Outlines of English and American Literature Part 5

LIFE. Chaucer's boyhood was spent in London, near Westminster, where the brilliant court of Edward was visible to the favored ones; and near the Thames, where the world's commerce, then beginning to ebb and flow with the tides, might be seen of every man. His father was a vintner, or wine merchant, who had enough influence at court to obtain for his son a place in the house of the Princess Elizabeth. Behold then our future poet beginning his knightly training as page to a highborn lady. Presently he accompanied the Black Prince to the French wars, was taken prisoner and ransomed, and on his return entered the second stage of knighthood as esquire or personal attendant to the king. He married a maid of honor related to John of Gaunt, the famous Duke of Lancaster, and at thirty had pa.s.sed from the rank of merchant into official and aristocratic circles.

[Sidenote: PERIODS OF WORK]

The literary work of Chaucer is conveniently, but not accurately, arranged in three different periods. While attached to the court, one of his duties was to entertain the king and his visitors in their leisure. French poems of love and chivalry were then in demand, and of these Chaucer had great store; but English had recently replaced French even at court, and King Edward and Queen Philippa, both patrons of art and letters, encouraged Chaucer to write in his native language. So he made translations of favorite poems into English, and wrote others in imitation of French models.

These early works, the least interesting of all, belong to what is called the period of French influence.

Then Chaucer, who had learned the art of silence as well as of speech, was sent abroad on a series of diplomatic missions. In Italy he probably met the poet Petrarch (as we infer from the Prologue to the Clerk's Tale) and became familiar with the works of Dante and Boccaccio. His subsequent poetry shows a decided advance in range and originality, partly because of his own growth, no doubt, and partly because of his better models. This second period, of about fifteen years, is called the time of Italian influence.

In the third or English period Chaucer returned to London and was a busy man of affairs; for at the English court, unlike those of France and Italy, a poet was expected to earn his pension by some useful work, literature being regarded as a recreation. He was in turn comptroller of customs and superintendent of public works; also he was at times well supplied with money, and again, as the political fortunes of his patron John of Gaunt waned, in sore need of the comforts of life. Witness his "Complaint to His Empty Purse," the humor of which evidently touched the king and brought Chaucer another pension.

Two poems of this period are supposed to contain autobiographical material. In the _Legend of Good Women_ he says:

And as for me, though that my wit be lyte, On bokes for to rede I me delyte.

Again, in _The House of Fame_ he speaks of finding his real life in books after his daily work in the customhouse is ended.

Some of the "rekeninges" (itemized accounts of goods and duties) to which he refers are still preserved in Chaucer's handwriting:

For whan thy labour doon al is, And hast y-maad thy rekeninges, In stede of reste and newe thinges Thou gost hoom to thy hous anoon, And, also domb as any stoon, Thou sittest at another boke Til fully dawsed is thy loke, And livest thus as an hermyte, Although thine abstinence is lyte.

Such are the scanty facts concerning England's first great poet, the more elaborate biographies being made up chiefly of guesses or doubtful inferences. He died in the year 1400, and was buried in St. Benet's chapel in Westminster Abbey, a place now revered by all lovers of literature as the Poets' Corner.

ON READING CHAUCER. Said Caxton, who was the first to print Chaucer's poetry, "He writeth no void words, but all his matter is full of high and quick sentence." Caxton was right, and the modern reader's first aim should be to get the sense of Chaucer rather than his p.r.o.nunciation. To understand him is not so difficult as appears at first sight, for most of the words that look strange because of their spelling will reveal their meaning to the ear if spoken aloud. Thus the word "leefful" becomes "leveful" or "leaveful" or "permissible."

Next, the reader should remember that Chaucer was a master of versification, and that every stanza of his is musical. At the beginning of a poem, therefore, read a few lines aloud, emphasizing the accented syllables until the rhythm is fixed; then make every line conform to it, and every word keep step to the music. To do this it is necessary to slur certain words and run others together; also, since the mistakes of Chaucer's copyists are repeated in modern editions, it is often necessary to add a helpful word or syllable to a line, or to omit others that are plainly superfluous.

This way of reading Chaucer musically, as one would read any other poet, has three advantages: it is easy, it is pleasant, and it is far more effective than the learning of a hundred specifications laid down by the grammarians.

[Sidenote: RULES FOR READING]

As for Chaucer's p.r.o.nunciation, you will not get that accurately without much study, which were better spent on more important matters; so be content with a few rules, which aim simply to help you enjoy the reading. As a general principle, the root vowel of a word was broadly sounded, and the rest slurred over. The characteristic sound of _a_ was as in "far"; _e_ was sounded like _a_, _i_ like _e_, and all diphthongs as broadly as possible,--in "floures" (flowers), for example, which should be p.r.o.nounced "floores."

Another rule relates to final syllables, and these will appear more interesting if we remember that they represent the dying inflections of nouns and adjectives, which were then declined as in modern German. Final _ed_ and _es_ are variable, but the rhythm will always tell us whether they should be given an extra syllable or not. So also with final _e_, which is often sounded, but not if the following word begins with a vowel or with _h_. In the latter case the two words may be run together, as in reading Virgil. If a final _e_ occurs at the end of a line, it may be lightly p.r.o.nounced, like _a_ in "China," to give added melody to the verse.

Applying these rules, and using our liberty as freely as Chaucer used his, [Footnote: The language was changing rapidly in Chaucer's day, and there were no printed books to fix a standard. Sometimes Chaucer's grammar and spelling are according to rule, and again as heaven pleases.] the opening lines of _The Canterbury Tales_ would read something like this:

Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote _Whan that Apreele with 'is shoores sohte_

The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote, _The drooth of March hath paarced to the rohte_

And bathed every veyne in swich licour, _And bahthed ev'ree vyne in swech lecoor,_

Of which vertu engendred is the flour; _Of whech varetu engendred is the floor;_

Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth _Whan Zephirus aik with 'is swaite braith_

Inspired hath in every holt and heeth _Inspeered hath in ev'ree holt and haith_

The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne _The tendre croopes, and th' yoonge sonne_

Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne, _Hath in the Ram 'is hawfe coors ironne,_

And smale fowles maken melodye, _And smawle fooles mahken malyodiee,_

That slepen al the night with open ye _That slaipen awl the nicht with open ee_

(So priketh hem nature in hir corages) _(So priketh 'eem nahtur in hir coorahges)_

Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages.

_Than longen folk to goon on peelgrimahges._

EARLY WORKS OF CHAUCER. In his first period, which was dominated by French influence, Chaucer probably translated parts of the _Roman de la Rose_, a dreary allegorical poem in which love is represented as a queen-rose in a garden, surrounded by her court and ministers. In endeavoring to pluck this rose the lover learns the "commandments" and "sacraments" of love, and meets with various adventures at the hands of Virtue, Constancy, and other shadowy personages of less repute. Such allegories were the delight of the Middle Ages; now they are as dust and ashes. Other and better works of this period are _The Book of the d.u.c.h.ess_, an elegy written on the death of Blanche, wife of Chaucer's patron, and various minor poems, such as "Compleynte unto Pitee," the dainty love song "To Rosemunde," and "Truth" or the "Ballad of Good Counsel."

Characteristic works of the second or Italian period are _The House of Fame_, _The Legend of Good Women_, and especially _Troilus and Criseyde_. The last-named, though little known to modern readers, is one of the most remarkable narrative poems in our literature. It began as a retelling of a familiar romance; it ended in an original poem, which might easily be made into a drama or a "modern" novel.

[Sidenote: STORY OF TROILUS]

The scene opens in Troy, during the siege of the city by the Greeks. The hero Troilus is a son of Priam, and is second only to the mighty Hector in warlike deeds. Devoted as he is to glory, he scoffs at lovers until the moment when his eye lights on Cressida.

She is a beautiful young widow, and is free to do as she pleases for the moment, her father Calchas having gone over to the Greeks to escape the doom which he sees impending on Troy. Troilus falls desperately in love with Cressida, but she does not know or care, and he is ashamed to speak his mind after scoffing so long at love.

Then appears Pandarus, friend of Troilus and uncle to Cressida, who soon learns the secret and brings the young people together. After a long courts.h.i.+p with interminable speeches (as in the old romances) Troilus wins the lady, and all goes happily until Calchas arranges to have his daughter brought to him in exchange for a captured Trojan warrior. The lovers are separated with many tears, but Cressida comforts the despairing Troilus by promising to hoodwink her doting father and return in a few days. Calchas, however, loves his daughter too well to trust her in a city that must soon be given over to plunder, and keeps her safe in the Greek camp. There the handsome young Diomede wins her, and presently Troilus is killed in battle by Achilles.

Such is the old romance of feminine fickleness, which had been written a hundred times before Chaucer took it bodily from Boccaccio. Moreover he humored the old romantic delusion which required that a lover should fall sick in the absence of his mistress, and turn pale or swoon at the sight of her; but he added to the tale many elements not found in the old romances, such as real men and women, humor, pathos, a.n.a.lysis of human motives, and a sense of impending tragedy which comes not from the loss of wealth or happiness but of character. Cressida's final thought of her first lover is intensely pathetic, and a whole chapter of psychology is summed up in the line in which she promises herself to be true to Diomede at the very moment when she is false to Troilus:

"Allas! of me unto the worldes ende Shal neyther ben ywriten nor y-songe No good word; for these bookes wol me shende.

O, rolled shal I ben on many a tonge!

Thurghout the world my belle shal be ronge, And wommen moste wol haten me of alle.

Allas, that swich a cas me sholde falle!

They wol seyn, in-as-much as in me is, I have hem doon dishonour, weylawey!

Al be I not the firste that dide amis, What helpeth that to doon my blame awey?

But since I see ther is no betre wey, And that too late is now for me to rewe, To Diomede, algate, I wol be trewe."

THE CANTERBURY TALES. The plan of gathering a company of people and letting each tell his favorite story has been used by so many poets, ancient and modern, that it is idle to seek the origin of it. Like Topsy, it wasn't born; it just grew up. Chaucer's plan, however, is more comprehensive than any other in that it includes all cla.s.ses of society; it is also more original in that it does not invent heroic characters but takes such men and women as one might meet in any a.s.sembly, and shows how typical they are of humanity in all ages. As Lowell says, Chaucer made use in his _Canterbury Tales_ of two things that are everywhere regarded as symbols of human life; namely, the short journey and the inn. We might add, as an indication of Chaucer's philosophy, that his inn is a comfortable one, and that the journey is made in pleasant company and in fair weather.

An outline of Chaucer's great work is as follows. On an evening in springtime the poet comes to Tabard Inn, in Southwark, and finds it filled with a merry company of men and women bent on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas a Becket in Canterbury.

After supper appears the jovial host, Harry Bailey, who finds the company so attractive that he must join it on its pilgrimage. He proposes that, as they shall be long on the way, they shall furnish their own entertainment by telling stories, the best tale to be rewarded by the best of suppers when the pilgrims return from Canterbury. They a.s.sent joyfully, and on the morrow begin their journey, cheered by the Knight's Tale as they ride forth under the sunrise. The light of morning and of springtime is upon this work, which is commonly placed at the beginning of modern English literature.

As the journey proceeds we note two distinct parts to Chaucer's record. One part, made up of prologues and interludes, portrays the characters and action of the present comedy; the other part, consisting of stories, reflects the comedies and tragedies of long ago. The one shows the perishable side of the men and women of Chaucer's day, their habits, dress, conversation; the other reveals an imperishable world of thought, feeling, ideals, in which these same men and women discover their kins.h.i.+p to humanity. It is possible, since some of the stories are related to each other, that Chaucer meant to arrange the _Canterbury Tales_ in dramatic unity, so as to make a huge comedy of human society; but the work as it comes down to us is fragmentary, and no one has discovered the order in which the fragments should be fitted together.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PILGRIMS SETTING OUT FROM THE "TABARD"]

[Sidenote: THE PROLOGUE]

The Prologue is perhaps the best single fragment of the _Canterbury Tales_. In it Chaucer introduces us to the characters of his drama: to the grave Knight and the gay Squire, the one a model of Chivalry at its best, "a verray parfit gentil knight," the other a young man so full of life and love that "he slept namore than dooth a nightingale"; to the modest Prioress, also, with her pretty clothes, her exquisite manners, her boarding-school accomplishments:

And Frensh she spak ful faire and fetisly, After the scole of Stratford atte Bowe, For Frensh of Paris was to hir unknowe.

In contrast to this dainty figure is the coa.r.s.e Wife of Bath, as garrulous as the nurse in _Romeo and Juliet_. So one character stands to another as shade to light, as they appear in a typical novel of d.i.c.kens. The Church, the greatest factor in medieval life, is misrepresented by the hunting Monk and the begging Friar, and is well represented by the Parson, who practiced true religion before he preached it:

But Christes lore and his apostles twelve He taughte, and first he folwed it himselve.