General Characteristics: Age of Chaucer

Source: https://niyatipathak.blogspot.com/2018/09/age-of-chaucer-1340-1400.html

Age of Chaucer (1340-1400)

By: Niyati Pathak

General Characteristics of the Age:

·         The first significant period in the literary history of English literature.

·         Marks new era of new learning.

·         Chaucer’s age was the turbulent period – social, political, and religious challenges.

·         Chaucer was born in the reign of Edward III, lived through Richard II and died in the reign of Henry IV.

·         Upsurge of national sentiments in the era.

·         Normans invaded England in 1066.

·         The East Midland Speech became the language of the capital city and the universities.

·         French and English amalgamated to form Standard English.

·         In 1362 a statute ordained that English would be the language of law courts.

·         The Papal interference was strongly resented.

·         In 1348-49 the terrible Black Death occurred. One third population of England was carried off.

·         It reappeared in 1362, 1367 and 1370.

·         As the result the labour became scarce.

·          The church which was the seat of power and prestige was infected with corruption, moral turpitude and superstitions.

·         John Wycliffe (1320-84) challenged the authority of Catholic Church and tried to revive spiritual Christianity in England.

·         The Lollard Movement was the first important opposition to Catholicism in England to expose corruption in the Church.

·         Church used to controlled men’s thoughts and feelings and it was the clerics who interfered in temporal affairs of common men.

·         Italy started reviving the study of the literature of classical antiquity. The theological slavery was weakened.

·         The two Italian writers, Petrarch (1304-74) and Boccaccio (1313-75) were the pioneers of the great revival.

·         The spirit of humanism was one of the formative influence of the age of Chaucer, engendered the quickened sense of beauty, the delight in life and the free secular spirit.

·         Root says in this regard, “the movement of Renaissance first assumed definite form, and our modern world began.

Poetry in Chaucer’s Age

 ‘Amalgam of love, religion and chivalry and humanism and secular spirit’

The Prominent poets of Chaucer’s Age:

1.       Chaucer (1340-1400)

2.       William Langland (1332-1400)

3.       John Gower (1332-1408)

The prose writers of Chaucer’s Age:

1.       John of Trevisa

2.       Travels of Sir John Mandeville

3.       Chaucer

4.       John Wycliffe.

Important Notes –Chaucer and his works:

·         Pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales assembled in Tabard inn.

·         The pilgrims were welcomed by jolly host Harry Baillie.

·         Chaucer employed Heroic Couplet in his prologue and Canterbury Tales.

·         Chaucer effectively used rhyme royal in Troilus and Criseyde and arranged in stanza consisting ten syllabic lines and having seven lines in each stanza.

·         Pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales visiting the shrine of Thomas-a-Becket.

·         Wife of Bath in the Canterbury Tales tells about her five marriages.

·         Chaucer’s physician in the doctor of physique was heavily depending of astrology.

·         Spenser called Chaucer ‘the well of English undefiled’.

·         Chaucer introduced the Heroic Couplet in English verse and invented the rhyme royal.

·         Matthew Arnold criticised Chaucer for lacking high seriousness.

·         The pilgrims marched towards Canterbury in the month of April.

·         A free supper was the prize for the best story teller among the pilgrims.

·         Matthew Arnold called Chaucer, ‘the father of our splendid English poetry.’

·         Long called Chaucer’s prologue to the Canterbury Tales as the prologue to modern fiction’.

·         S D Neil remarks “had Chaucer written in prose, it is possible that his Troilus and Criseyde and not Richardson’s Pamela would be celebrated as the first English novel.

Importance......

1)       Chaucer’s best descriptions, of man, manners and place, are of the first rank in their beauty, impressiveness, and humour. Even when he follows the common examples of the time, as when giving details of conventional spring

 mornings and flowery gardens , he has a vivacity that makes his poetry unique.



THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND (1350-1450)

The period now under review is quite short. It includes the greater part of the reign of Edward III and the long French wars associated with his name: the accession of his grandson Richard II (1377); and the revolution of 1399,the deposition of Richard, and the foundation of the Lancastrian dynasty .From the literary point of view, of greater importance are the social and intellectual movements of the periods: the terrible plague called the Black Death, bringing poverty, unrest, and revolt among the peasant, and the growth of the spirit of inquiry, which was strongly critical of the ways of church, and found expression in the teaching of Wyclif and the Lollards, and in the stern denunciations of Langland.

LITERARY FEATURES OF THE AGE :

1   1. The standardizing of English.

French and English have amalgamated to form the standard English tongue, which attains to its first full expression in the works of Chaucer.

2. A curious 'MODERN' NOTE begins to be apparent at this period. There is a sharper spirit of criticism,  more searching interest in man’s affairs, and a less childlike faith in, and a less complacent acceptances of, the establish order. The vogue of romance, though it has by no means gone, is passing, and in Chaucer it is derided. The freshness of  the romantic ideal is being  superseded by the more acute spirit of the drama, which even at this early time is faintly foreshadowed.

3. Prose:

The era sees the foundation of an English prose style. Earlier specimens have been experimental or purely imitative; now, in the works of Mandeville and Malory, we have prose that is both original and individual. The English tongue is now ripe for a prose style. The language is settling to a standard; Latin and French are losing grip as popular prose mediums and the growing desire for an English Bible exercises steady pressure in favour of a standard English prose.

 4. Scottish Literature:

For the first time in our literature, in the person of Barbour (1316 (?)-9 95), Scotland supplies a writer worthy of note. This is only the beginning; for the tradition is handed on the powerful group Who are mentioned in this age.

His life :

The date of his birth is uncertain, but it is now generally accepted as being 1340. He was born in

 London, entered the household of the wife of the Duke of Clarence (1357), and saw military

service abroad, where he was captured. Next he seems to have entered the royal household,

for he is frequently mentioned as the recipient of royal pensions and bounties. When Richard II

succeeded to the crown, Chaucer was confirmed in his offices and pensions, and shortly afterwards.

He was sent to Italy on one of his several diplomatic missions. He was first poet to be buried in what

 is now known as poets corner in west minister Abbey.

His poems :

The order of chaucer’s poem cannot be ascertained with certitude. But from internal evidence they

can as a rule be approximately dated.

It is now customary to divide the Chaucerian poems into three stages. THE ITALIAN, and THE

FRENCH, and THE ENGLISH of which is the last is a development of the first two.

1) FRENCH STAGE :

The Romaunt of the Rose: 

(The Romaunt) is a partial translation into Middle English of the French allegorical poem, le Roman de la Rose (le Roman). Originally believed to be the work of Chaucer, the Romaunt inspired controversy among 19th-century scholars when parts of the text were found to differ in style from Chaucer's other works. Also the text was found to contain three distinct fragments of translation. Together, the fragments—A, B, and C--provide a translation of approximately one-third of Le Roman.

There is little doubt that Chaucer did translate Le Roman de la Rose under the title The Romaunt of the Rose: in The Legend of Good Women, the narrator, Chaucer, states as much. The question is whether the surviving text is the same one that Chaucer wrote. The authorship question has been a topic of research and controversy. As such, scholarly discussion of the Romaunt has tended toward linguistic rather than literary analysis.

Scholars today generally agree that only fragment A is attributable to Chaucer, although fragment C closely resembles Chaucer's style in language and manner. Fragment C differs mainly in the way that rhymes are constructed. And where fragments A and C adhere to a London dialect of the 1370s, Fragment B contains forms characteristic of a northern dialect.

The Book of the Duchess:

The Book of the Duchess is the first of Chaucer's major poems. Scolars are uncertain about the date of composition. Most scolars ascribe the date of composition between 1369 and 1372. Chaucer probably wrote the poem to commemorate the death of Blanche of Lancaster, John of Gaunt's wife. Notes from antiquary John Stowe indicate that the poem was written at John of Gaunt's request.

The poem begins with a sleepless poet who lies in bed reading a book. The poet reads a story about Ceyx and Alcyone and wanders around in his thoughts. Suddenly the poet falls asleep and dreams a wonderful story. He dreams that he wakes up in a beautiful chamber by the sound of hunters and hunting dogs. The poet follows a small hunting dog into the forest and finds a knight dressed in black who mourns about losing a game of chess. The poet asks the knight some questions and realizes at the end of the poem that the knight was talking symbolically instead of literally: the black knight has lost his love and lady. The poet awakes and decides that this wonderful dream should be preserved in rhyme.

2) ITALIAN STAGE :

The Parliament of Fowls :

The Parliament of Fowls is also known as The "Parlement of Foules", "Parliament of Foules," "Parlement of Briddes," "Assembly of Fowls" or "Assemble of Foules". The poem has 699 lines and has the form of a dream vision of the narrator. The poem is one of the first references to the idea that St. Valentine's Day was a special day for lovers. As the printing press had yet to be invented when Chaucer wrote his works, The Parliament of Fowls has been passed down in fourteen manuscripts (not including manuscripts that are considered to be lost). Scholars generally agree that the poem has been composed in 1381-1382.

The plot is about the narrator who dreams that he passes through a beautiful landscape, through the dark temple of Venus to the bright sunlight. Dame Nature sees over a large flock of birds who are gathered to choose their mates. The birds have a parliamentary debate while three male eagles try to seduce a female bird. The debate is full of speeches and insults. At the end, none of the three eagles wins the female eagle. The dream ends welcoming the coming spring.

The letter has a fine opening and in the characterization of the birds, shows chaucer’s true comic spirit. Troilus and Criseyde is a long poem adapted from Boccaccio but its emphasis on character it is original, and indicative of the line of chaucer’s   development. This both poem chaucer’s best narrative work.

The House of Fame  : 

(House of Fame in the original spelling) is a Middle English poem by Geoffrey Chaucer, probably written between 1379 and 1380, making it one of his earlier works. It was most likely written after The Book of the Duchess, but its chronological relation to Chaucer's other early poems is uncertain. The House of Fame is over 2,000 lines long in three books and takes the form of a dream vision composed in octosyllabic couplets. Upon falling asleep the poet finds himself in a glass temple adorned with images of the famous and their deeds. With an eagle as a guide, he meditates on the nature of fame and the trustworthiness of recorded renown. This allows Chaucer to contemplate the role of the poet in reporting the lives of the famous and how much truth there is in what can be told.

The third or English group contains work of the greatest individual accomplishment.

The  achievement of this period is the Canterbury tales, though one or two of the separate tales may

 be of slightly earlier composition. For the general idea of the tales Chaucer may be indebted to

Boccaccio, but in near every important feature the work is essentially English. The separate tales are

linked with their individual prologues, and with dialogues and scarps of narrative.

                 There are two prose tales, Chaucer’s own Tale of melibee and The Parson’s Tale ; and nearly all the others are composed in a powerful and versatile species of the decasyllabicor heroic couplet.

HIS PROSE 

1)  The Tale of Melibee (also called The Tale of Melibeus)

            The story concerns Melibee who is away one day when three enemies break into his house, beat  his wife Dame Prudence, and attack his daughter, leaving her for dead. The tale then proceeds as a long  debate mainly between Melibee and his wife on what actions to take and how to seek redress from his enemies. His wife, as her name suggests, counsels prudence and chides him for his rash opinions.

The discussion uses many proverbs and quotes from learned authorities and the Bible as each make their points. Dame Prudence is a woman discussing the role of the wife within marriage in a similar way to the Wife of Bath and the wife in The Shipman's Tale.

2) The Person ‘s Tale:

The subject of the parson's "tale" (or rather, treatise) is penitence. It may thus be taken as containing    inferential criticism of the behaviour and character of humanity detectable in all the other pilgrims,    knight included. Chaucer himself claims to be swayed by the plea for penitence, since he follows the Parson's Tale with a Retraction (the conceit which appears to have been the intended close entire cycle) in which he personally asks forgiveness for any offences he may have caused and (perhaps) for having deed  to write works of worldly vanitee at all (line 1085).         

The parson divides penitence into three parts; contrition of the heart, confession of the mouth,        and satisfaction. The second part about confession is illustrated by referring to the Seven Deadly sins  offering remedies against them. The Seven Deadly Sins are pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed,gluttony, and lust; they are "healed" by the virtues of humility, contentment, patience attitude, mercy, moderation, and chastity.

   

FEATURES OF HIS POETRY : 

The first thing is that strikes the eye is the unique position that Chaucer’s work occupies in the literature of the age. He is first, with no competitor for hundreds of years to challenges his position.Among Chaucer’s literary virtues his acute faculty of observation is very important. He was man of the world, mixing freely with all type of mankind; and he used his opportunities to observe the little peculiarities of human nature.Chaucer’s best descriptions, of man, manners and place, are of the first rank in their beauty, impressiveness, and humour. Even when he follows the common examples of the time, as when giving details of conventional spring mornings and flowery gardens, he has a vivacity that makes his poetry unique.

“ The bisy larke, messager of day,

Salueth in her song the morwe gay,

And firy phocebus riseth up so bright

That all the orient laugheth with the lighte.”

The knight’s Tale

The prevailing feature of chaucer’s humour is its Urbanity: the man of the worlds kindly tolerance of the weakness of his erring fellow mortals. He lays an emphasis on pathos, but it is not overlooked. In the poetry of chaucer’s the sentiment is human and unforced. We have excellent example of pathos in the tale of the ‘prioress’ and in ‘The Legend of good women’. Chaucer’s stories viewed strictly as stories, have most of the weakness of his generation : a fondness for long speeches, for pedantic digressions on such subjects as dreams and ethical problems, and for long explanation when non are necessary. His Metrical skill: The seven lined stanza a b a b b c c has become known as the Chaucerian or rhyme royal. He shows the skill that is as good as the very best apparent in the contemporary poems.We many summarize chaucer’s achievement by saying that he is earliest of the great moderns. In comparison with the poets of his own time, and those of the succeeding century, the advance he makes is almost starting. All the chaucerian’s features help to create this modern atmosphere. He is indeed a genius ; he stands alone, and for nearly two hundred years none dare claim equality with him.