Chaucer and His Times

d and terrible about her; great forests, haunted by savage beasts and more savage men, stretch over the land; the sea-birds utter their plaintive cries as the

en pastures hereafter, but on earth the welter of the waves, and the strange calm of the rime-bound trees, draw them in spite of themselves. In the charms and riddles a gentler note is sometimes sounded as the poet watches a cloud of gnats "float o'er the

les above the conflicting hosts, waiting for his prey; the water-snakes curve and curl in the seething waters into whic

ught armour, or of the wealth of a king's treasure, they show little power of presenting beauty for its own sake, and none at all of depicting the beauty of a woman. Their heroines are fair a

charming background to many of the love-lyrics of the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but it is a

ed, and b

ngth the

cuccu

r method of dismembering the quarry, often finds a place-Tristram first wins King Mark's affections by teaching his huntsmen the proper method of cutting up a stag. Detailed descriptions of elaborate banquets are also popular, but it is evident in these, as in the descriptions of hun

t and body arms. His hair was yellow and crisped small; and his eyes were grey and laughing; and his face was clear and shap

not prevent them from having a charm of their own. What could be more dainty than the following pic

all sir Gawa

chard, play

n with hi

knyght und

oth of go

sat a ful f

with them i

ead, that th

ance in th

t deeper note which sounded through the olde

the lynde[137] and li

n

are twigs sin

ping for pai

and the Gr

s adversary in whatever his one vital spot may happen to be. Now and then some flash of ingenuity lights up the story, as when the Soldan's daughter saves Roland and Oliver and their companions by flinging her father's plate to the besieging army, thus at once distracting the attention of the soldiers and making

for him. Again and again he cuts short some passage which his contemporaries would have elaborated. In the Squieres Tale, for instance, a banquet occurs which affords admirable

ow rehercen h

el, that at a

o the moste and

mo than been

in Troilus and Criseyde is pas

eyde, al inno

hir sister

now prolix

god, and lat

effect, with

olk assembled

f hir saluin

the Duchesse is dismissed i

me to the

dide, ri

ing fil to

unte anoon, f

horne blew t

upling of h

l the hert [

and rech

e; and at

used[143] a

houndes a p

ect of his poem. Wordsworth himself does

g much more convincing. He tells us coldl

rokes and wit

elmet of Diomede, but the stanza which follows t

dde y-taken

f this ilk

of his bata

t I to wryt

I have seyd a

des, who-so l

can telle hem a

h interests him most. In the Kn

ech at other

d then leaves them, still fighting, while he turns to Theseus. There is more vigour in the description of the tournament at the end.

edes stronge, an

nder foot as

his feet with

tleth with his

spense. Further, Chaucer, as we know, had himself probably superintended the erection of such lists, and the ceremonial of the tournament may well have had a special interest for him. His use of similes in describing action is worthy of note. He does not, like Spenser, constantly break the narrative by i

whyte as foom

te we a

gre in the vale

help is stole,

the hunte, a

are very differen

cred Oxe that

nes and flowry

ying honor and

s fume with fra

with mortal s

all, and with hi

pillours and t

flowres that d

arinell upon th

e. Chivalry has, indeed, little glamour in Chaucer's eyes. Gower's story of Florent has a certain stateliness which is lacking in the Tale of the Wyf of Bathe. It has none of Chaucer's digressions, none of the homeliness of his version. A description of the elf-queen and her jolly compa

Blanche's charms; probably he felt it incumbent on him to do so. She is fair, as a heroine should be, but even in this

heer [up]o

yn, hit wa

yelw, ne br

most lyk g

eyen my l

de, glade, an

d mochel,[147]

··

e-over, tho

lived were

lde have foun

face a wik

sad, simple,

ine beauty, but a picture of the good

sion of sensuous beauty which she undoubtedly produces, is due to Chaucer's power of creating an atmosphere rather than to actual description. We hear the nightingale singing her to sleep, or watch her colour come and go as Troilus draws near, and our mind is so filled with an image of youth and beauty that we never stop to think if she is fair or dark. It is the

e sat on his

beseyn,[148]

he was lyk a

eeche[149] or te

h that alle th

short, hir l

s array, his loo

of importance only because t

ruest sense characteristic. The Prologue to the Canterbury Tales shows clearly enough how trifles may reflect personality. The grey fur that edges the Monk

alled, that sh

ace, as he ha

ul fat and in g

[151] and rolli

s a forncye o

e, his hors in

y he was a f

orse of the Clerk of Oxenford; the ruddy face and white beard of the Franklin, all serve to illustra

ause not only does it illustrate his careful observation of detail, but it shows also a dramatic fitness which is eminently characteristic.

yonge wyf, a

hir body gent[

he werede barr

56] eek as why

ndes, ful of

smok and brou

nde, on hir

k, with-inne an

f hir whyte

ame suyte of

od of silk, a

he hadde a li

lled were hir

nt, and blake a

more blisf

ewe pere-jone

an the wolle

rdel heeng a

lk, and perled

rld, to seken

n so wys, that

ote,[164] or s

was the shyni

our the noble

, it was as lou

we sittinge

oude skippe a

or calf folw

te as bragot[166]

ples leyd in

was, as is

st, and upri

baar up-on hi

is the bos

f brilliant colour, but this makes the comparative dullness and tameness of his marvellous palaces and enchanted castles all the more remarkable. He gives us a list of golden images, "riche tabernacles" and "curious portr

mb to kemb

gods still sleep, before awakening to their strange sweet Indian summer of life. Classical mythology serves Chaucer as an additional storehou

tars round ab

ith their sac

steme thereof

clouds to hea

re true lovers

dred brazen ca

joy and amo

h was to a da

were damzells in s

erfunctory statement that the windows of

olde it wer

the glazin

e storie

·

and king

les and

a and o

Eleyne, an

us un

e moment he slips out of doors he becomes a different being. He is no Wordsworth noting each twig and leaf, or watching

blewe, yelo

lle-stremes

ful of smale

de and scales

the neatness of its fences, and the fact that its paths have recently been gravelled and provided with nice new benches. But even in these trim and

gras, ful so

fele, faire u

·

as, on t

he erthe e

yer than

floures,

elken sterr

orgete th

through his

suffre[n], a

eten, and t

wode was

dewe had ma

ilton, his scenery always strikes one as peculiarly English. He tells us that Cambinskan reigns in Syria, but his picture of the birds singing for joy of the

n is particularly charming. The poet declares that one thing, and

ere the smale

loures ginne f

die, as lasti

tome, he wanders out into the meadow

sonne ginneth

it, and drawet

is afered

we, that hit i

long he

he flour and

speeds swi

tel erber t

with turves f

hulde me my

of the newe

trowe flour

impression rather tha

fire-side pleasures, than as having an especial beauty of his own. The Frankeleyns Tale contains

stes, with the

h the grene i

the fyr, with

of his bugle-

nt braun of th

cryeth eve

low of the fire, and hear the

nd except in the Parlement of Foules, Chaucer scarcely mentions any other bird by name. The crow, who is the real hero of the Maunciples Tale, and who distinguishes himself by singing, "cukkow! cukkow! cukkow!" can no more be regarded as an ordinary, unsophisticated bird than can the eagle who acts as Jove's messenger in the Hous of Fame, or the princess disguised as a falcon who seeks Canace's aid. The Parlement of Foules, it is true, shows that Chaucer knew the names of a considerable number of birds, but the epithets that he applies to each show no more real knowledge

into the Book of the Duchesse. The little coneys who hasten to their play in the garden of the Parlement of Foules are due in the first place to Boccaccio, but the Italian merely tells us that they "go hithe

bestes smale o

ter of melody as he is, he has not learned the subtle art of suiting sound to sense, and

s of streng

t finding one's thoughts involuntarily carr

l soft trembl

nts divine resp

at home in fairy-land, and the note of sincerity which sounds throughout his verse would accord ill with such intoxicating sweetness. Lady Pride and her followers, Dame C?lia and her fair daughters, Fidelia, Speranza, and Carita, find a natural home in Spenser's world of wonders.