A brief and illustrative note on Middle English songs and ballads

Chaucer's dominance in Middle English literature is unquestionable. His influence is found all pervasive. Yet, there are other poetical works in different forms, not totally ignorable even in that great age if chaucerian literature. In this respect, mention may be made of popular songs and ballads.

Popular songs and ballads

It fact,in the transition of English literature from Middle English to the Renaissance,an interesting literary feature is the emergence of popular songs and particularly ballads. Those songs and ballads are found both in English poetry and in Scottish. They do not ballads are found both in English poetry and in Scottish. They do not belong exactly to the fifteenth century, and may be traced in the literary history of the earlier period as also of the later. In fact, it is different to assign place or date, with precision and definiteness to them. their authorship has also remained mostly anonymous.

Moreover, a good many such songs and ballads are also lost altogether. as a result, no full and comprehensive account, which might have been quite rich, about them is at all possible.

These songs and ballads ,however, occupy a queer position in English literature. They are mostly old, belong to autiquity, to the tradition of medieval literature. At the same time, some of them are found to approach new literature -the literature of the Renaissance. Chaucer's influence on them is undeniable, though indirect, and like him, they seem to stand at the cross-roads of a literary change from medievalism to modernity.

Those songs and ballads do not definitely deserve any special recognition. What makes them noteworthy is their unique popularity, and here they seem to bear the tradition of medieval romances in their popular tales in verse and simple style. They deal with the themes of heroism, adventure and love and exhibit a remarked rhythmic balance and a pleasing metrical harmony so as to touch and catch common hearts.

Because of their common characteristics it is difficult to identity these songs and ballads separately. They seem to belong to the same genre in their subject -matter and style, and may better be styled simply as ballad poetry.

The ballad is a light simple song that narrates certain events or incidents in simple modes and harmonious and sonorous verses. It is more or less a kind of narrative poetry, and contains a short story in verse. It presents generally a tale of romance and the rhythmic and melodious verses that have the instinctive appeal of a song. Simplicity in theme as well as technique is the primary requisite of ballad poetry. Moreover ,a good ballad, as the from of popular poetry, possesses an enchantment of melody. This a wonderful metrical beauty that has a haunting effect on the ear that hears and thereby spells the heart of the hearer.

The earliest known ballad is the Canute Song. This is,of course, fragmentary, yet it has much historical and literary value. The kings actual part in it is quite doubtful and perhaps. not very important. The anecdote is that Canute , while coming by a boat , with his queen and nobles, to Ely, stood up , bade his men to row slowly , called all who were in the boat to from a circle around him and asked them to join him in his song. That is supposed to be the first composition of ballad poetry in English . It is the first known English poem to break away from the stereotyped metre of old English poetry and to introduce the new order of rhythm which is found to characterise so much of the subsequent ballads of tradition. There are also numerous ballads, relating different adventures in the life of Robin Hood , a well celebrated name in folk-tales and legends . But there are doubts about the dates of the composition of these ballads, which have such titles as Robin Hood and the Monk, Robin and Gandeleyn , Robin Hood and the Potter , The Gest of Robyn Hood, and so on. Some of them , as their style indicates, seem to belong to the period closer to the Renaissance . Some earlier ballads on the subject might have been lost , but most Robin Hood ballads are found preserved. Some ballads , relating to Randolph, earl of Chester , are mentioned in Piers the Plowman, as known to common men, but these are all lost. Sone account is available of the similar outlaw balladry, but their actual origin and authenticity has remained yet quite doubtful . One such popular ballad is The Maid remained yet quite doubtful. One such popular ballad is The maid Freed from the Gallous in which the faith of true love is vindicated. Some ballads are also found derived from romances, such as Hynd Horn (from King Horn) and Sir Orfeo (from Sir Orfeo). In some cases , ballad poetry seems to have something of epical grandeur, as in the famous ballad of Adam Bell, Clim O' the Clough, and William of Cloudeslee, and of lyrical impulsiveness , as in the ballad of Sir Patrick Spens , and of tragic intensity as in the ballad of Robin Hood's Death.

In fact, Popular ballads are found abundant in the literary age, following Chaucer and particularly in the beginning of the fifteenth century. A remarkably fertile soil for such ballads appears to be the 'Border' ,the scene of so many bloody encountered between the English and the Scots for long years. In this context, two particularly well known ,popular ballads may be mentioned here.

Chevy Chase

One of the outstanding popular ballads on 'border'matter is Chevy Chase.This presents an engaging account of the conflict between percy of Northumberland and Douglas of Scotland. The former wishes to hunt in the territory of his foe in order to defy him and provoke encounter. The poem describes the fierce fighting between provoke encounter. The poem describes the rival parties. Douglas is slain and Percy is shown to lament for the death of his valiant enemy. Gallantry gives way to chivalrous nobility.

Chevy Chase stands out as a classic example of the epical ballad that is found inspired with the ideals of The Battle of Maldon and The sing at Brunanburh. It contains matters, both fierce and chivalrous.It has the grandeur of the fragmentary epic in its details of warfare and note of chivalry. Again it possesses too, epical directness and simplicity in its narrative details . Indeed, the work breathes a martial ardour, a chivalrous outlook , a homely simplicity and ab all -pervasive harmony. It is found inspiring for subsequent ballad writers, and has much significance in the history of English balladry.

The Nut Brown Maid

Another popular and successful poem of the time is The Nut Brown Maid. This is not strictly a ballad of the Border and differs much from Chevy Chase. The theme here is altogether different -not rivalry but love. It is all about the story of a nut-brown maid ,a barons daughter and her devoted love for a squire. She follows. with utmost constancy .her beloved man who tries to avoid her. Ultimately, the steady maid gets her reward and the squire, who is actually a noble lord in disguise, agrees to marry her. The end is happy, unlike the sad ending of Chevy Chase.

The Nut Brown Maid , as stated already , is a song of love, and not a tale of fighting, like Chevy Chase. This is also much more intricate in versification than the other poem . It is rather enlivened with a courtly and cultivated approach and spontaneity of expression. The work bears all through a dramatic interest. The very pattern of presentation is quite novel, too. The whole tale is related through the lyrical dialogue of a lady and a gentleman , who are shown engaged in the discussion of the charge of inconstancy against women, often brought by men.

Popular English ballads are no grand works of art, but they are also no verbose artifice. Their mode is simple and appeal, straight .They are not primitive, but essentially native in inspiration . Their tales are well told and they bear the freshness of the open air, with wind and sunshine playing through them .They are found to enrich English poetry definitely and to pave the ground for the emergence of Renaissance poetry .

Write a brief and illustrative note on Middle English songs and ballads

Green Land | December 12, 2016 | 1comments

A brief and illustrative note on Middle English songs and ballads

Popular songs and ballads

Moreover, a good many such songs and ballads are also lost altogether. as a result, no full and comprehensive account, which might have been quite rich, about them is at all possible.

Chevy Chase

The Nut Brown Maid

THE MIDDLE AGES(1066-1400-1500 approx.)

Chaucer's influence on English poetry, even after his death, appears almost unparalleled in the history of English Literature . In fact,immediately after him, there was a trend to follow and imitate him and to produce literary works on his model.Of course,his successors and imitators were not quite successful in their imitation of their mighty master. In fact,the standard achieved by them is found below Chaucer's.

Lydgate

Of Chaucer's immediate followers and imitators,John Lydgate is considered the most remarkable literary figure. He is even given a rank very near to his great master.But actually his literary achievements are nothing exceptional.His literary works have never the recognition of Chaucer's.

Lydgate is taken as the most prolific author of the fifteenth century, rather of the whole of the middle English period. His composition is found to include about 1,43,000 lines.Lydgate's longest poems are The Storie of Thebes and The Troy Book,both of which are taken from notable French romances. His other works include Fall of Princes or Tragedies of John Bochas, adopted from Boccaccio's De Casibus Illustrium Virorum. The Temple of Glass and The Assembly of Gods are written in an allegorical vein.Lydgate is also the author of another voluminous work -The Pilgrimage of the Life of Man-which is sort of translation from the French works of Guillaume De Guileville. This iis also a sort of allegory and may be taken as forerunner of Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.Of course, Lydgate has noting of Bunyan's moral conviction,character -painting and vigorous description. The best and most poetical among Lydgate's enormous works is,perhaps, The Life of Our Lady, containing several lives of the saints. This appears to bear the Cynewulfian tradition to versify the lives of saints.

Lydgate has some shorter verses, not at all of a high order,but well indicative of his poetical genius. Of them two of his bestiaries -The Churl and the Bird and The Horse, the Sheep and the Goose-may be mentioned as quite lively works. These two works are somewhat fables, written on the modelof Aesop.Chaucer's influence is noted here, though Lydgate never attained the chaucer-as-chronicler height.

Lydgate's literary woks are, no doubt, bulky, but least chaucerian in any aspect.His imitation has own days for a twofold reason. First,he carried on the tradition of story telling in verse,so much popular in the age. Second ,he provided the common readers with the numerous stories of varied interests in a simple and straightforward manner.

Hoccleve

Among the English Chaucerians,Thomas Hoccleve is not as prolific an author as Lydgate, But like him, he is found to imitate Chaucer's, without any noticeable success.

Hoccleve is particularly noted for his Regement of Princes, based on the Latin work De Regimina Principum. The poem,of course a long one, contains some 5500 verses dealing with the matters of varied interests -political, ethical,ecclesiastical, and so on. The poem reveals his gift of story -telling, imitated from Chaucer.There are,no doubt, some dissertations,with illustrations,that make the work didactic.

Some other Literary Names

Besides Hoccleve aand Lydgate,the best known English Chaucerians,therw are a number of other followers and imitators.They include Benedict Burgh,George Ashby,John Walton and Henry Bradshaw.Their verses,mainly didactic, illustrate amply the decadence that came over Chaucer's imitators.

In addition to those imitators,there are several poems,written by other poets but there is no definite indication of authorship here.Of such poems,bearing Chaucerian traits, may be mentioned The Second Merchants Tale.a verse narrative, La Belle Dame Sans Merci ,a French translation, The Cuckoo and The Nightingale ,an allegory ,The Court of Sapines ,The Assembly of Ladies and The Flower and the Leaf. The last named work,is also a finely conceived allegory ,the flower is the symbol of gay and transitory element and the leaf stands for the virtue of endurance .

Hawes

The last important name among the English chaucerians is Stephen Hawes .He wrote towards the end of the fifteenth century and in the opening of the sixteenth, at aa time when the courtly poetry of the Chaucerian tradition had become almost antiquated. In fact,in Stephen Hawes is found the last exponent of that great tradition.

Hawes,who had his education at Oxford ,is the author of several works.His most important works is the The pastime(passetyme) of pleasure (written about 1505-06).The theme here is both allegorical and didactic .The next important works include The Example of Virtue ,probably written much earlier(in 1503-04).This is also allegorical and didactic. The work presents a complete allegory of the life of man from his youth to age .The conversion of Swearess written a little before 1509.is a noble work. of course ,from the technical standpoint, by Hawes.The authors is also didactic here.

Hawes's other works include A Joyful Meditation to all England of the Coronation of Henry the Eighth( 1509) and The Comfort of Lovers (date unknown).Both these works bear out his technical sophistry as also didactic note.

Hawes's poetry, no doubt ,has medieval limitations ,such as long digressions ,debates and moralization .But the allegorical and symbolic aspects ofvhid poetry is noteworthy and it anticipates in some way Spenser. His versification is exclusively Chaucerian with rarely occasional variations. His couplets are quite popular. occasionally decasyllabic couplets.although they are not always as much balanced as Chaucer's.

The Scottish Chaucerians

Chaucer's literary influence in his age was not confined to England only.It extended to scotland and proved instrumental to the emergence of the golden age of Scotish poetry in the 15th century .As a matter of fact,the Scottish poets,inspired by Chaucer.are found to limitate and follow their master with greatest success than their English counterparts .King James I,Henryson,Dunbar and Douglas appear much truer abler descendants of Chaucer, than Lydgate,Hoccleve and even Hawes.

The first of the Scottish poet to show the Chaucerian inspiration is a king, James I.Of course ,these are double about the authenticity of his literary acquirement .yet he is generally accepted as the authors of The Kings Quair or The King's Book.Its inspiration mainly lies in Chaucer Knightes Tale. Bearing the reminiscences of Chaucer's The Knightes Tale,The King's Quair is a delightful romance in verse.

A more original Scottish Chaucerian is Robert Henryson,a school master.His poetry is ,however ,found promoted by Chaucer's influence. His most noted work-The Testament of Cresseid -is a sequel to Chaucer's celebrated Troilus and Criseyde.Henryson is also found influenced by Aesop in his longest and ,in some way,most popular work,Morall Fabillis of Esope .In this respect. his gift of story -telling is revealed particularly in his entertaining poem-The Town Mouse and The Field Mouse.

William Dunbar is generally given the highest position among the Scottish Chaucerians. Dunbar's works include The Golden Targe,The Thrissil and the Rois, The Freiries of Berwick ,Tidings from the session. The Dance of sevin Deidlie synnis .Flyting of Dunbar and Kannedie. The Lament for the Makaris, and so on. These are mainly allegorical although some of themhave some occasional episodes as the motif.

A prominent literary figure among the Scottish Chaucerians is Gavin (Gawin) Douglas, who was a chauchman -a bishop ,of the works, written by Douglas, The Palice of Honour, supposed to be his earliest work,is long (about 2166 lines),successful and popular .This is modelled after Chaucer's Hous of Fame,and shows him as an intimate follower of Chaucer.Douglas's next important work King Hart is also an allegorical work,although it is considered much better than his previous work,The Palice of Honour.

Among the Scottish Chaucerians,an early Scottish poet,Henry, better known as Blind Harry (blind from his birth)is to be mentioned. He has a chronicle romance Wallace to his credit. This is almost a parallel to Barbour's The Bruce.Henry's hero.however, is no historical personality like Robert Bruce.He is a semi - legendary and semi- historical figure and seems to possess something of English Robin Hood in his activities and objectives.

The Scottish Chaucerians are not found simply imitative.Their literary fidelity to Chaucer is sincere, but their literary production is no blind imitation,without any mark of originality.They are found to have grasped Chaucer well.catching often his sentiments with a remarkable well balanced, showing both devotion and inspiration and better appreciation of the great master.

Chaucer's successors and imitators

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Lydgate

Hoccleve

Among the English Chaucerians,Thomas Hoccleve is not as prolific an author as Lydgate, But like him, he is found to imitate Chaucer's, without any noticeable success.

Some other Literary Names

Hawes

The Scottish Chaucerians

THE AGE OF CHAUCER , THE MIDDLE AGES(1066-1400-1500 approx.)

The most domineering figure in Middle English literature is definitely age of Chaucer . His vast and varied works constitude the bulk of its glory and quality . Yet , there are some other works by some other literary men. his contemporaries.

Those works of his time are not comparable with Chaucer's masterpieces . Yet these have shares in the contribution to the enlargement of English literature in the later half of the Medieval age and the preparation for the impending Renaissance in the realm of English art and literature .

Chaucer's contemporaries are more or less found his imitators or followers. His majestic influence on them is evident iin greater or lesser degrees. Of such contemporaries William Langland, John Gower and Barbour are to be mentioned in particular.

William Langland

The name of William Langland has a celebrity in the English language for singular work -The Book of Piers, the plowman. In the English literature of the fourteenth century, Langland's Piers Plowman stands out as the most renowned work , save Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales . Whereas the later is a social chronicle, with engaging tales, Piers Plowman is an impressive allegory, more deeply concerned with religious, ethical, social and economic problem of the time. Piers Plowman is definitely a nnovel and radical work for his age. This is aa provocative probe into the depth of the social and moral life of the age. Like Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales this remains a fine mirror of the variety and complexity of medieval life.

Like The Canterbury Tales, Piers Plowman has a prologue that has the typical dream convention of medieval literature. This describes how the author falls asleepon tthe May morning on the Malvern Hills. He has a vision of a fair field, full of folk from different ranks and occupations.This Prologue, as in Chaucer's Prologue,records a graphic picture of the English society of the fourteenth century.Social scenes,rather than Chaucer's social types, however are more conspicuous in Langland's Prologue.

The frame work of Language's poem is allegorical. This describes a series of remarkable visions.This dreamer, that is the poet himself,has these visions in tthe dream. Langland's convictions of the moral faith and the social vices of his age find expression through these visions. His ethical point of view is quite clear here. His emphasis is on the supreme sermons of truth, work and love. Mans chief task is to seek truth. to have faith to succeeded in his work and love alone leads him to heaven. Piers Plowman.stands in the pivotal position of the entire theme. He symbolizes the moral virtues of life -truth, work and love. He remains the very object and inspiration for noble living.

Langland's Piers Plowman is a mighty achievement in the English literature of the fourteenth century.It ranks very high as a social study and a moral sermon. Its significance lies mainly in its threefold manifestation. First,its is aa graphic picture of contemporary life and manners.Second,it is aa penetrative satire on social and ecclesiastical follies and vices. Third,it is a powerful allegory of human life and morality. As a social picture,the poem throws interesting side lights on medieval life. manners and customs in different places and occupations. As a social satire the poem stands out remarkably. This is, perhaps, the first great English satire. The poet is particularly quite critical of luxury and vices in high places, religious and secular. As an allegory, it brings out subtly the strife between good and evil in the human soul. The poet's emphasis is always on righteous living .

Piers Plowman also bears out Langland's radical view as a reformer. His reformative zeal is equally evident in his treatment of political, social and ecclesiastical matters . He advocates social equally and equal social responsibility . He is found to emphasize a life of simplicity, sincerity and restraint. Indeed, in him is heard the echoes of the impending Puritanism.

Langland's work is no exhibition of grand poetry of the Chaucerian height. In him is seen neither an artist nor a musician .The poem is written in the old alliterative meter. But the handling of the alliterative line is always easy and confident, and as a result, Piers Plowman never appears as a poem monotonous or hard to read.

John Gower

John Gower,who lived between 1325 and 1408, was Chaucer's contemporary, and had,perhaps, some intimacy with him. Of course,he was more medieval than the great master, and was a little behind his time. His major works,mainly narrative, were written in the eighties of fourteenth century, at aa time written in the eighties of the fourteenth century, at a time when Chaucer had already reached the height of his literary excellence.

Gower's first important work,Speculum Homms or Speculam Meditantis is in French. This is aa long sermon against the sins of the time. His next work Vox Clamantis is in Latin. This is a dream allegory with a social -political theme. This is about the peasants' uprising of the fourteenth century.

John Gower's last important work,produced in 1383-84, is in English. This is Confessio Amantis, an ambitious project to present in pleasing verses numerous stories ,taken from various sources. The work, which is a long compilation of 40,000 octo-syllabic lines, contains more than a hundred stories of varying lengths and from diverse sources , from the Holy Bible to Ovid. There is a well set plan to tell some engaging tales in a simple and melodious style.

Growers work is well-planned, but not properly executed . It marks little originality in his imagination or in his ideas. The influence of Chaucer on him is, no doubt , patent, but there is no Chaucerian sense of proportion and control over the total structure. Moreover , the constant moralizing trend and the conventional bias of the middle ages , expressed in him , weary and make him more mechanically medieval. Gower has also neither the skill of character portraits nor the sense of wit and humour, so prominently found in Chaucer.

Growers writing however, is not without literary qualities. His originality, as a story teller in verse, is amply evident. No previous author is found to have versified so large a collection of stories or devised such an ingenious and elaborate scheme of combination . Moreover, Gower's mode of narration is simple and straightforward and he never becomes tedious in his story-telling. His description art is well combined with his meditative depth. His language is developed and polished that marks the cultured London dialect- the king's English.

John Barbour

Like Langland,John Barbour (poet)our was a literary follower of Chaucer.But,unlike Langland, he was a Scottish poet. Though himself a chaurchman, he was no author of religious or ethical works.His principal work The Bruce is rather political and patriotic.

Barbour's The Bruce, written between 1373 and 1378,is a sort of the national epic for the Scottish people. The author is found to present and preserve here poetically the memorable history of the heroic struggle of the Scottish people,under Bruce's leadership and their ultimate success.

Though based on history, Barbour's The Bruce like other national epics,contains a good deal of fictional matters.Lots of the material of romances are found mingled with the facts of history. All this, however,serves to add to the poetical as well as popular appeal of the work.

Barbour,of course,is not found to possess the hightest gifts of an epic or narrative poet. But he possesses a style that is simple, sincere and straight -forward,with a high degree of rapidity and sonority. Barbour is supposed to have been the author of some other literary works-Lives of the Saints, a lengthy work in couplets, The Stewarties Oryginalle, containing the genealogy of the Scottish Kings , Siege of Troy, a fragmentary work , and The Bulk of Alexander , a happy popular poem.

Poetry in the age of chaucer (except chaucer)/chaucer's contemporaries

Green Land | November 25, 2016 | 2comments

William Langland

John Gower

John Barbour

THE AGE OF CHAUCER , THE MIDDLE AGES(1066-1400-1500 approx.)

Chaucerian literature is essentially humanitic . It is certainly different from and superior to its preceding literature in its interest in humanity -in human character and conduct . Chaucer's sketches are great character studies as also the portraits of the basic aspects of human nature .

Chaucer's literary achievement are unique , not merely in bulk but also in creativity and originally .. His literary world is not antique , but modern . This is a steady step towardsthe great age of the Renaissance . His genius is found to put fresh and formative spirits into old things and to turn gross into gold .

Chaucer's contemporaries and successors are definitely not comparable with him . But they are more or less his followers and imitators . Naturally , they are found to have shared in the contribution to the enlargement of English literature and the preparation for the Renaissance .

It is , therefore , remarkable to take notes if different literary men and works in the world of Chaucer , which are not Chaucerian in origin , but bear in greater or lesser degrees , his majestic influence and found to bear out amply a translation in literature from medievalism to modernism .

But what is more about Chaucer is his application of the common dialect of London and its neighbourhood as his poetic diction . This is known as the King's English which became , owing largely to his own work , the sole literary language throughout England .

Transition from medieval to modern literature in the Chaucerian literary age

Green Land | October 28, 2016 | 0 comments

THE AGE OF CHAUCER

Chaucer belonged to the medieval age - a dark age - an age dominated by the kingly authority, the Catholic Church, and they are ignored and trampled down by the feudal structure of the then society. Literature, as the mirror of that feudal society, was centered around homiletic songs, and knightly romances. Man, rather the average individual man had no place in that literature of feudal dominance

Chaucer came at such an age. His varied experiences of strain and stress and suffering made him wiser about his and society. Moreover, his personal involvement in servitude, captivity, and feudal atrocities as also his intimate acquaintance with foreign literary masters added to his knowledge and experience. All those factors formed his literary magnitude as well as magnificence

And Chaucer brought a new leaf to the old and worn-out feudal literature. He introduced a new spirit into the literature of his age through his rare creative excellence. That led the way to the flowering of the Renaissance in English literature a century after. Chaucer appeared to have acted here as the very harbinger of the great modern

Chaucer's age was of medieval authoritarianism Royal absolutism, Catholic rigors, and baronial arrogance, an already asserted, marked age. Yet England was then in a transitional phase The dark age of medievalism was in its last phase. So long downdowntroddenses began to rise and protest against the tales of injustice and wrong. The Peasants revolution brought that glaringly to the surface The triple authority of the crown, the Catholic Church, and its peers were in utter discord. The overbearing attitude of the church and the peerage was curbed by the king out of this individual personality and capabilities. Corruption in the high officers of the church and covetous license among the mighty lords was exposed and defied and even thrashed by the king for his own interest. There were new trends to oppose and criticized beliefs, notions, and views It was a changing phase in England

Chaucer emerged in the tt phase of transition. He played a major part in paving the road to that transition from medievalism to modernism through the wonder of his creative literature Herein lies the essence of a master who thought of the old world remains with the great modern

Indeed English literature was awakened in the second half of the fourteenth century from the stagnation of stereotyped medieval literature That was made possible due to the genius of a great literary master Geoffrey Chaucer. English literature, in the course of its advancement from the old English period to Middle English, reached the height of excellence in Chaucer's hand, it is many literary works of a lasting fe.

Medieval English literature, before Chaucer, mainly consisted of Christian homilies, sermons, lives, Romans, and allegorical poems, in addition to religious and ethical prose writings. These are all more or less stereotyped literary accounts of some saints nuns, chivalrous knights,d lovely ladies. Individual traits in men are all missing in them Characters are only known as princes, knights, lovely ladies, priests, innkeepers, shoemakers, different guildsmen, and so on. But Chaucer brought liveliness lively to preceding barren medieval literature.

New spirit introduced by chaucer /chaucer as the harbinger of a new literary age

Green Land | October 26, 2016 | 0 comments

THE AGE OF CHAUCER

Chaucer belonged to the Medieval age . It was a dark age , haunted with Catholic austerity and feudal atrocity and feudal atrocity . Spontaneity in life was all kept suppressed and silenced by the rigours of the authority . Naturally , in such a state , the genial zest for life was found to be missing in the literary pursuits of the time . Yet , Chaucer breathed in plenty spirit and liveliness , so much needed in lasting creative literary works . In fact , he had in plenty what most of his fellow poets lacked unfortunately , the sense of the comic , rare for his age .

The comic spirit is particularly resonant in two elements-wit and humour . In fact , the fun of life and literature is closely associated with the flash of wit and the depth of humour . Wit is an intellectual flash rather a sort of intellectual exercise and it gives diversion and delight . Humour , too , is an intellectual gift , a sensitive expression . It causes laughter just as wit does . But the play of wit is spectacular , somewhat superficial , but in humour , laughter is deep and dignified . Both these elements of wit and humours are necessary constitution in the respresent of any sense of the comic . This is so with Chaucers literary talent . His creative genius bears out , in a plentiful measure , his wonderful sense of humoum with which the rare flash of wit is found well mingled .

The Canterbury Tales , Chaucer's last and best work , is imbued with his most delighted sense of the comic . The work is , no doubt , great as a wonderful document of the English social life of the fourteenth century . But it is also a delightful comedy of human life , a grand social comedy , through it is no drama technically .

Chaucer's comic art is vividly revealed in The Canterbury Tales . In his conceptiin and execution of the entire work , a truly comic spirit is intensely felt . The idea of bringing so many pilgrims together is certainly quite humorous . But more humorous and witty is his description of different pilgrims , with the wonderful fidelity to reality and a profound sense of humorous . Chaucer makes his pilgrims quite engaging . Chaucerian humour is certainly the chief draw here .

As a comic artist , Chaucer goes deep to what is incongruous in human life and behaviour . He does not fail to make fun with the pilgrims drawn by him in the prologue . All his portraits sharply indicate a sense of joy that the true comedy possesses . Thus , although the Knight is not drawn for the purpose of fun , the poet makes diverting reflections on his horse and its nature . His horse was good , but he was not gay . More enjoyable , however , seems Chaucer's description of the Cook . He mentioned the Cook's skill in different ways , and in doing so , he also makes fun of his nature .

Indeed , The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales is sufficiently illustrative of Chaucer's sense of wit and humour in which subtle irony does not remain unmixed . His portrait of the Monk may be mentioned in this connection . The Monk's love for eating is wittily caricatured in a single sharp line-

A fat swam loved he best of any roost

Of course, Chaucer's humour appears a bit crude and heavy in the portraits of the Wife of Bath and the Miller . He makes a sarcastic comment on the kerchief that the former wears on her head on a Sunday. The Miller's bulky and robust body is also funnily represented. Chaucer's humour, however, is not absolutely simple innocent. Along with the play of wit , there is a touch of irony , as already noted, in Chaucerian humour. Of course, his irony has little of pungency and more of entertainment . He makes fun and provokes laughter. but does not lash savagely. His irony is, perhaps, vividly marked in his description of the nature of the Prioress. He makes a good deal of exaggeration about her, with an ironical hit on her pretentious and demonstrative nature.

What is, however, striking in Chaucer's irony is the natural , effortless revelation of the corruption in the high offices of the Catholic Church . This he does by means of his representation of the clerical order of his time. The effect achieved is almost Aristophanic, in which the comic spirit is best manifested .

Chaucer's gifts of humour and wit and the flash of his diverting irony have breathed into his poetry an atmosphere of loveliness geniality and comical gaiety. He is truly the first great English humorist and original harbinger of the comic spirit in English literature.

Chaucer's comic spirit is also marked in his other literary works ,including Parlement of Foules and The Hous of Fame . His allegories are enlivened with diverting balance between wit, humour and irony. They well reveal him as a comedian in high verses .

Write an illustrative note on Chaucer's wit and humour

Green Land | October 25, 2016 | 0 comments

A fat swam loved he best of any roost

THE AGE OF CHAUCER , THE MIDDLE AGES(1066-1400-1500 approx.)

Chaucer's picture of the fourteenth century English society in The Canterbury Tales

As a story- teller in verse , Chaucer , no doubt a unique master of narration is found to be grand observer of life and society around him . As he narrates his tale , in simple and melodious verses , and creates engaging characters , he presents , too , the life of his time scrutinises its specific traits , with lively and realistic touches .

In The Canterbury Tales , which is the crowing glory of Chaucer's literary achievements , is found fully exhibited his power to represent the fourteenth century English society in its different aspects , ecclesiastical as well as secular , with a rare artistry . The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales is found to testify to his close association with the English life of his time . Truly speaking , it remains a great social documents of fourteenth century English life in verse.

Chaucer's picture of the fourteenth century English society

Indeed , in the prologue , Chaucer represented adequately different strata of the English community under the feudal hierarchy . He presents here different character to represent different classes of medieval English society . His triumph lies in his power of observation and analysis that makes his characters typical of the age or society they represent , Here Chaucer stands without any parallel among his predecessors and contemporaries .

The very conception , on which The Canterbury Tales is based , has a social background . Chaucer is found to exploit here the medieval religious practice to visit the tomb of Thomas Becket at Canterbury . That was a custom in which all the sections of the British people were participants . The pilgrimage to Canterbury is the occasion of Chaucer's Prologue in which he introduces different pilgrims , belonging to different professions , occupations , or functions , both secular and ecclesiastical .

Indeed , the Prologue alone bears out Chaucer's power to observe and examine , in a vivid and lovely manner , the fourteenth century . Except the highest ranks of the feudal order , the varons and the bishops , and the lowest , the serfs , all other sections are possibly represented through different characters , making pilgrimage to Canterbury .

In fact , Chaucer is found to present the then English society through different portraits introduced by him as the pilgrims to but they mainly focus the social types which are represented in the work . Above all , colour , variety , interest and charm which Chaucer had represented through his portraits of pilgrims make the whole social picture precise , clear , engaging and emphatic .

Thus, of the secular sections of the society of his time, Chaucer's portraits of the Knights and the squire as also of the Yeoman may be mentioned . They represent the feudal chivalry of the time. In the medieval age those people had a specific role in society . Chaucer is found to have presented them according to their real situation and character, which he possibly obtained from his own experience and personal contacts . Again , Chaucer goes to treat the members of the other sections of the community . The learned professions of the time , belonging to the secular sections , are typified by the Sergeant of the law and the doctor of physique. Both those professional men were held in highest esteem in the middle ages and Chaucer had his own experiences about them which he gave vent to his portraits of the pilgrims.

The common professional secular people, described by Chaucer, include the five Guildsmen, the Shipman , the Miller , the Merchant, and so on . He indicates aptly, in his portraits , their physical characteristics as well as the nature of their occupation and the impact thereof on their conduct and behaviour. The common officers of state represented by Chaucer in the Prologue are the Manciple and the Reeve while the Franklin and the wife of bath stand for the free gentleman and the family women of the time respectively.

By the side of the secular characters, Chaucer represents the religious order of medieval English through his representation of the persons of some religious professions . They include the Prioress, Monk, Friar, Clerk , Parson, Pardoner and Summoner . Chaucer is here found to classify the functions which different churchmen had under the ordain of the Catholic code. His range of portraits is quite wide and never appears narrow or shallow in his representations.

Chaucer's picture of the English society of the medieval age as well noticed in his portraits of different pilgrims is varied and engaging. Of course, he never makes himself boring by any unnecessary elaboration or detail. On the other hand, he is extremely precise and what is more, delightfully witty in his scrutiny of different personalities, secular as well as religious. As a result Chaucer's characters are not merely documentary but also freely individual. His originality in the representation of the social figures is amply demonstrated here, and in this respect , the good wife of bath and the monk may be mentioned in particular .

The Wife of Bath is not only a typical , easy going, rather an unthinking feminine being of the age, but also appears to be extremely extrovert and talkative. Her love for gay companions , fondness for travelling in some good company and other features well bear out the type of characters Chaucer portrays here with acute social consciousness . The Monk, as already noted, is an ecclesiastical representation .Chaucer well shows out how his interest lies in physical comfort and the worldly enjoyment of life . He is, therefore, shown as extremely fond of hunting dressing, eating and other thoroughly physical pleasures.

Indeed, Chaucer's pilgrims well represent a comprehensive circle of social types . At the same time , they remain original and interesting in their individuality and that separates each of them from the general crowd of pilgrims and gives him or her class or rank of his or her own.

In conclusion , Chaucer's slight but enjoyable satire in his social account , is perceived in his representation of the ecclesiastical order in particular, such as the Monk, the Pardoner and the summoner. Chaucer court with a love for materialism , splendour and luxurious living . Here he may be placed by the side of Langland in his representation of the vices and follies of the ecclesiastical order of the fourteenth century in his famous Piers Plowman. But Langland is serious and to some extent openly satirical , while Chaucer remains diverting , even lovely with flashes of wit and banter. Naturally , the latter remains more enjoyable and popular than the former, and is read even now with delight and interest to have the knowledge of the social fabric of his time.

Moreover, Chaucer appears to be a spectator of life , one who does not wish to make himself a moralist like Langland . He seems to view life as it was revolving , revealing and renovating. He appears to accept, with the spectator's disinterestedness , the changes, taking place rapidly. Perhaps, he might have felt that the old order and practices , however good and useful they must have been once, would necessary change , lest they should go corrupt and inert.

Estimate Chaucer's picture of the fourteenth century English society in The Canterbury Tales

Green Land | October 22, 2016 | 0 comments

Chaucer's picture of the fourteenth century English society in The Canterbury Tales

THE MIDDLE AGES(1066-1400-1500 approx.)

The Canterbury Tales , though an unfinished work , is definitely the best specimen of Chaucerian literature and remains unsurpassable in the English literary works before Spenser . What , however , constitutes the crowning interest in this unfinished work is the finished and most artistic execution of the Prologue to the Tales .

Prologue implies a kind of introduction and in his sense the prologue to the Canterbury Tales may be taken as Chaucers introduction to his whole literary scheme in the work . He , no doubt , intended to make the Prologue a befitting introduction to his entertaining tales about which he had perhaps not drawn any definite plan . His original plan to have two stories , told by each pilgrim enroute to Canterbury and two more in course of the return journey , is given out here .

it's that you each , to shorten the long journey , Shall tell two tales enroute to Canterbury ,And coming homeward, tell another two, Stories of things that happened long ago.(From the verse translation in modern English by David Wright)

Of course , that was , perhaps only schemed , but not put into any definite literary action . Nervertheless , the Prologue was employed by him , with an eye to the whole scheme as a just introduction to his numberous tales , characteristic of the age .But what Chaucer has achieved in the Prologue is something more than a mere introduction . The Prologue to Canterbury Tales to Canterbury and planning to make their journey diverting and free from monotony by telling tales to one another .The most important thing that Chaucer is found to have accompanied in his introductory purpose is to bring the picture of the entire English society of his time , and this is truly a unique attainment . Within the brief compass of some eight hundred and sixty lines , the poet has presented the whole English community of the fourteenth century with different classes and ranks and professions , except the nobles , the bishops and the serfs . This is really a commendable representation in a precise and entertaining manner . Indeed , Chaucer's Prologue passes from a mere introductory verse to a poetical social chronicle of a high order.

In Chaucer's poetical social chronicle character appears particularly significant and entertaining. He does merely mention some professional names Knight, Squire, Monk, Friar , Summoner, Pardoner, Parson, Yeoman , Physicians, and so on . He also draws an engaging poetical portrait for his pilgrims , ready to make a pilgrimage to Canterbury in observation of the martyrdom of Thomas Becket. His portraits reveal his wonderful artistry. He seems here really an artist without a peer.

Thus Chaucer present the Knight first. He is a 'worthy man', who participated in different battles and sieges. But this is not all. Chaucer also goes to describe his dress and his horse . The picture of the knight is fully true to what a knight was in the feudal world . Chaucer's description genius is, perhaps, more penetrative in his representation of the Prioress whom he makes an object of irony. Hee showy and demonstrative nature is marked in the very description of her conduct at the dinner time-

"At mete wely -taught was she with -alle, Shr bet no morsel from her lippes falle""Good table manners she had learnt as well:She never let a crumb from her mouth fall"-(Modern translation)

Chaucer's Monk, however, deserve a greater attention and reveals the poet's power to describe and satirize mildly at the same time. The boisterous habit of the Monk and his love for the material pleasures of life are subtly indicated . The Monk is fatty and well dressed and is fond of rich dishes. Chaucer's irony is subtle but sharp in regard to the Monk whose description is really illustrative of the poet's art-

' A fat swan loved the best of any roost'

The next member of the ecclesiastical order is the Friar, whom Chaucer also describe with an equal skill. He is gay and pompous and rather wanton in his habit . He is also an expert in songs and his beggarly habit is well represented in the description -

' He was the beste beggere in hous.'

By the side of the greedy. corrupt persons of the Catholic Church, Chaucer also represent some honest churchmen. In this respect , the poor Parson may be particularly mentioned . In fact in his description of the parson , the poet contrasts the piety and industry of the secular clergy with the wickedness and laziness of the religious orders or monks . The Parson is a learned man who is ready to serve others, without extracting money from them . He is diligent and patient to attend to men in adversity. He is not a mercenary, but a man of virtue and holiness , and bears no spite against the sinners . In fact , he follows the very precept of Christianity, and is a true Christian :

"But Christes loore, and his Apostles twelve He taughte, and first folwed it hymselve."

Chaucer's art of description is of a high order. His pilgrims are the specific instance of his grand techniques as a master portrait painter . What is more, Chaucer makes his figures alive by informing them with his gift of wit and humour . In short , in Chaucer's descriptions, as already indicated, pilgrims are no.more the mere representation in writing , but the living portraits of the men and women of this time, with their queerness, mannerism and practices. His pilgrims, in fact, are alive, and in no way less dramatic figures.

There is another important aspect of this Chaucerian Prologue . Chaucer remains one of the outstanding humorists in English literature , and the Prologue bears out his genius as a comical author. The Canterbury Tales is deemed as a great comedy of the human society and this is particularly evident in Chaucer's representation of different characters in the Prologue and his full exploitation of their nature and practices to create an appropriate comic spirit all over the poem. In fact, the Prologue reaches the height of a grand social comedy in poetry . This comic effect is finely achieved by his wonderful sense of wit and humour and power to intermingle irony with it. Chaucer's comic artistry , as exhibited here , has remained a source of inspiration for all aspirants for fame in comic literature .

Finally, there is Chaucer's wonderful versification, his use of octo-syllabic lines with a novelty and a vigout. Indeed, the father of english poetry , as he is called , is in his full glory here in his technical command over versification which is almost flawless.

Make a Critical Analysis Of Prologue To The Canterbury Tales And Find Out The Author's Artistry

Green Land | October 12, 2016 | 2comments

it's that you each , to shorten the long journey , Shall tell two tales enroute to Canterbury ,And coming homeward, tell another two, Stories of things that happened long ago.(From the verse translation in modern English by David Wright)

"At mete wely -taught was she with -alle, Shr bet no morsel from her lippes falle""Good table manners she had learnt as well:She never let a crumb from her mouth fall"-(Modern translation)

' A fat swan loved the best of any roost'

' He was the beste beggere in hous.'

"But Christes loore, and his Apostles twelve He taughte, and first folwed it hymselve."

THE AGE OF CHAUCER

Chaucer's most criginal and truly English work is The Canterbury Tales , Which is the product of his sufficient maturity as a story-teller in verse . In this very ambitious project , Chaucer is found to turn to England and the English society of this time . The work ,breathing the spirit of genuine poetry , is a laudable effort to capture the spirit of England in the fourteenth century , and may well be taken as an emblem of truly national poetry , as a national social epic of fourteenth century England .

Chaucer began to work on The Canterbury Tales about 1387 , in which his wife philippa Chaucer , as far as known , died . He continued to work on it till his own death , some thirteen years after . Obviously , the work was left unfinished by him .The formulation of the scheme of The Canterbury Tales was certainly activated by the practice of a large number of pilgrims to visit the holy tomb of St. Thomas at Canterbury . It was common for such pilgrims to move in groups for security and to entertain themselves with various stories for relaxation during their journey from London which generally lasted for three days or more .Chaucer planned a comprehensive portrait of his contemporary society from the conventional pilgrimage to Canterbury . He brought together several pilgrims , belonging to different stations and occupations and geared up his creative genius to enliven them all .

The Canterbury Tales , as already asserted , to Chaucer English period . His main inspiration is , no doubt , the English society of his own time . Yet , the influence of foreign masters mights well be traced in the work . The subtle deployment of realistic details in Dante's Divina Commedia appears to have an influence on his description of the pilgrims in the General prologue to the Tales . Again , Boccaccio mechanic contrivance of the collection of stories in the Decameron might have provided Chaucer with the plan to attribute different tales to different pilgrims . Of course , Chaucer literary genius is found to have transmuted Boccaccio metal into gold.Chaucer's plan in The Canterbury Tales , as noted already , is quite extensive. There are thirty pilgrims , including the author himself , who are to visit Canterbury . Those pilgrims are selected from different walks of life . There are the friar , the monk , the priest , the pardoner , the summoner , the parson , the knight , the squire , the franklin , the merchant , the doctor of medicine , the cook and so on .

Chaucer first of all draws the portrait of each of his pilgrims before assigning them any speech . Those portraits from the prologue of his work. The portraits are drawn with a graphic ease and lively sense of humour. The characters become living and entertaining .They bring before the reader a full portrait of the English society of the time.Chaucer's plan is not exhausted here, but it is further extended .

He brings those pilgrims together and makes them talk and argue and even quarrel among themselves in their own way. He further assigns each of them a story to relate. Their stories are as diverting as they themselves are, and indicate their own nature . The knight relates the tale of war and love and chivalry. The friar speaks of religion , while the wife of Bath narrates the tale of domesticity. The Canterbury Tales, as already indicated , could not be finished by Chaucer . His original project was to assign two tales to each pilgrim enroute to Canterbury and two more to each of them during the homeward journey . Thus he ought to have included a hundred and twenty tales, but Chaucer could complete actually a few more than a score of them. Some of these tales were even left out in fragments . These tales include The Knight's Tale , The Miller's Tale ,The Reeve's Tale, The Cock's Tale , The Man of Law's Tale , The Wife of Bath's Tale,The Friar's Tale, The Summoner's Tale, The Clerk's Tale , The Merchant's Tale , The Squire Tale, The Franklin's Tale , The Physician's Tale, The Pardoner's Tale, The Shipman's Tale , The Prioress's Tale, The Tale of Sir Thopac , The Second Nun's Tale, The Yeoman's Tale, The Manciple's Tale, The Parson's Tale, and so on.The Canterbury Tales, though it is an unfinished work is, perhaps, the greatest English work before the mighty Elizabethans.But what particularly marks the merit of this work is the social value which is tremendous here. Chaucer , with a rare skill, presents here accurately the English society of the fourteen century , with its different classes and profession . He makes The Canterbury Tales a great human document, containing a clear and comprehensive picture of the age, the spirit of which is adequately expressed through literary and artistic channels. He succeeds wonderfully in making the poem a living picture of his own country of his own time.In fact, Chaucer's pilgrims belong to different social ranks and positions, secular as well as religious.

These pilgrims represent the important strands of the English society in Chaucer's age and elevate the poem to the level of a national portrait gallery. They cover the entire range of the society of the time, except the barons, the bishops and the serf, who could hardly be imagined . In Chaucer's period, as participating in a collective pilgrimage to Canterbury, The Knight and the squire belong to the respectable gentry. The sergeant at law and the Physician represent two learned professions. The Franklin typifies the common people, growing prosperous in riches and rank. The Merchant, the Wife of Bath, the Shipman, etc., come from the world of trade and commerce . The Miller and the Plowman are from the simple innocent, rural life . The prioress ,with her three attendant priests, the village Person, the Friar and the Monk are the representatives of the ecclesiastical order. The Oxford Clerk stands for the educated youth of the university. The Manciple's, the Reeve, the cannon's Yeoman and the Cook form a fairly large body of servants, both high and low, urban and rural. The Summoner and the Pardoner finely exemplify the corrupt wing of the Church , engaged in exploiting common men and women in the name of religion. Chaucer's masterpiece contains a comprehensive and comprehensive picture of the English poetry society of the fourteen century. The pilgrims, whom he describes, are the living character in the great drama of the social life of the period. A critic rightly sums up the greatness of Chaucer's social portraiture :

In all our literature, there is not such another picture of a whole society, which Chaucer contrived in some two and thirty character and in 860 lines.

Assess illustratively The Canterbury Tales-Its plan and Social Picture

Green Land | October 01, 2016 | 0 comments

In all our literature, there is not such another picture of a whole society, which Chaucer contrived in some two and thirty character and in 860 lines.

THE AGE OF CHAUCER

With Chaucer is perceived the beginning of an era- a new epoch - in the history of English Literature . Hector is , indeed , the greatest name among the English men of letters before Shakespeare . But this is not all , for he had the credit to introduce the modern note into English literature.

But this is not all . Chaucer is a medieval poet , not simply a modern one , and he represents fully the medieval spirit that was dominant in the literature of his time . He belonged to the medieval world , in action and spirit , and knew medieval life in its various aspects . His multiplicity of occupation enabled him to grasp the numerous experiences , connected with medieval life and activities . His literary art is found to transmit much his experience and knowledge of medieval life and literature.

Contemporaries of Chaucer

One of the primary notes of medieval literature is found in its story-telling aspect . Under the French influence and the Italian , the medieval English poets displayed more or less too much proneness to story-telling . This is found perfectly expressed in Chaucer who has remained one of the finest story -tellers in verse in English literature . His numberous works , inspired under different influences , bear out his power as a story-teller . The Knightes Tale and Troilus and Criseyde , his notable works in the Italian period , are rich in the gifts of story - telling . Drawn from the sources of Boccaccio , these texts present the stories of a chivalrous and adventurous life , and the tenderness of warm and devoted love . Here they seem to bear the tradition of medieval romances , although they are made of a better literary stuff . Chaucer is found , no doubt indebted to Boccaccio for the plots of his poems , yet his originality is well demonstrated all through , and the mere adventurous events of Boccaccio tales are found transformed into the highly impulsive love - poems by Chaucer's sheer poetic genius . In The Legende of Good Women , Chaucer's great gift of story telling also remarkably comes out . But the crowning piece of Chaucer’s literary genius is The canterbury Tales , in which the tales told are no less admirable and effective . These tales are the expressions of Chaucer's genius and profile in story-telling . This is definitely a medieval strand in literature , much perfected and embellished on Chaucer.

The second aspect, so remarkable noted in medieval literature, is the trend to symbolism and allegory. In Chaucer is found the triumph of the English allegorical and symbolic poetry of the middle ages.Under the French influence, He wrote some of his earlier works, bearing allegorical notes, Among these allegorical works- The Boke of Blanche the Duchess -may be mentioned first.It was written to commemorate the death of Blanche of Lancaster ,the first wife of Chaucer's patron John of Gaunt. Fancy and reality, artificiality and allegory, are here finely combined. The poem is an allegory, intended for the price of beauty ,but its allegory is well balanced with realism, and the work nowhere appears dull or crude. The Duchess appears real mourning for her death remains equally so.The parlement of Foules and The Hons of Fame are also two allegorical works of Chaucer and reveal ,too,his power to blend realism with allegory and exhibit his fine sense of wit and humour. The Legende of Good Women is not an allegorical work ,but its prologue is allegorical. Different tales in The Canterbury Tales bear here and there some element of allegory .What is. however,remarkable in Chaucer is his power to combine allegory and lyricism, thought and imagination. The allegorical dominance in medieval literature is marked in chaucer.But his allegories have much broader canvas and a greater impact. These are not merely moral, But social, too.

The third medieval feature,in Chaucer's writing is the presence of the element of wit and humour. Anglo -Saxon poetry is distinctly grave and sombre , and lacks the fineness of wit and humour .This may, however,be found well counter-balanced in Chaucer's works that light up the predominance of wit and humour in the English literature of the middle age .Chaucer's amplitude of wit and humour is perceived everywhere in his great works. His sense of the fun of life and humour is always found invigorating and pleasing, and here Chaucer is found to have moved much more forward from his contemporaries of chaucer. In his great works like the hous of Fame ,The parlement of Foules and The Canterbury Tales, humour is present as an indispensable and diverting element and wit, displayed with a vigorous force. Of course, Chaucer's humour is found invigorated with a truly comic spirit, and his great works are excellent social comedies.

Lastly, Chaucer's versification is also commendable and illustrative of his medievalism .His mastery is manifested in his technical pattern, and here he also represent his age. The octosyllabic lines,Which are found the pattern of versification of Middle ages,have got a forceful handling and undergone healthy renovations in Chaucer's hand. The heroic verse, Which is the metre of the great poetry of England, owes its origin to Chaucer's genius .The use of the ten -syllable line regularly in narrative verses is definitely a mark of Chaucer's technical originality.

Chaucer. no doubt ,belonged to the medieval world,but he is the earliest of his great moderns, and in comparison with the literature of his own time and that which succeeded him,the advance made by him his own time and that which succeeded him , The advance made by him stupendous making allowances for his old fashioned language , Dryden judges and praises Chaucer (in his Preface to the Fables) as a modern writer, and no modern author has received higher compliments from him."The Chaucerian literary world is not antique but modern, with an absolutely modern environment, and his genius puts fresh and formative spirits into old things and turns gross into gold", Albert is quiet right in his observance, "Chaucer is , indeed, a genius ; he stands along , and for nearly two hundred years none dare claim equality with him."

Chaucer as a medieval poet

Green Land | September 25, 2016 | 0 comments

Contemporaries of Chaucer

THE AGE OF CHAUCER

Three distinct periods or stages are discernible in Chaucer's poetical works , so vast and so varied . It is , however , not at all possible to ascribe any of his particular work to any specific period or stage . Some tales of The Canterbury Tales , for instance , were written by him in some earlier phase or time . But these are found grouped and arranged in the final stage .

These three Chaucerian periodss are the French , the Italian and the English . This division is based on the three distinct phases of Chaucer's literary career . But such a division is neither exact nor all fair . Chaucer works , attributed to the Italian period , thus , are marked with French influences . These works are liable to be construed as the works of his French period . This classification , made on the basis of distinct literary influences , is to be taken not too scrupulously .

The influence of French literature is remarkably patent in Chaucer's works all through . The Italian romances are found to inspire his story - telling in verse . His acute observations on English social life and conduct are definitely discernible in his literary inspiration and success in the final phase of his literary career . as a matter of fact , a better appreciation of Chaucerian literature needs a close acquaintance with these three distinct influences .

To the French period of Chaucer belong some of his earlier works , which are mainly allegorical . Some of his love lyrics , marked with grace and tender sentiments. are the product of this period . Of course , most if these lyrics are at present no longer extant . The best known of such lyrics is the Romaunt of the Rose , a translation from the popular medieval love poem Roman de la Rose of France . The poem is rather long , and contains , in octo-syllable couplets , a graceful allegorical presentation of the whole course of love and reveals much of Chaucer"s originality . But there are controversies as to Chaucer's exact personal contribution to the translation .

The most remarkable Chaucer's works of the French period is The Boke of Blanche , the Duchesse , a courtly and aristocratic elegy , written about 1368-69 , to commemorate the death of Blanche , the first wife of Chaucer's patrin , John of Gaunt . This work is mainly allegorical , although it bears out decisively Chaucer's lyricism . The allegorical element of the poem carries a note of praise for beauty , signified by the late duchess . The longest of his early poems , this does nowhere appear abstract , although it has much of traditional elements-dream , mythology , fancy , and so on . It contains enough substance of reality in the character of the Duchess herself and in the deep grief for her death .

Two other important works , The Parlement of Foules and The Hous of Fame, generally attributed to Chaucer's Italian period , bear actually the French influence , and should be included in his French period . Both these poems are in the pattern of French allegorical poetry, and stand out as Chaucer's significant contribution to English allegorical literature .

In the former work, the allegory is based on a parliament, held by nature, in which different fowls participate .Big and mighty fowls are shown to dominate the entire deliberation. The whole account is amusingly presented. and allegories the working of the actual parliament , dominated by big bosses and influential people . Chaucer's allegory, however, is something more than the characteristic medieval allegory, like The Owl and the Nightingale , which is mainly moral in effect . His work has a social outlook and a genuinely comic spirit.In the other work, the capricious ways, in which fame spreads,are signified allegorically. The poet shows here, through the image of different apartments in the house of fame, how fame passes through different phases in human life.

Both the poems, built in the dream convention, indicate Chaucer's highly realistic sense and his power to blend allegory with realism .Moreover, his enjoyable sense of wit and humour is well borne out in these works, too. In fact, they remain quite vigorous, engaging and original allegorical, under the French influence , and are found to inspire the works of Spenser.Of course, in The Hous of Fame, the influence of the Divina Commedia of the celebrated italian poet , Dante, is also perceived.

Chaucer was immensely influenced by great Italian masters. The Italian influence on him is specifically felt in his two famous romances-The Knights Tale and Troilus and Criseyde . For the subject matter of these romances , his indebtedness goes to Boccaccio, the celebrated Italian story-teller. Both of them deal with the romance of love and adventure , with the spirit of heroism and the sense of devotion. Of course , Chaucer is no imitation of Boccaccio, and remains fresh and original all through . His artistic genius turns the simple tales of Boccaccio into the diverting and impulsive love poems of immense potency. He is found to learn from Boccaccio, but not blindly, and to take from him what seems appropriate to his literary ventures . Of these two works, again, Troilus and Criseyde, written probably in 1380,reveals , in particular , Chaucer's poetical genius . His keenness , as a story-teller in verse , psychologist and metrical technician is here triumphantly demonstrated. Chaucer seems to have used here his varied powers together in an absolute harmony.

The Italian influence on Chaucer is also evident in The Clerkes Tale, The Complaint to Pity and The Complaint of Mars. These are more fanciful, revealing Chaucer's genius as a story-teller as well as lyricist . Another poem, called The Complaint of Venus , is a translation from French. In The Legende of Good Women , which could not be finished by Chaucer, is found another masterly work of his Italian period. His inspiration here is the Italian legends of the noble and fair women who were martyr for love.The work is not allegorical and only the Prologue is actually an allegory . The poem, too, is based on a vision which forms the Prologue in which the poet dreams to have received the stern instruction from the god of love to write , as a sort of penance , in praise of beautiful , faithful and loving women. Chaucer's account include such well known women characters , as Cleopatra , Medea, Lucree, Ariadue , Philomela and others . Perhaps, he got tired of heaping the same sort of praises on feminine virtues and left his collection of legends unfinished.

The English period of Chaucer , which covered only a few years,contains, however, his greatest work-The Canterbury Tales. This work is the crowning piece of Chaucer's creative literary art. Written in different times of his life and ultimately left unfinished, The Canterbury Tales proves a unique work in English literature for all times to come. Chaucer's creative mastery,which is manifested decisively in his sense if realism, gift of wit and humour,art of characterisation and power of narration, is nowhere so diverting and triumphant as in The Canterbury Tales.The various strands of his rare genius are drawn together here. There can be hardly anything more perfect in conception and execution, in the mingling of life and literature, than what is perceived and enjoyed in the The Canterbury Tales- a collection of true-to-life pilgrims, drawn from every class of the contemporary Englishmen. They, in course of their arduous journey, entertain themselves by telling tales that are most appropriate to their individual characters and mental drives. Chaucer is a unique genius , and his literary achievement in all the periods deserve unquestioning commendation . He is a great master in his treatment of the French model, the Italian ideal, or English realism .

Chaucer's Literary Expansion :Three PeriodsPeriods

Middle English Period -Modern English Period

(I)French Period :Lyrical and allegorical poems

(ii)Italian Period : Allegorical poems and Romances.

(iii)English Period :Social ,realistic, humorous Comedy

Give a brief account of Chaucer's main poetical achievements in his successive literary stages or periods

Green Land | September 06, 2016 | 0 comments

Chaucer's Literary Expansion :Three PeriodsPeriods

Middle English Period -Modern English Period

(I)French Period :Lyrical and allegorical poems

(ii)Italian Period : Allegorical poems and Romances.

(iii)English Period :Social ,realistic, humorous Comedy

THE AGE OF CHAUCER

With Chaucer is perceived the beginning of an era-a new epoch -in the history figure before the Renaissance and the greatest name among the English men of letters before Spenser and Shakespeare . But what is more , this is not all , for to him belongs the credit to usher in modern English literature . In various ways , Chaucer gave a new impulse and a new vitality to English literature , and raised an edifice of all gold over the rough stone of Anglo Saxon literature and the barren field of Anglo-Saxon literature and the barren field of Anglo-Norman. Chaucer's genius was versatile , as his life was varied and chequered. The variety of experiences, with which he was confronted in his personal life in various capacities -as a page, yeomen, soldier esquire, diplomat,courteir, official,Member of Parliament, and so on - was the source of his astounding and nobel literary inspiration. His multiplicity of involvements and occupations enabled him to grasp the numerous experience of life that include even his humble occupation as a page in the household of the countess of Ulster and captivity as a soldier during the seige of Rheims. The rare literary genius in him successfully transmitted all those experiences into his writings to create several lasting works of art. To the varied experiences of his life were added Chaucer's acquaintances with the literature of other countries, particularly of Italy and France, where he went on diplomatic mission. Guillaume de Machaut,Jean Clopinel and Guillaume de Lories of France abd Dante,Boccaccio and petrarch of Italy immensely inspired him.Of course,Chaucer's foreign preceptors had divergent influences on him. That was why Chaucer could produce so divergent and so commendable literary works in English.

Under the French influence Chaucer wrote some of his earlier works, rather lyrical and allegorical. His love -lyrics, possibly his first works, works at present not extant. His earliest work was the translation of a long love poem in French - Roman de la Rose. But the authenticity of Chaucer's full contribution to in not free from doubts. Among his allegorical works mention may be made of The Boke of the Blanche of Lancaster, the first wife to John of Gaunt,his literary patron. It is a courtly and aristocratic elegy in octo-syllebic couplets. The poem is also an allegory and contains an instruction for beauty as symbolished in the deceased duchess. The Parlement of Foules and The Hous of Fame are also two allegorical works of Chaucer. They reveal, once again, his power to blend realism with allegory and exhibit his fine sence of wit and humour. The former poem presents a parliament of different birds- big birds of prey as also small,common birds. The other work,left unfinished, relates allegorically the caprices of fame. The Italian influence on Chaucer is felt in his two famous romances. His indebtedness goes to Boccaccio for both of them.These are knightes Tale and TroilusandCriseyde. In bot these works,the thrill of chivalrousand adventurous life and the tenderness of a warm and true love are dealt with all through. Through Chaucer was indebted to Boccaccio for the plot of his poems,his originality is remarkably perceived all through and the mere adventurous events of Boccaccio's tales are found transformed by him into highly impulsive love poems in the English language.These poems are, no doubt,romances, but they stand on a muxh higher footing than themetrical romances of the pre-Chaucerian medieval age.

The Legende of Good Women, though left unfinished by Chaucer , is another remarkable production. It is not a thoroughly allegorical work , for the Prologue is here only allegorical. The work bears out amply Chaucer's story-telling power, art of characterisation, love of nature and poetical sensuousness and melody . The crowning piece of Chaucer's literary genius is certainly The Canterbury Tales. He began that ambitious literary project about 1387, in which year his wife possibly died. He continued to work on it till his own death, thirteen years later, but left it unfinished . The Canterbury Tales, as a piece of literary work, is an unforgettable creation in English literature. Chaucer will be remembered ever, at least for it, if not for anything else .In its plan, conception, execution and matter of wit and humour , The Canterbury Tales remains an unassailable literary work.Chaucer is found to have demonstrated here amply his power to reflect life in its variety , illuminate what is basically humdrum and probe deep into the motives and action of different men and women , engaged in diverse professions.

Chaucer's literary production is vast, gigantic , comprehensive and impressive. It is not merely profile in bulk, but also unique in his creative power and originally. In fact , when his literary production is studied against the background of his age , none , but Shakespeare, seems to have surpassed his creative originality and novelty .

Chaucer's greatest is, perhaps, most significantly manifested in his art of characterisation. Non before him is found to have treated human beings individually. In the works , preceding Chaucer , different men and women are not found to have any individual entity. They are only known as shoemakers , inn-keepers, priests , princes and so on. But Chaucer is the first literary master to penetrate into the mystery of individuality . His works present not merely a band of men and women, but some individuals with certain special characteristics, moods and tendencies.

Again, Chaucer stands triumphantly in his power of description. His description and narrative gifts truly possess rare qualities . He, in fact, remains the first great English story-teller in verse. The employment of verse, as a vehicle of Story-telling , is certainly Chaucer's most notable contribution . The modern age of English literature is greatly indebted to him in this respect .What is more remarkable and o original in Chaucer is his perception of the fun of life and his wonderful sense of humour. Humour with him is always invigorating and delightful. Chaucer is found to have moved here much more forward than his age and his predecessors . In his great works, like The Hous of Fame, The Parlement of Foules and The Canterbury Tales may certainly be claimed as the first great English humorist .

As a poet, his eminence depends much upon his technical command over versification . His mastery is manifested in the striking originality effected by him in versification. It is almost impossible to exaggerate the part that Chaucer has played as the maker of English versification. The octo-syllabic lines, used in the works of his predecessors , finds a total renovation in Chaucer. Not Only that, he is also found to have aptly imported and introduced the pattern of versification from France. Indeed, Chaucer's metrical innovations alone are enough to earn him the title of' father of English poetry, ' bestowed on him by Dryden . The use of the line of five stresses , called the pentameter , was possibly first introduced by him in onr of his earliest translations, An A.B.C in The Parlement of Foules, The intricate structure of France ballad forms is found cut down and simplified by him to produce a seven-line stanza, called rhyme-royal. That proves to be the successful medium in such long narrative poems, as Troilus and Criseyde. Finally the rhyming pentameter or heroic verse, which is the metre of the greatest English poetry of all times , owes its origin in England to Chaucer's use of decasyllables.

Indeed , Chaucer is not only , as Keats has called him, 'one just great meterist.'He is also

'an absolute master of rhyme, that essentially artificial device , to which only the great poets succeeded in giving a resemblance of inevitability.

But what is more about Chaucer is his application of the common dialect of London and its neighbourhood as his poetic diction. This is known as the King's English which became , owing largely to his own work, the sole literary language throughout England.

The Chaucerian literary world is not antique, but modern. This has an absolutely modern environment in an old setting . His genius has put fresh and formative spirits into old things and turned gross into gold. Albert is quite right in his observation,

Chaucer is, indeed ,a genius, he stands alone, and for nearly two hundred years none have claim equality with him

In the language of David Daiches with Chaucer, the English language and English literature grew at a bound to full maturity .

Why would you call Chaucer the father of English poetry?

Green Land | September 05, 2016 | 0 comments

'an absolute master of rhyme, that essentially artificial device , to which only the great poets succeeded in giving a resemblance of inevitability.

But what is more about Chaucer is his application of the common dialect of London and its neighbourhood as his poetic diction. This is known as the King's English which became , owing largely to his own work, the sole literary language throughout England.

Chaucer is, indeed ,a genius, he stands alone, and for nearly two hundred years none have claim equality with him

In the language of David Daiches with Chaucer, the English language and English literature grew at a bound to full maturity .

THE AGE OF CHAUCER

Chaucer belonged to the middle of the fourteenth century . And that was the latter past of the middle Ages . The designation of the dark ages for the period was then on the wane . Of course, Calamities and upheavals were not all over . Periodic famines , after the Great famine and the dreadful Black Death , definitely affected much the quietude of the age . A good many people , particularly of the crowded towns , were killed by that deadliest epidemic black plague . As a result , he social state of the time was not all satisfactory . The curse of the fatal epidemic haunted all , rich and poor,and made life insecure everywhere . The political condition of the period was not all sound , too ,at that time . The hundred years 'war , fought between England and France , still continued . That war , constituted of a series of conflicts , had two specific phases at this age . The Edwardian War (1337-1360) and the Caroline War (1369-1389).Of course , the English hold in France was in decline only to be completely washed away some years after by the emergence of Joan of arc.

Moreover,after the glorious conquest of Edward,there came the troublesome reign of Richard II , which was an unfortunate time for the English nation . In the religious matters , the age had the bitter taste of some unfortunate controversy within the Church . The mighty authority of the Catholic Church had dissension within and resulted in the rise of Protestantism in the earliest form , that was a prelude to the separation between Catholicism and Lutheranism and a definitive end to the unified Church of the Middle Ages . But the happy indication was there that despotism and corruption of the Catholic Church would not continue much longer .

Nevertheless,all was not wrong in England . The social condition of England in particular immensely changed from what it had been during the couple of centuries after the Conquest . The arrogant victorious Normans did no more consider themselves foreigners . They were merged,under the stress of changing political situations,with the English nation . There was a strong awakening of national pride and confidence in the formation of one nation by the Normans and the English . Moreover , the economic condition , particularly of the peasantry definitely improved . with better production and higher prices , a healthier living could be possible for the much subdued and oppressed peasant class before the peasants'Revolt.

Moreover , there was the rise of the strong , royalty-based nation-state-the Kingdom of England.The King began to be more assertive , free from the undue intervention of the haughty peers.Of course , the royal oppression remained , but much more confined . indiscriminate tyranny by the greedy lords and their followers were curbed to a great ectent . The right of the commons began to push itself forward. Their power came to be counted . But,what was of greater interest was the flourish of literature in England,so much needed for the emergence of the Renaissance,soon to follow . The great awakening of English literature in the second half of the fourteenth century , was particularly due to a great master . He multiplicity of occupations endowed him with wide experiences . His great literature was the direct result of his unique and varied experiences of life as a page , esquire , diplomat , soldier , official and courtier and of his wide acquaintances with great foreign literary masters of France and Italy.

Indeed , in the developed of English literature, Chaucer is a great name . The gradual advancement of English literature , from the Old English period to the Middle English , reached the height of excellence, in the age of Chaucer by his literary magnificence . Chaucer's uniqueness and significance in English literature are particularly borne out in the very designation given to his age as the age of Chaucer. There was definitely an advancement of the English literary world. From medieval allegories and romances there was a transition to the social comedy and the study of men in society by Chaucer. Moreover, there was a new emphasis on the individual man, quiet apart from the man , existing merely as a specific type. Literature received a strong sense of subjectivity going close with the objective presentation of the human world and the situation around.

Indeed, Chaucer is found to have remained the link between the medieval literary world and the modern . He , as a literary head , stands at the crossroad of medievalism and modernism and represents what is perfect in the former and indicates what is prospective in the latter. In him is found the just forerunner of the Renaissance.

With Chaucer (1340-1400) , the father of English Poetry, begins an era- a new epoch - in the history of English literature. he is . indeed , the most formidable literary figure before the Renaissance and the greatest name among the English men of letters before Spenser and Shakespeare. But what is more, the credit of usharing modern English literature goes him. In various ways , Chaucer gave a new impulse and vitality to English literature , and raised an edifice of all gold over the rough stone of anglo-Saxon literature and the barren field of Anglo-Norman. During the second half of the fourteenth century when Chaucer had been writing , some significant historical events took place and they shaped his creative imagination . The literary tradition of the Middle Ages was then on the wane through the effects of the Great famine and the dreadful Black Death were visible . The political condition of the period was not all sound, too. The hundred years 'war, fought between England and France, still continued. Then came the troublesome reign of Richard II, which was an unfortunate time for the English nation. In the religious matters , the age had the bitter taste of some unfortunate controversy within the Church . It resulted in the rise of Protestantism. There came a hope that despotism and corruption of the Catholic Church would not continue much longer.

Nevertheless, all was not wrong in England. The economic condition, particularly of the peasantry definitely improved. With better production and higher prices, a healthier living could be possible for the much subdued and oppressed peasant class before the Peasants 'Revolt. There was a strong awakening of national pride and confidence in the formation of onr nation by the Normans and the English.

But a great literature flourished in England, so much needed for the emergence of the Renaissance , soon to follow. The great awakening of Ebglish literature in the second half og the Fourteenth century was particularly due to a great master, Geography Chaucer. The crowning piece of Chaucer's literary genius is certainly The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. He began that ambitious literary project about 1387. He continued to work on it till his own death, thirteen years later, but left it unfinished . The Canterbury Tales is an unforgettable creation in English literature . In its plan, conception , execution and matter of wit and humour , The Canterbury Tales remains an unassailable literary work. Chaucer demonstrated here amply his power to reflect life in its variety, illuminate what is basically humdrum and probe deep into the motives and actions of different men and women , engaged in diverse professions.

Chaucer's greatness is, perhaps, most significantly manifested in his art of characterisation. His art of characterisation . His works present not merely a band of mab and women, but some individuals with certain special characteristics, moods and tendencies . The Prologue is full of 'God's plenty '. His characters well represent the then English society. The dignified feudal lords, the corrupted churchmen, the dishonest business class, the rising guildsmen , the peasant class , the professionals like the doctor and the lawyer , are all present in it. In The Nun's Priest's Tale the dilapidated house of the widow and her concern at the fox's attact on her cock presents Chaucer's concept of the rural poor people.

Again, Chaucer stands triumphantly in his power of story -telling. His descriptive and narrative gifts truly possess rare qualities. He, in fact, remains the first great English story -teller in verse. The modern age of English literature in greatly indebted tobhim in this respect . His description of the pilgrims in The Prologue or his narrative about the cock and hen in The Nun:s Priest's Tale exemplify adequately his skills in telling a story. What is more remarkable and original in Chaucer is his perception of the fun of life and his wonderful sense of humour. Humour with him is always invigorating and delightful . Chaucer is found to have moved here much more forward than his age and his predecessors. In The Canterbury Tales, humour is present as an indispensable and diverting element.Humour in it is chiefly in the shape of irony and satire, through we do have some examples of pure provoking laughter.

As a poet, his eminence depends much upon his technical command over versification. His mastery is manifested in the striking originally , innovated by him in versification. The use of the line of five stresses, called the pentameter, was possibly first introduced by him. The intricate structure of French balled forms is found cut down and simplified by him to produced a seven -line stanza, called rhyme- royal . That proves to be successful medium in such long narrative poems . as Troilus and Criseyde. Finally the rhyming pentameter or heroic verse, which is the metre of the greatest English poetry of all tines, owes its origin in England to Chaucer's use of decasyllables . Indeed, Chaucer's metrical innovations alone are enough to earn him the title of 'father of English poetry'. bestowed on him by Dryden.

The Chaucerian literary world is not antique , but modern . This has an absolutely modern environment in an old setting. His genius has put fresh and formative spirits into old things and turned gross into gold. Albert is quite right in his observation,