Lecture . Jeffrey Chaucer.

Jeffrey Chaucer- 1 of the first named and the most influential poets in all English literature.

Overview of life.

Probably born in 1340-1400. As a boy he witnessed the epidemic of black death, the 100 years war, fought. 1381- the great peasants’ revolt.

The son of a London white merchant. Wealthy but commoner. Good education, worked in the household of king Edward III’s son. He was a page. Spent the rest а his life I direct association with nobility. Wife- Philippa Derouet, the queen’s lady-in-waiting, Chaucer was the king’s son’s brother-in-law.

Chaucer- a social poet. His poetry is about the ways in which people interact (with each other, with problems, with God).

A variety of positions in the English Royal Court. Ambassador to Flanders, Italy, France, a servant to Sir John of Gaunt, controller of the Customs, MP, royal forester, arranged tournaments. A public servant.

No documentation of J. Chaucer as a poet. What is the evidence of J. Chaucer as a poet? What we have is a collection of manuscripts most of which are produced in the XV cent.

Chaucer is in many ways an English poet. Writes in E. lang. Brings new words, metrical forms, literary forms, new genres. Also a European literary craftsman. He made many trips to Europe (served in the army, travelled), went to Italy, Spain (for political services but during journeys he made contacts with literary writers). Was fluent in French & Latin, could read in Italian. Multilingual contacts. Met Petrarque, knew works of Bocaccio, Denti. Brings European genres to England, new meters in verse.

Writing career:

Youth, early manhood- the French period (influences most exclusively by French modals)

15 years- Italian period

15 years- English period (reaches development) -> other poets are far behind him. More independent of foreign modals. Dominated by what’s happening at home.

Variety of genres. 5 kinds of things:

- dream poems

- classically inspired poetry of courtly nature

- Frame tale narratives

- Short lyrical and personal poems addressed to individuals sometimes (ballads)

- Sustained translations from Latin and French.

Dream poem - 1 of the most popular forms. The narrator falls asleep, finds himself in a beautiful landscape, encounters smth strange. Speaks to people, plants, things. Debate poem.

Chaucer begins as a dream poet- “The book of the Duchess” -> to commemorate the death of the 1^st wife of Chaucer’s patron. The hero suffers from lovesickness. Insomniac. Strange chamber. The knight. The theme- excessive love. Health = balance. Great traces of Fr. Influences. Superior to the books he borrowed from.

“The Parliament of Fowls”- debates of birds, who should marry whom.

“House of Fame” – unfinished. Italian influence. The narrator is carried off by a n intellectual eagle and he takes him to a hall of a poetic fame. He wants to understand his place in the poetic world. A man of great authority appears to show his place- end.

“The Legend of good Women” – idealized good women faithful in life but wronged by men.

Classically inspired poetry - “Troilus and Crissayde” (relationships between love & philosophy, love and betrayal in a very complicated way). Inspired by Boccaccio. The first modern psychological novel (a critic of Chaucer). A great depth of character and richness of portrayal.

The Frame narrative- a group of stores within one theme. The Cant. Tales. Frame- pilgrimage.

Lyrics (ballads) - poem to the empty wallet.

Chaucer is a translator. Boethius “Consolation of philosophy”. “The romance of roses”. All his works can be seen as a translation of a kind (brings things into English culture from other sources).

The end of Cant. Tales- retraction. A list of everything the poet wrote and some comment. Good things- Jesus Christ, bad- Chaucer. Context of the aristocratic world. But only 1 tale of courtly nature (the knight). Focus on the individual. The most modern of all his contemporaries.

Characters- real people or literary types?

Chaucer’s language. Middle English. Introduced new words, genres, meters, invented the rhyming couplet. Acceptable, annoying, arrogant, aspect,…- 1^st used by Chaucer. He was familiar with other regional dialects. Blends together English, French and Latin words. Signals that he uses elevated, intellectual style to speak about simple things. The entire history of English language, poetry. He maximizes the old and the new.

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