Age of Chaucer

Romaunt of the Rose Its a lengthy altogetheregorical poetry scripted in octosyllabic couplets and based upon Le Romaunt de la Rose of Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung. According to critics, non the entire verse, but the counterbalance quit of it may be indite by Chaucer. In this dream poesy the narrator enters the Garden of Mirth, where he sees various allegorized figures and falls in love with a rosebud. Part A and B describe the instructions of the god of love to the dreamer. Part C is a fragment and satirizes the hypocrisy of religion, woman and the social order. (French Group)The obligate of the Duchesse Its probably Chaucers earliest poem and is written in 1369. Its a dream poem in thirteen hundred xxx four lines in octosyllabic couplets. It is believed to be an allegorical lament on the death of Blanche of Lancaster, the first wife of John of Gaunt, who died in 1369. (French Group) The poet falls fast sound asleep(predicate)(predicate) while reading the story o f Ceix and Alcyone and in his dream he follows a hunting party. He meets a night in disgraceful He meets a night in Black who played a game of chess with Fortuna and lost his queen. In answer of the dreamers question the knight declargons that his beloved is dead now.The hunting party reappears and a bell strikes twelve. The poet awakes and decides that the dream was so wonderful that it should be set into frost. In the French group there atomic number 18 also collar poems The Compleynt unto Pite, An A. B. C. and The Compleynt of Mars. Anelida and Arcite An fractional poem by Chaucer. The poem tells the story of faithless Arcite to Queen Anelida. The first 270 lines are written in rhyme royal and 140 lines in varying metrical patterns. (Italian Group) The Parlement of Fouls Its a dream poem by Chaucer in 699 lines of rhyme royal.It has been thought to be a poem in celebration of a marriage, perhaps the marriage of the young Richard II and Anne of Bohemia in 1382. The poem is the first reference to the idea that St. Valentines Day was a special day for the lovers. The poet falls asleep after a prologue in which he makes the Boethian lament that he has not what he wants and he has what he does not want. He consequently has a vision of a tend in which three eagles pay attention to a beautiful formel ( young-bearing(prenominal)). then(prenominal) there follows a long quarrel about love and hailship.The dispute centers on the opposition between the courtly love approach of the terrible eagles and pragmatism of the duck. The debate is unresolved and the birds agree to assemble a family later to decide. (Italian Group) Troilus and Criseyde Chaucers longest complete poem in 8239 lines of rhyme royal, probably written in the second half of 1380s. Chaucer takes his story from Boccaccios Il Filostrato. In the story Troilus falls in love with Criseyde, a widow whose father Calchas leaves Troy and joins the classics. The first three books tell us how Troilus wit h the help of Pandarus, Criseydes uncle, finally charms her.In the fourth book, she has to go to the Greek camp because of the political reason and she promises to come back at the 10th day but she does not. Troilus writes to her but gets only evasive answers. Finally at his combat with Diamede he finds in Diamedes hand a broach which he had given to her. Ultimately he dies at the hand of Achilles. (Italian Group) The house of Fame An unfinished by Chaucer in 2158 lines of octosyllabic couplets. After the prologue on dreams and an illusion on god of Sleep in Book I the poet dreams of the tabernacle of Venus where on the walls he reads the depicted story of Dido and Aeneas.He then comes out and sees a golden eagle shining in the sky. It is from the very(prenominal) family of Dantes eagle in the ninth book of Purgatorio. In Book II, the bird seizes him and carries him to the House of Fame and tells him during the journey that in the House of Fame he will learn about love affairs and hypocrisies of man. In Book terce he watches in House of Fame the candidates approach the throne for fame, rough organism granted and others rejected. The poem owes much to Dantes Divine Comedy. Dantes poem is also a dream poem and divided into three books.And Dante in Divine Comedy is guided by Virgil. (Italian Group) The Legend of a nigh(a) Woman It is possibly the first significant work in position to use the iambic pentameter or decasyllabic couplets which he later utilize throughout the Canterbury Tales. The poet falls asleep and sees in his dream that Cupid appears before him followed by 20 lady martyrs for love. Cupid accuses him for writing only about faithless female characters like Criseyde and as a penance instructs him to write about faithful women, beginning with Cleopatra.But in the poem Chaucer only finished eightsome stories and the ninth is left unfinished. Some of the good characters are Cleopatra, Dido, Thisbe, Medea and Lucrece. (Italian Group) Cant erbury Tales (English Group) The Lak of Stedfastnesse (English Group) Compleynte of Chaucer to his Empty suitcase (English Group) * There are two prose tales in Canterbury Tales Tale of Melibeus and The Persons Tale. William Langland The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman An allegorical narrative poem written in unrhymed alliterative verse, divided into sections cal guide passus (Latin for step).The poem concerns the narrators importunate quest for true Christian demeanor, from the posture of true Christian life, from the perspective of mediaeval Catholicism. The quest includes a series of dream visions and an examination into the three allegorical characters Dowel (Do-Well), Dobet (Do-Better) and Dobest (Do-Best). A man named Will falls asleep and has a vision of a tower upon a hill and a fortress in a deep valley. Between these symbols of heaven and fossa is a field full of folk, representing the world of mankind. In the early part of the poem Piers, the humble pl owman, appears and offers himself as the narrators guide to truth.The latter(prenominal) part of the poem is pertain with the narrators quest for the Dowel, Dobet and Dobest. This poem appears in many manuscripts in three forms A, B, C school text. The A text is 2500 lines long, the B is more than 7200 lines and C is based upon B and 7300 lines long. The latest surmise is that A text is written by Langland B and C are composed by some poorer poets. John Gower Speculam Meditantis Its his first poem, written in French and for a long time was lost, being detect in 1895. The poem is about 3200 lines of octosyllabic in twelve lines stanzas, concerned about a fallen man, his virtues and vices.Vox Clamantis The meaning of Vox Clamantis is The utterance of One Crying Out. It is a Latin poetry in 10265 lines of elegiac couplets that recounts the events and tragedy of the 1381 Peasants Rising. The poem takes aim at the corruption of the society and laments the rise of the evil. Gower ta kes completely aristocratic side in this poem and thinks the peasants claim as invalid and their actions are anti-Christ. Confessio Amantis It is over 33. 000 lines long and containing 141 stories in octosyllabic couplets. According to the prologue it was composed at the request of Richard II.The epilogue dedicates the work to Richard II and to Chaucer. None of the tales are original. The obtain he relies most is on Ovid whose Metamorphoses was ever a popular computer address of example. Others include Bible and other classical and mediaeval writers. The framework of the poem is the confession of a lover. The confessor helps to examine the lovers conscience and tells him the stories of deportment and fortune in love, organised under the heading of seven fiendishly sins. There are eight books one for the each of the sins and one (Book VII) which gives an comprehensive account of philosophy and morals. John BarbourBruce Barbour is the first Scottish poet to catch readers attent ion. His great work is Bruce (1375), a lengthy poem of twenty books. The book is touchablely a history of Scotlands struggle for liberty from the year 1286 till the death of Bruce. The central incident of the book is battle of Bannockburn. Sir John Mandeville Travels It is originally written in French. In English it has a preface in which it is stated that the author was Sir John Mandeville, a knight, traverse the sea in 1322 and travelled in many strange regions. much of the personal narrative is invention. Nowadays the very existence of Sir John is denied.The real author of this book is said to be Jehan de Bourgogne. John Wycliffe * Many Latin books in support of his revolutionary opinions. * Tracts and pamphlets in English * An English displacement reaction of the Bible. Wycliffe was a teacher in the Oxford University. He attacked the pope and bishops, pointing at them their book palaces, their likings for ceremony and the extent of their power. He said Christs life and urg eing were more important than the Church itself. True Christianity was a company of believers who had no need of bishops, abbots, priors or any of the popes officials. because this brave man attacked other Catholic precepts, particularly the one which says the booty and the wine served at Mass changes into the body and blood of Christ. The Church had taught this belief for centuries and refusal to accept it was called a heresy. Wycliffe spread his message by writing some of his book in English, the common mens quarrel, instead of Latin, the language of the Church. His followers were called Lollards, because of the low and quite way they said their prayers. Some of the Lollards went into the countryside to preach Wycliffes message to the common passel.Wycliffe told others to translate the Bible into English. Many people became Lollards, and therefore heretics. The punishment for heresy became death. Under a new law, heretics could be taken to a public place for burning. There th ey were tied to a post and given an opportunity to declare their belief to be false. If they refused to do this, a fire stick was lit around them and they burned. Still the Lollards increase in numbers and joined the other discontented people in the countryside. Sir Thomas Malory Morte dArthur It was originally written in eight books.William Caxton print it in twenty one books in 1485. It is a compilation of all the Arthurian legends the birth of Arthur, the twelve large battles fought by him against the Angles and Saxons, his marriage with Guinevere, his court Camelot and his Round table meeting with his knights, the adventures of Gawain, Gaheris, Tristram and Sir Launcelot (most well-known knight), Story of Sir Galahad (son of Launcelot and purest of all the knights) who led a search for a cup called Holy Grail, and the adulterous blood between Launcelot and Guinevere.