Young Chaucer

Week one of the Chaucer Reading Challenge

This portrait of Chaucer is from a manuscript of poetry by Thomas Hoccleve, in which the poet praises his great predecessor.

Chaucer was born some time between 1340 and 1343 in the part of London that was known as The Vintry, after the wine merchants' guild that resided there. St. Paul's Cathedral was right down the street, though if you visit the area now, you will find the eighteenth-century St. Paul's, designed by Christopher Wren. The earlier, Gothic structure burned in the 1666 Great Fire, which consumed most of this part of the city.

The modern St. Paul’s Cathedral, viewed from the footbridge that crosses the Thames. Photo by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash

It is likely that young Geoffrey attended St. Paul's School, where he would have received an excellent foundation of an education. His father, John Chaucer, was a wine merchant and spent at least part of his time in royal service—a connection which surely opened the way for his son's long career as a royal and civil servant.

Rather than spending a lot of time on Chaucer's biography, we will focus only on those aspects of his life that may inform our reading of his poetry. After all, in the nearly 500 extant documents that refer to the historical Chaucer during his lifetime, not a single one refers to his poetry. Literature was not his main gig, or at least it didn't pay the bills.

Life in the Vintry, however, is significant because it brought him into contact with the Italian language. While knowledge of French was common amongst the educated classes (Parliament was actually held in French until the middle of the century), fluency in Italian was relatively rare. Chaucer was, therefore, a natural choice for two diplomatic missions to Italy during his career. He probably brought home manuscripts from these journeys—specifically, some of the works of the three great Italian poets of the age: Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. This would explain why his earlier poetry reveals more French influence, while his later work draws heavily from the great Italians—especially Boccaccio.

Amongst the poet's early memories would have been the incomparable catastrophe of the Plague of 1348-49, which took a third to a half of the population. While references to plague in Chaucer's work are few, those few are significant. The Pardoner's Tale, for example, could be classified as a plague narrative. Also, his earliest major work, The Book of the Duchess, which we will discuss next week, was written to comfort a widower who lost his wife in another wave of plague in 1368.

The Book of the Duchess

This poem is a dream vision, a popular genre throughout the late Middle Ages. Our unnamed narrator has been having trouble sleeping from some unknown sickness—probably lovesickness—and asks a servant to bring him a book relating Ovid's telling of the tragic love story of Ceyx and Alcione, which he falls asleep reading. The rest of the poem is his dream. He dreams of an unnamed "Man in Black," who is mourning the loss of his beloved, "White." The verse is in four-stress couplets, which reflects the influence of French octosyllabic meter.

The occasion for the poem is consolatory: Chaucer is writing the poem for John of Gaunt, third son of King Edward III, whose wife Blanche (i.e. “White”) has died of plague. The Man in Black is clearly meant to represent the mourning prince.

And that, my friends, is all the introduction that you need to begin reading this remarkable early Chaucerian poem. Reading will be slow-going at first, but if you have a well-glossed edition, you should acclimate fairly quickly. There are available translations online if you need a crib, though I haven't read them and so can't vouch for them. I'll be back next week to discuss this poem with you.

Schedule of reading (subject to change!)

Each week, starting January 23rd, we will also feature a piece of medieval music to accompany our reading. Also please note: we are not reading all of The Canterbury Tales, but rather a generous selection of the most entertaining for modern readers. This selective approach will allow us time to sample Chaucer’s other major poetry.

Thursday, 1/23: The Book of the Duchess

Thursday, 1/30: The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

Thursday, 2/6: The Knight’s Tale

Thursday, 2/13: The Miller's Prologue and Tale

Thursday, 2/20: The Reeve's Prologue and Tale; The Cook's Prologue and Tale

Thursday, 2/27: The Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale

Thursday, 3/6: Troilus and Criseyde, Book 1

Thursday, 3/13: Troilus and Criseyde, Books 2 and 3

Thursday, 3/20: The Friar's Prologue and Tale; The Summoner's Prologue and Tale

Thursday, 3/27: The Clerk's Prologue and Tale; The Merchant's Prologue and Tale

Thursday, 4/3: Troilus and Criseyde, Books 4 and 5

Thursday, 4/10: The Franklin's Prologue and Tale; The Pardoner's Prologue and Tale

Thursday, 4/17: The Prioress's Introduction, Prologue, and Tale; The Tale of Sir Thopas; The Thopas-Melibee Link

Thursday, 4/24: The Nun's Priest's Prologue and Tale

Thursday, 5/1: The Manciple's Prologue and Tale, The Parson's Prologue, The Retraction

Thursday, 5/8: The House of Fame

Thanks for reading, from my fancy internet dream vision to yours.

Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash