Geoffrey Chaucer - Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer

The Complete Works of

GEOFFREY CHAUCER

(1343-1400)

Contents

Delphi Classics 2012

Version 1

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The Complete Works of

GEOFFREY CHAUCER

By Delphi Classics, 2012

Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer

First published in the United Kingdom in 2012 by Delphi Classics.

Delphi Classics, 2012.

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Depictions of London in Chaucers time the authors precise birthplace is unknown

Medieval Cheapside, London, where Chaucer is believed to have grown up

Cheapside today

Map of London in Chaucers time

Believed by some critics to be Chaucers earliest major work, this is a partial translation of the French allegory The Roman de la Rose . In The Legend of Good Women Chaucer claims to have translated a part of the poem, but the extant text is of dubious authenticity. Of the three existing fragments, the first uses Chaucers language and style and is often accepted as genuinely being his. The second fragment appears to be written in a northern English dialect and is often rejected by scholars, although the third part is closer to Chaucers style. Nevertheless, the last fragment is also usually rejected as spurious.

Composed by two authors between 1230 and 1275 , The Roman de la Rose is a medieval French poem, serving as a notable instance of courtly literature of the time. The poems stated purpose is to both entertain and to teach others about the Art of Love, demonstrating the influence of the Roman poet Ovid. At various times in the poem, the Rose of the title is seen as the name of the lady, and as a symbol of female sexuality in general. Likewise, the other characters names serve both as regular names and as abstractions, illustrating the various factors that are involved in a love affair.

The translation of Chaucers first fragment concerns an allegorical dream, in which the narrator receives advice from the god of love on gaining his ladys favour, with her love being symbolised as a rose that he is unable to attain. The second fragment is a satire on the mores of the time, with respect to courting, religious order and hypocrisy. The third fragment takes up the poem 5,000 lines after the second fragment ends and at its beginning, the god of love is planning to attack the fortress of Jealousy with his barons. The rest of the fragment is a confession given by Fals-Semblant, false-seeming, which is a treatise on the ways in which men are false to one another, especially the clergy to their parishioners.

An original manuscript copy, c.1400

A portrait of Guillaume de Lorris, the first of two poets to compose The Roman de la Rose, from a manuscript of in the Bodleian Library

MANY men seyn that in sweveninges
Ther nis but fables and lesinges;
But men may somme swevenes seen,
Which hardely ne false been,
But afterward ben apparaunte.