MIDDLE ENGLISH
(ii) THE AGE OF CHAUCER (1350-1400)
This age was a meeting ground of the
two divergent and incongruous periods – the old and the new, the Medieval and
the Renaissance. Medieval (Medium=middle, Avum=Age) means Middle age in Latin.
The distinctive feature of the medieval mind is its belief in spirituality and
abstract ideas, whereas the Renaissance lays emphasis on the sensuous and
concrete. Due to the growth of trade and commerce, a new class (merchants) was
introduced and this is the root of colonization.
East Midland Dialect raised into a language, when French and Latin
were dominating. Age of anonymity passed away; authors began to reveal their
identity. New meters like Rhyme Royal, Ottava Rima, Heroic Couplet came into
fashion. As in Old English, Alliteration (repetition of consonant sounds)
was revived.
Wycliffe “the
morning star of the Reformation” launched Lollard Movement to eradicate evil from
the church. There are the anonymous authors of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Pearl. There are Langland,
Gower, Wycliffe and above all Chaucer. Wycliffe,
the translator of the Bible, was a
versatile and vigorous prose writer. Prose writers like Wycliffe, Mandeville
and Malory developed a prose style. In poetry Chaucer, Langland and Gower
rendered incalculable and meritorious services.
Poetry
Geoffrey Chaucer (1340 - 1400):
‘The father of English poetry and literature” &
“Morning Star of Renaissance”
“First poet to be buried in poet’s corner in Westminister
Abbey”
Geoffrey Chaucer was born in Vintry (wine merchants street).
Chausserer=shoemaker. He was born in the
reign of Edward III, lived through Richard II and died in the reign of Henry
IV. He knew French as well as English from his childhood. In Italy he came into
contact with the leading men of letters – Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio and
Italian literature. In 1386 he sat in Parliament as Knight of the Shire for
Kent.
He dared to used East Midland
Dialect when French was dominating. Took the idea of Rhyme from French
and Introduced it in English. Added new words from French, Latin, Italian
and enriched English. He is the first to introduce Rhyme Royal, Ottava Rima, 5
stressed lines.
He was certainly married to Philippa
Roet, and had a son named Lewis to whom he dedicated his Treatise on the Astrolabe. He was died on October 25, 1400 and was
buried in Westminster Abbey. Chaucer’s
works divided into three periods – French, Italian and English.
French Period
1. The Romaunt of the Rose – a allegorical poem, written in octosyllabic
couplets and directly based upon Le ‘Romaunt
de la Ross’ of Guillaume De Lorries and Jane De Meung. It consists of 7700 lines (translation work).
2. The Book of the Duchess – It is a dream allegory and elegy written
in octosyllabic coupletson the death of Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster,
wife of John of Gaunt in 1369. A poet reading a book, falls into sleep and in
his dream, a Knight narrates the story of Duchess. He wakes up and preserves it
in verse.
3.
Parliament of
Fowls –Beast fable and allegorical poem. Written
to celebrate the marriage of Richard-II with Anne of Bohemia. Birds gathered to
celebrate St. Valentene’s Day (Feb.14) by choosing their mates. The poem is in
the seven-line stanza, also called rhyme royal, from its usage by King James I in his King’s Quair. Famous line: “The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.”
Italian Period
After
his visit to Italy in 1372, Chaucer produced poems which bear unmistakable
evidence of Italian influence – that of Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio.
1. The House of Fame- dream allegory in octosyllables written in
three books. In a dream, the poetis carried by an eagle to Heaven to see the
House of Fame. It is situated on a rock of ice. As the ice has melted away, it
has obliterated some letters out of every one of the famous names engraved upon
it. Famous line: “Written full of names of fold
that hadden grete fames”
2. Troilus and Criseyde – an epic poem of 8200 lines adopted from Bocaccio’s II Filostrato, “the love-stricken life”. It is
written in rhyme royal stanza(ababbcc) and is the longest single poem of
Chaucer’s. He dedicated this poem to John Gower. Historical backdrop of the
poem is “Trojan War”. Tragic live story of Troilus (Trojan prince) with
Criseyde (beautiful widow). At the end, Troilus was killed because of the
infidelity of Criseyde.
Robert Henryson's gave a diffenet
ending for the story in his poem The Testament of Cresseid(poem).
Shakespeare's tragedy Troilus and Cressida(play) was also based
on it.
Famous lines: “all good things must come to
an end"
“Troilus
and Criseyde” if written in prose, would be the first novel”- S.D.Nell
3. Treatise on Astralobe: about an astronomical instrument, which he
dedicated to his little son Lewis,
and it is a prose translation of Boethius.
4. Compleynt to his empty purse: about up and downs in life, says Today’s money is Tomorrow’s Poverty.
5. The Legend of Good Women – Dream vision- First to use Heroic Couplet.
He originally planned to narrate 19tales of virtuous women of antiquity
remarkable for their chastity, sincerity and devotion to love. He could compose
only 8 legends (unfinished work). Of
these legends the story of Thisbe is perhaps the best. The poem is written
in heroic couplet (first known attempt to use) and here Chaucer exhibits great
skills and freedom in the use of the heroic couplet which during the 18th
century was perfected by Alexander Pope.
The English Period
1. The Canterbury Tales (1388)
The idea of Canterbury is from Boccaccio’s Decameron
(100 stories). It consists 17000 lines in verse and prose. 31pilgrims including Chaucer have put up at
the Tabard Inn in Southwark. They are bound on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St.
Thomas a Becket at Canterbury in Spring Season (April). After supper the
host of Tabard offers to join the party and be a guide and master of
ceremonies. He proposes that to beguile the tedium of the journey each pilgrim
should tell two tales on the forward journey and two on the return journey.
The teller of the best story – to be judged by the host, Harry Baily – is to be
entertained to a supper at the Tabard at the general expense. Chaucer planned
to write 124 stories, but completed only 24(unfinished work). Only 23 pilgrims
narrated stories, Chaucer narrated 2 stories.
They
are drawn from all classes except royalty and labors. The military or
fighting classis represented by the Knight, his son and their Yeoman. The
liberal professions represented by a Doctor, a Lawyer, a Clerk or Student
of Oxford and the poet himself. Those connected with the land are a
Franklin, a Reeve and a Ploughman. The trade is represented by a
Merchant, a Shipman, a Haberdasher(shopkeeper), and the Host of the Tabard. The
crafts or Guildsmen are represented by the Wife of Bath, a Carpenter, a
Weaver, a cook, a Dyer and a Tapestrymaker. A Manciple (buyer of provisions for
a college or Inn of court) and a Cook complete the secular group. The
Religion Order, the most numerous of all, includes the poor Parson, a Monk,
a Friar, a Prioress with her chaplain, nun and three priests, a Summoner and a
Pardoner.
Prologue to Canterbury
Tales:
The Canterbury Tales begins with a prologue which constitutes the
framework for the tales. Prologue has 858 lines written in couplets. He gave
detailed descriptions (physical and moral) of the characters.
“Prologue to the
canterbury tales is prologue to the modern fiction”- W.J.Long.
Characters in Canterbury
Tales:
1)
The Knight: Brave, worthy and honorable, highest in
social rank, so the first story teller.
2)
The Squire: Knight’s son, considers himself as ‘Lady’s
Man’. 20 years old handsome lusty man with curly hair, enjoys singing and horse
riding. “He was as fresh as in the month of May”
3)
The Yeoman: servant of knight and Squire, his green coat,
bow and sword shows him as a forester.
4) The prioress: Her name is “Madam Eglantine”, she has good
table manners. “Never lets a morsel of meat fall
from her lips.” She is not undergrown (= fat), modest and courteous.
Pretends to be a higher class, speaks French, Cares more about animals than
people. She wears a golden brooch with a Latin quote “Amors
Vincit Omnia= love conquers all”
5) The Parish monk: loves good food and wine, care little for
rule, he is fat, bald with rolling eyes. ‘Has so many bells attached to his horse; the
sound of bell is as loud as chapel bell’.
6)
The friar: His name is Hubert. Seduces girls,
spends time in bars, carries knives and pins in his sleeve, accepts
bribes, irreligious.
7)
The merchant: arrogant, expert of Trade, but never let his
financial status.
8)
The clerk of
Oxford: sincere, spends all his money on
books, speaks little, but his words are full of wisdom.
9)
The Sargent of
Law: Knows every law by heart, projects
himself as busy.
10)
The Franklin: wealthy land owner, had white beard, ruddy
complexion, carries a dagger.
11)
The cook: works for Guildsmen, good culinary skills, He
has curry sore on his leg.
12) The Doctor: Miser, fond of gold, earned a lot of money
during plague.
13) The skipper/shipman: He was huge and has brown skin, expert sailor,
rides horse poorly, comfortable on sea than earth, steals wine
14) The Parson: devoted Churchman, poor, holy, virtuous man,
he practices what he preaches.
15)
The plowman: brother of Parson, honest and humble; wears
tabard smoke, which reflects his poverty.
16)
The wife of Bath: Her name is Alisoun. Professional
weaver, Bath is a town famous for woolen industry. She is gap toothed, deaf
(her fifth husband was fond of reading stories, when she ripped a page from his
book, he slapped to go her deaf), wears bright scarlet and ear rings; married
five times and had many affairs; going to canterbury to find 6th
husband; follows rule of experience; she prefers the biblical command “Go Forth and Multiply”
17)
The Miller: His name is Robin. Big stout, red
beard, large mouth and nostrils, has hair on nose, drunkard and vulgar man;
Expert wrestler- can break a heaviest door with his head;
18)
The Manciple: Buyer of provisions at Inns of Court,
illiterate but smarter than 30 lawyers, stoles money and spends.
19)
The Reeve: gay fellow, thin man with shaved head and
lean legs, carries blade; earlier he was a carpenter.
20)
The summoner: officer of the church, red complexion with
pimples, skin affected with scales, loves garlic and leek, bad breath,
corrupted.
21)
The pardoner: Has goat like voice, has yellow hair, blue
bulging eyes, sells fake relics, may be homosexual.
Tales of the Canterbury:
The
best tale is the Wife of Bath. Chaucer’s Tale
of Melibee and theParson’s Tale
are in prose and the rest in verse. The longest being the Knight’s Tale, the
shortest the Cook’s. The tales may be grouped in two broad divisions, serious
and humorous – 20 serious and 4 humorous; humorous groups consist the Miller’s,
the Reeve’s, the Summoner’s and the Merchant’s. The Canterbury tales is his
longest work. He well deserved the title of Father
of English Poetry.
1)
The Knight’s Tale: Romance in Iambic Pentameter; The love story of Palman and
Arcite(knights) who loves Emily, Sister of Queen Hippolyta. Shakespeare retold it in “Two Noble Kinsmen”
2)
The Millers Tale: Fableu, in Iambic pentameter; Story of an older husband John, cuckolded
by his young wife Alisoun and her lover Nicholas. She uses the plan of “Noah
Flood” to cuckold her husband.
3)
The Reeve’s Tale: Fablieu; Story of miller Simkin, whose wife and daughter were seduced
by two Cambridge students John and Alleyn.
4)
Prioress’ tale: Story of a little Christian boy who signs hymns of Miracles of Virgin
Mary, murdered in hands of Jews.
5)
Chaucer’s Sir Topas Tale: First story by Chaucer, unfinished.
6)
Chaucer’s Tale of Milbee: Second story by Chaucer, longest
and boring story; prose story; ‘Melibus is a
man of too much learning and too little experience’.
7)
Monk’s Tale: Tragedy, advices ‘Husbands not to
Confide life endangering secrets to their wives’.
8)
Nun’s Priest Tale: Mock heroic beast fable; story of a rooster, Chanticleer and his wife
Pretolote.One day Roster wakes up from a bad dream, his wife says he was a
coward. Chanticleer quotes “Mulierest hominis Confusie= woman is man’s ruin”,
but explains it as ‘woman is man’s joy’. Chanticleer was caught by fox (when he
closes his eyes and sings a song), but escapes from it by convincing the fox to
curse the chasing people.
Moral: Fox says, ‘God sent ill luck to those who talk when they should keep
quiet’. Chanticleer says, ‘Fortune
doesn’t favor those, who shut their eyes when they are need to look”
9)
Pardoner’s Tale: Moral story in iambic pentameter. Story of Three rioters set out to
find and kill ‘death’. Finds gold coins and consumed by greed they kill each
other.
Moral: Love of Money is the root of all evil.
10)
Wife of Bath’s Tale: Romance in Iambic pentameter. The story of a young Knight who raped a
maiden and sentenced to death by the king. The queen gives him a chance to save
his life, if he can find the answer to “What is
that women most desire?” At last, he got the answer from an old
lady. The answer is “The thing most woman desire
is complete control over their husbands.”
11)
The Clerk’s Tale: Folk Tale in rhyme royal; story of patient Griselda married to Walter.
Her husband tests her patience by taking her babies and raising them at a
distant place. She never opposed his actions, waits with patience and proves
successful.
12)
Franklin’s Tale: Breton Lay in iambic pentameter; Story of Breton Knight Aviragus and
his Dorigen. Aviragus went on a mission, mean while Aurelius (who loves
Dorigen) proposes her, but she promises him that if he could remove the rocks
on the sea shore (for the safely return of his husband), then she will be his.
Aurelius removes all the rocks with help of a magician to whom he promised 1000
pounds. After the return of her husband, she tells everything. He generously
sends her to Aurelius. Wondered by her husband’s genericity he sends her back
and the magician too waived off the payment of 1000 pounds. Ends with a
question, which of the three are most generous? Moral: Maestrie(mastery)
has no place in love.
13)
The Merchant’s tale: fablieu- story of an old man Januarie marries May, a young woman not
yet 20 years old. The proverb ‘love is blind’ was first found in
it
Chaucer
ends Canterbury tales with an apology and prays Christ to forgive him. “Here taketh the maker of this book his leave”
Remember:
Troilus-7-Rhyme Royal;
Duchesse-8- Ottava Rima;
Canterbury-10-Decasyllabic
His other works:
Anelida and Arcite;
Palman and Arcite;
Sir Topas
Quotes:
Ø
He
was the first poet to occupy “the Poet’s Corner” in Westminster Abbey.
Ø
He
was the first poet granted with a gallon of wine.
Ø
Chaucer’s
poetry is extremely musical and must be judged by ear, rather than eye- W. J. Long
Ø
A
Rough diamond must be polished ere he shines- Dryden.
Ø
Here
is God’s plenty- Dryden.
Ø
If
Chaucer is the father of English poetry, He is the grandfather of English
Novel- G.K. Chesterton
Ø
First
to use many common words in his writings– Oxford Dictionary.
Ø
The
well of English Undefiled- Spencer.
Ø
Found
native tongue, a dialect and left it a language- Lowell (American Poet)
Ø
Father
of our Splendid English poetry- Arnold
Ø
Chaucer
lacks high seriousness- Arnold
|
Who is known as nettle in Chaucer’s Garden? Ans:
Estache Deschamps (French) poet, he wrote a ballad on Chaucer. |
Pearl poet/Gawain Poet(unknown): unknown
author, but his poems are famous.
1) Pearl (poem): alliterative
octosyllabic verse poem in 1212 lines (101 stanzas x 12 lines), elegy in dream
vision, Rhyming scheme is: abab-abab-bcbc. Eley written on
the death of a little girl. Father wanders through a garden containing the
grave of her infant daughter. In his dream vision of paradise, he sees
hisdaughter as an adult, tries to cross the river, but awaken, found himself
back in the garden.
2) Sir Gawain and
Green Knight: long alliterative verse, poem begins and ends with the reference to the
Myth of Britain.
John Gower: He was contemporary of William Langland and a
personal friend of Chaucer. Chaucer
in his dedication of Troilus and Cressida
to Gower calls him moral Gower.
He was a typical poet of the time who wrote in three languages. He became blind
in 1400.
1. French – Speculum Meditantis, a long sermon in verse on the immortality of
the age, and seven deadly sins, vices and virtues.
2. Latin – Vox Clamantis, dream allegory concerned with Wat Tyler’s
Rebellion of 1381. He treated common people as
beasts, oxen, dogs, frogs and flies. Though he destructs people he
says, ‘Voice of the people is the voice of the
god”
3. English –Confessio Amentis, it is known as ‘Encyclopedia
of Love’. his most popular poem in octosyllabic English couplets. Amans,
a lover, makes confession to a learned old man Genius, the priest of temple
Venus, and the stories are narrated by this priest for the purpose of
illustratingthe seven deadly sins affecting love and lovers.
William Langland (1332-1386): He is the single author of the 14th
century English dream-vision Piers
Plowman.
1) Piers Plowman: full
title is: “The vision of William Concerning Piers Plowman”. It is
written in unrhymed verse. Begins with the line: “In
a somer seson, when softe was sonne”. The poem is part-theological
allegory, part-social concerns, the narrator’s quest for the true Christian
life. This quest entails a series of dream visions and an examination into the
lines of three allegorical characters, Do-well (Do-Well), Do-bet (Do-
Better), and Do-best (Do-Best).
John Barbour (1316-1365): known as real father of Scottish
poetry. Scottish poetry may be said to begin
with John Barbour, an old contemporary of Chaucer
1)
The Bruce – National Poem of Scotland. it is a
long narrative poem; Famous line in it is: A
Freedom is a Noble Thing”. Its subject is the ultimate success of
the prosecution of the First War of Scottish Independence. Great deeds of
Robert Bruce are recorded in it. Robert hiding in a cave after a defeat in
the hands of English, inspired from Spider.
Note:
National poem of France is: ‘Chanson
De Roland’
Prose:
Chaucer –two prose tales in Canterbury – the tale of Melibeeand theParson’s tale.
John Wycliffe (1330-1384):
Known as Father of English Prose for his first best
complete translation of Bible.
Evening star of scholasticism; Morning star of reformation.
First person to translate Bible into Vernacular.
Lollard movement: He was an English scholastic philosopher,
theologian, translator, reformer and university teacher at oxford in England.
His followers were known as Lollards,
a somewhat rebellious movement. He attacked on beliefs and practices of the
church and demanded social reforms. The Lollard movement was a precursor to the
Protestant Reformation(puritanism), for this reason Wycliffe called as “the Morning
Star of Reformation”.
Translation of
Bible into vernacular: He believed
that Bible should available for everyone in English. Every layman must know the
god’s law hence, he translated Bible into vernacular. He translated the Bible
in 1382. His Bible appears to have been completed by 1384, with additional
updated versions being done by Wycliffe’s assistant John Purvey.For his first best complete translation of Bible, he is Known as
“Father of English Prose”
John Mandeville-
Voyage and Travels of Sir John
Mandeville (1356) – the tales are
selections from narratives of genuine travelers, embellished with Mandeville’s
additions and describes as his own adventures of 30years. Originally written in
French, later translated into English, Latin and other European languages.
Religion is the center of the book, Jerusalem as the center of the world,
Muslims as usurpers. Describes a bird that can carry an elephant, weeping
crocodile, devil’s valley etc. This book became the major source for
geographical information.
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