of Latin he knows in an
attempt to sound educated.
• The Host - The leader of the group, the Host is large, loud, and
merry, although he possesses a quick temper. He mediates
among the pilgrims and facilitates the flow of the tales. His title
of “host” may be a pun, suggesting both an innkeeper and the
Eucharist, or Holy Host.
• The Parson - The only devout churchman in the company, the
Parson lives in poverty, but is rich in holy thoughts and deeds.
The pastor of a sizable town, he preaches the Gospel and
makes sure to practice what he preaches. He is everything that
the Monk, the Friar, and the Pardoner are not.
• The Squire - The Knight’s son and apprentice. The Squire is
curlyhaired, youthfully handsome, and loves dancing and
courting.
• The Clerk - The Clerk is a poor student of philosophy. Having
spent his money on books and learning rather than on fine
clothes, he is threadbare and wan. He speaks little, but when
he does, his words are wise and full of moral virtue.
• The Man of Law - A successful lawyer commissioned by the
king. He upholds justice in matters large and small and knows
every statute of England’s law by heart.
• The Manciple - A manciple was in charge of getting provisions
for a college or court. Despite his lack of education, this
Manciple is smarter than the thirty lawyers he feeds.

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 • The Merchant - The Merchant trades in furs and other cloths,
mostly from Flanders. He is part of a powerful and wealthy
class in Chaucer’s society.
• Shipman - Brown-skinned from years of sailing, the Shipman
has seen every bay and river in England, and exotic ports in
Spain and Carthage as well. He is a bit of a rascal, known for
stealing wine while the ship’s captain sleeps.
• The Physician - The Physician is one of the best in his
profession, for he knows the cause of every malady and can
cure most of them. Though the Physician keeps himself in
perfect physical health, the narrator calls into question the
Physician’s spiritual health: he rarely consults the Bible and has
an unhealthy love of financial gain.
• The Franklin - The word “franklin” means “free man.” In
Chaucer’s society, a franklin was neither a vassal serving a lord
nor a member of the nobility. This particular franklin is a
connoisseur of food and wine, so much so that his table
remains laid and ready for food all day.
• The Reeve - A reeve was similar to a steward of a manor, and
this reeve performs his job shrewdly—his lord never loses so
much as a ram to the other employees, and the vassals under
his command are kept in line. However, he steals from his
master.
• The Plowman - The Plowman is the Parson’s brother and is
equally good-hearted. A member of the peasant class, he pays
his tithes to the Church and leads a good Christian life.
• The Guildsmen - Listed together, the five Guildsmen appear as
a unit. English guilds were a combination of labor unions and
social fraternities: craftsmen of similar occupations joined
together to increase their bargaining power and live
communally. All five Guildsmen are clad in the livery of their
brotherhood.

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 • The Cook - The Cook works for the Guildsmen. Chaucer gives
little detail about him, although he mentions a crusty sore on
the Cook’s leg.
• The Yeoman - The servant who accompanies the Knight and
the Squire. The narrator mentions that his dress and weapons
suggest he may be a forester.
• The Second Nun - The Second Nun is not described in
the General Prologue, but she tells a saint’s life for her
tale.
• The Nun’s Priest - Like the Second Nun, the Nun’s Priest is not
described in the General Prologue. His story of Chanticleer,
however, is well crafted and suggests that he is a witty, self-
effacing preacher.

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