Geoffrey Chaucer Books

Say you have always wanted to know something about Chaucer or read his works but just didn't know where to start, well this book from 1976 is probably the best place to begin.

The hardcover I have contains 32 pages of illustrations "drawn from collections of old prints, tapestries, woodcuts, and artifacts of the period". Author William Woods gives a very good explanation of the daily life during Chaucer's period.

Writing about finding a "marriage partner in the remote, desolate hamlets, the wedding ceremony itself; the lively lecherous Sundays, the all-powerful landlords, the filthy louse-ridden serfs, the rising working class, cases that came before a justice system that was neither just nor a system, examples of the music, scenes of a hellfire church leader terrifying his listeners, the turbulent, garbage strewn cities, the Black Death, the spirited funerals, the rebellion of the poverty-bound workers, the emergence of the new leaders, in short, the whole corrupt seething century when the seeds of the English Renaissance were sown."

If you are interested in both the English high medieval period from 1066 to 1400, or just Geoffrey Chaucer, this may be a book you need to look up.

Semper Fi.

Who is the narrator? By the end of the tale i was confused if Chaucer, The Franklin or one of his characters was speaking to me! Chaucer, the author of Canterbury Tales introdues the Franlin who now has to tell his tale to the rest of a pilgrimage on their way to Canterbury. The franklin who is just below the nobility in rank spells out an exquisite teale in which Arveragus marries Dorigen and promises never to be her master or force her to do anything unwillfully. Arveragus soon departs the scene as he goes to fight abroad and along comes Aurelius who declares his true love for Dorigen. Dorigen is upset and is in two minds what to do so she casts Aureilus away by setting him an impossible task of removing all the rocks in the sea to win her love. Aurelius nearly dies but with help from his brother and a magician an illusion is created whereby all the rocks disappear. Dorigen is now in trouble as Arveragus returns and she cannot possibly confess to love both men at the same time. She tells Arveragus of the situation who forces her to live with Aurelius. Dorigen thinks about committing suicide but then decides to approach Aurelius who forgives her and tells her to live with her husband. Aurelius now has no money to pay the magician for his illusion but all ends well as the magician lets him off. Who is the most kindes of them all? It is difficult to suggest who but this tale is so enthralling that you have to read it to believe it!

The Prologue is the summarized essence of ' The Canterbury Tales' It contains the descriptions of the pilgrims who are to each ideally tell two tales . Chaucer never completes this plan but he does in the prologue give us wonderful character sketches of everyone from the ideally virtuous Knight to the scandalous Wife of Bath . These small portraits outline clearly what is to come but in themselves reveal the world of the Tales . The Prologue is filled with humor and piety, with sacrasm and wit, with beauty of language and harsh social criticism.
It is the microcosm of the whole set of Tales which are to come. A masterpiece though marred to my mind as the whole work is by the Nun Prioress and her unfortunate blood- libel tale.

This review relates to the volume -Geoffrey Chaucer:
Love Visions/The Book of the Duchess; The House of
Fame; The Parliament of Birds; The Legend of Good
Women-, Penguin Classics, Translated with an Introduction
and Notes by Brian Stone. 1983. 262 pp.
This volume is a modern English translation of Geoffrey
Chaucer's four "love visions." As Brian Stone says in
the Introduction: "The four long poems presented in
translation span nearly the whole of Chaucer's working
life. *** Chaucer was the fourteenth-century [Middle]
English poet who, basing his work on that of his French
and Italian peers and also, like them, on the work of
the classical and late Latin poets, created highly
original narrative poems, with a skill in story-telling
in which he equalled , if not surpassed his masters.
Ovid, whose outlook on women and sense of the great
variety of life including the absurd, make him of the
ancients most akin to Chaucer, may beat him for
sensuousness and richness of detail, and Virgil and
Dante for high seriousness and epic scope, but Chaucer
offers a subtle humour which enhances the seriousness
and complexity of what he has to say, as well as a
kaleidoscopic range of tone and subject matter."
Each of the four poems has an excellent Introduction.
The four poems are: "The Book of the Duchess"; "The
Book of Fame" (which is subdivded into 3 Books); "The
Parliament of Birds [Fowles]" (the shortest of the
poems); and "The Legend of Good Women", which has
a Prologue; then meeting of Chaucer with an angry
God Of Love who threatens to take revenge on Chaucer
for writing poorly about the powers of Love, and
causing wise people to withdraw from Love's rule,
thinking that "a person is a perfect fool/Who loves
intensely with a burning fire." Then Queen
Alcestis intervenes on Chaucer's behalf and tells
the God of Love to be "more reasonable" (a lovely
bit of irony). Chaucer has offended the God of

Love by his translation of -The Romance of the
Rose-, and his writing of the poem of -Troilus
and Criseyde- in which he portrayed love and
women in a poor light. In compensation, Chaucer
awakens from his dream concerning this meeting
with the God of Love and Alcestis and begins his
"Legend of Good Women", which is subdivided into the
sections titled: "The Legend of Cleopatra, Queen
of Egypt, Martyr"; "The Legend of Babylonian Thisbe,
Martyr"; "The Legend of Dido, Queen of Carthage,
Martyr"; "The Legends of Hypsipyle and Medea,
Martyrs"; "The Legend of Roman Lucrece, Martyr";
"The Legend of Ariadne of Athens"; "The Legend of
Philomela"; "The Legend of Phyllis"; "The Legend of
Hypermnestra." There are excellent Notes from page
233 253, a Select Bibliography, and an Index of
Proper Names.
These works are very accessible and highly enjoyable
and insightful. For many who might "pass up" on
Chaucer because of the "Middle English difficulty,"
this volume will soothe all your fears and delight
your intelligence and your sensibilities. For these
Modern English translations are excellent, and are
in poetic format [not prose], but they are not
stilted or hard to understand.
-- Robert Kilgore.

Fisher's study summarizes quite well the important canons of Chaucerian biographical and critical interpretation for the past five hundred years. His concluding chapter notes especially well Chaucer's achievements at almost the very beginnings of English literature: the creation of the individual in literary representation; the use of ambiguity, irony, and satire; the creation of voice, one transcendent to style; the Chaucerian musings on the supreme subject of love. I am not aware of another, more readable study than this one by John Fisher.

It would be impossible to treat of the concept of Magic in medieval romance tales without reading Michelle Sweeney's excellent study. Exquisitely readable, informative and wonderfully researched, I read it during a most pleasant weekend. I have already added it my required reading list here in Ann Arbor. Good one! Karla Taylor

I read this book some time ago and still recall it for its refreshing and scholarly take on an area of Chaucer's work that is, I think, underrated. A compelling and informed writer, Ruud is able to present the value and beauty of Chaucer's lyric poetry in an accessible, but not patronizing, style. This is definitely one for your library if you can procure it.

For years I've been searching for an update to CD technology of something comparable to Caedmon's spoken word LPs and cassettes. I wore out my cassettes, but I surmise the company no longer exists, no CDs available anywhere. But now Cambridge University Press has started releasing Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Middle English. I miss good old Jess Bessinger's voice and verve and facility for pronounciation, but A. C. Spearing's performance of this gem of the Caunterbury Tales is well worth the price of purchase.

A. C. Spearing "reads" the Miller's description from the General Prologue and the connecting links between the Knight's Tale and the Miller's Tale. I say "reads," but this CD thankfully avoids the classic blunder of many online sound files read by professional academics (and I say this as one myself) that correct pronounciation is great, but too reverential an attitude toward the work can lead to a boring and godawful monotone. Spearing has fun with this. I may miss Bessinger's delight behind his delight behind his tale-telling, but Spearing never forgets to enjoy one of the funniest stories ever set down writing. His adds his own attitude behind the words (different from Bessinger's but no less arch) and that makes for a good listen. I think he equals or even bests Bessinger with his vocal characterizations of Hende Nicholas, "yonge wyfe" Alisoun, squeamish and amorous Absolon, and especially old carpenter John which are gems of comic performance. These are the real strengths of Spearing's version.

Along with Cambridge's Wife of Bath CD, these are a very welcome addition to scholars, students, and Chaucerians everywhere. It's been long overdue. Thank you Cambridge and A. C. Spearing. Let's have more.

This is a really phenomenal work, with page after page of great Burne-Jones illustrations, all in his signature style. If you like his paintings you'll love these illustrations. IMO they stand as some of his best compositions - nearly every one of them could have been turned into a painting on par with his best work.

This is a scholarly work, in a series of three books covering Chaucer's *Canterbury Tales* and *Troilus & Criseyde,* by distinguished scholars. To describe it as on a "Baby/Preschool" reading level is utter nonsense. This mistaken label should be removed at once.