Age of Chaucer

Romaunt of the Rose: It’s a lengthy allegorical poem written in octosyllabic couplets and based upon Le Romaunt de la Rose of Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung. According to critics, not the entire poem, but the first part of it may be written by Chaucer. In this dream poem the narrator enters the Garden of Mirth, where he sees various allegorized figures and falls in love with a rosebud. Part A and B describe the instructions of the god of love to the dreamer. Part C is a fragment and satirizes the hypocrisy of religion, woman and the social order. (French Group) The Book of the Duchesse: It’s probably Chaucer’s earliest poem and is written in 1369. It’s a dream poem in thirteen hundred thirty four lines in octosyllabic couplets. It is believed to be an allegorical lament on the death of Blanche of Lancaster, the first wife of John of Gaunt, who died in 1369. (French Group) The poet falls asleep while reading the story of Ceix and Alcyone and in his dream he follows a hunting party. He meets a night in Black He meets a night in Black who played a game of chess with Fortuna and lost his queen. In answer of the dreamer’s question the knight declares that his beloved is dead now. The hunting party reappears and a bell strikes twelve. The poet awakes and decides that the dream was so wonderful that it should be set into rhyme.
In the French group there are also three poems: The Compleynt unto Pite, An A.B.C. and The Compleynt of Mars.
Anelida and Arcite: An incomplete poem by Chaucer. The poem tells the story of faithless Arcite to Queen Anelida. The first 270 lines are written in rhyme royal and 140 lines in varying metrical patterns. (Italian Group)
The Parlement of Fouls: It’s a dream poem by Chaucer in 699 lines of rhyme royal. It has been thought to be a poem in celebration of a marriage, perhaps the marriage of the young Richard II and Anne of Bohemia in 1382. The poem is the first reference to the idea that St. Valentine’s Day was a special day for the