The Age of CHAUCER

1)       Chaucer’s best descriptions, of man, manners and place, are of the first rank in their beauty, impressiveness, and humour. Even when he follows the common examples of the time, as when giving details of conventional spring

 mornings and flowery gardens , he has a vivacity that makes his poetry unique.

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND (1350-1450)

                     The period now under review is quite short. It includes the greater part of the reign of Edward III and the long French wars associated with his name: the accession of his grandson Richard II (1377); and the revolution of 1399,the deposition of Richard, and the foundation of the Lancastrian dynasty .From the literary point of view, of greater importance are the social and intellectual movements of the periods: the terrible plague called the Black Death, bringing poverty, unrest, and revolt among the peasant, and the growth of the spirit of inquiry, which was strongly critical of the ways of church, and found expression in the teaching of Wyclif and the Lollards, and in the stern denunciations of Langland.

LITERARY FEATURES OF THE AGE :

1   1. The standardizing of English.

French and English have amalgamated to form the standard English tongue, which attains to its first full expression in the works of Chaucer.

2. A curious 'MODERN' NOTE begins to be apparent at this period. There is a sharper spirit of criticism,  more searching interest in man’s affairs, and a less childlike faith in, and a less complacent acceptances of, the establish order. The vogue of romance, though it has by no means gone, is passing, and in Chaucer it is derided. The freshness of  the romantic ideal is being  superseded by the more acute spirit of the drama, which even at this early time is faintly foreshadowed.

3. Prose:

The era sees the foundation of an English prose style. Earlier specimens have been experimental or purely imitative; now, in the works of Mandeville and Malory, we have prose that is both original and individual. The English tongue is now ripe for a prose style. The language is settling to a standard; Latin and French are losing grip as popular prose mediums and the growing desire for an English Bible exercises steady pressure in favour of a standard English prose.  

 4. Scottish Literature:

For the first time in our literature, in the person of Barbour (1316 (?)-9 95), Scotland supplies a writer worthy of note. This is only the beginning; for the tradition is handed on the powerful group Who are mentioned in this age.
 

His life :

The date of his birth is uncertain, but it is now generally accepted as being 1340. He was born in

 London, entered the household of the wife of the Duke of Clarence (1357), and saw military 

service abroad, where he was captured. Next he seems to have entered the royal household, 

for he is frequently mentioned as the recipient of royal pensions and bounties. When Richard II 

succeeded to the crown, Chaucer was confirmed in his offices and pensions, and shortly afterwards. 

He was sent to Italy on one of his several diplomatic missions. He was first poet to be buried in what

 is now known as poets corner in west minister Abbey.

His poems :

The order of chaucer’s poem cannot be ascertained with certitude. But from internal evidence they

can as a rule be approximately dated.

It is now customary to divide the Chaucerian poems into three stages. THE ITALIAN, and THE 

FRENCH, and THE ENGLISH of which is the last is a development of the first two.

1) FRENCH STAGE :

The Romaunt of the Rose: 

             (The Romaunt) is a partial translation into Middle English of the French allegorical poem, le Roman de la Rose (le Roman). Originally believed to be the work of Chaucer, the Romaunt inspired controversy among 19th-century scholars when parts of the text were found to differ in style from Chaucer's other works. Also the text was found to contain three distinct fragments of translation. Together, the fragments—A, B, and C--provide a translation of approximately one-third of Le Roman.

There is little doubt that Chaucer did translate Le Roman de la Rose under the title The Romaunt of the Rose: in The Legend of Good Women, the narrator, Chaucer, states as much. The question is whether the surviving text is the same one that Chaucer wrote. The authorship question has been a topic of research and controversy. As such, scholarly discussion of the Romaunt has tended toward linguistic rather than literary analysis.

Scholars today generally agree that only fragment A is attributable to Chaucer, although fragment C closely resembles Chaucer's style in language and manner. Fragment C differs mainly in the way that rhymes are constructed. And where fragments A and C adhere to a London dialect of the 1370s, Fragment B contains forms characteristic of a northern dialect.

The Book of the Duchess:

                 The Book of the Duchess is the first of Chaucer's major poems. Scolars are uncertain about the date of composition. Most scolars ascribe the date of composition between 1369 and 1372. Chaucer probably wrote the poem to commemorate the death of Blanche of Lancaster, John of Gaunt's wife. Notes from antiquary John Stowe indicate that the poem was written at John of Gaunt's request.
The poem begins with a sleepless poet who lies in bed reading a book. The poet reads a story about Ceyx and Alcyone and wanders around in his thoughts. Suddenly the poet falls asleep and dreams a wonderful story. He dreams that he wakes up in a beautiful chamber by the sound of hunters and hunting dogs. The poet follows a small hunting dog into the forest and finds a knight dressed in black who mourns about losing a game of chess. The poet asks the knight some questions and realizes at the end of the poem that the knight was talking symbolically instead of literally: the black knight has lost his love and lady. The poet awakes and decides that this wonderful dream should be preserved in rhyme.

2) ITALIAN STAGE :

The Parliament of Fowls :

                               The Parliament of Fowls is also known as The "Parlement of Foules", "Parliament of Foules," "Parlement of Briddes," "Assembly of Fowls" or "Assemble of Foules". The poem has 699 lines and has the form of a dream vision of the narrator. The poem is one of the first references to the idea that St. Valentine's Day was a special day for lovers. As the printing press had yet to be invented when Chaucer wrote his works, The Parliament of Fowls has been passed down in fourteen manuscripts (not including manuscripts that are considered to be lost). Scholars generally agree that the poem has been composed in 1381-1382.
The plot is about the narrator who dreams that he passes through a beautiful landscape, through the dark temple of Venus to the bright sunlight. Dame Nature sees over a large flock of birds who are gathered to choose their mates. The birds have a parliamentary debate while three male eagles try to seduce a female bird. The debate is full of speeches and insults. At the end, none of the three eagles wins the female eagle. The dream ends welcoming the coming spring.

                     The letter has a fine opening and in the characterization of the birds, shows chaucer’s true comic spirit. Troilus and Criseyde is a long poem adapted from Boccaccio but its emphasis on character it is original, and indicative of the line of chaucer’s   development. This both poem chaucer’s best narrative work.

  The House of Fame  : 

                          (Hous of Fame in the original spelling) is a Middle English poem by Geoffrey Chaucer, probably written between 1379 and 1380, making it one of his earlier works. It was most likely written after The Book of the Duchess, but its chronological relation to Chaucer's other early poems is uncertain.

                       The House of Fame is over 2,000 lines long in three books and takes the form of a dream vision composed in octosyllabic couplets. Upon falling asleep the poet finds himself in a glass temple adorned with images of the famous and their deeds. With an eagle as a guide, he meditates on the nature of fame and the trustworthiness of recorded renown. This allows Chaucer to contemplate the role of the poet in reporting the lives of the famous and how much truth there is in what can be told.

                  The third or English group contains work of the greatest individual accomplishment. 

The  achievement of this period is the Canterbury tales, though one or two of the separate tales may 

 be of slightly earlier composition. For the general idea of the tales Chaucer may be indebted to 

Boccaccio, but in near every important feature the work is essentially English. The separate tales are 

linked with their individual prologues, and with dialogues and scarps of narrative.

                 There are two prose tales, Chaucer’s own Tale of melibee and The Parson’s Tale ; and nearly all the others are composed in a powerful and versatile species of the decasyllabic or heroic couplet.

HIS PROSE 

1)  The Tale of Melibee (also called The Tale of Melibeus) 

            The story concerns Melibee who is away one day when three enemies break into his house, beat 

  his wife Dame Prudence, and attack his daughter, leaving her for dead. The tale then proceeds as a long 

  debate mainly between Melibee and his wife on what actions to take and how to seek redress from

  his enemies. His wife, as her name suggests, counsels prudence and chides him for his rash opinions.

  The discussion uses many proverbs and quotes from learned authorities and the Bible as each make

  their points. Dame Prudence is a woman discussing the role of the wife within marriage in a similar 

  way to the Wife of Bath and the wife in The Shipman's Tale.

2) The Person ‘s Tale :

             The subject of the parson's "tale" (or rather, treatise) is penitence. It may thus be taken as containing             inferential criticism of the behaviour and character of humanity detectable in all the other pilgrims,              knight included. Chaucer himself claims to be swayed by the plea for penitence, since he follows the         Parson's Tale with a Retraction (the conceit which appears to have been the intended close entire cycle)         in which he personally asks forgiveness for any offences he may have caused and (perhaps) for having           deed  to write works of worldly vanitee at all (line 1085).            

The                 The parson divides penitence into three parts; contrition of the heart, confession of the mouth,        and satisfaction. The second part about confession is illustrated by referring to the Seven Deadly sins  offering remedies against them. The Seven Deadly Sins are pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed,gluttony, and lust; they are "healed" by the virtues of humility, contentment, patience attitude, mercy, moderation, and chastity.  
        
        FEATURES OF HIS POETRY : 

1. The first thing is that strikes the eye is the unique position that Chaucer’s work occupies in the literature of the age. He is first, with no competitor for hundreds of years to challenges his position.
2. Among Chaucer’s literary virtues his acute faculty of observation is very important. He was man of the world, mixing freely with all type of mankind; and he used his opportunities to observe the little peculiarities of human nature.
3. Chaucer’s best descriptions, of man, manners and place, are of the first rank in their beauty, impressiveness, and humour. Even when he follows the common examples of the time, as when giving details of conventional spring mornings and flowery gardens , he has a vivacity that makes his poetry unique.
4.                                                        “ The bisy larke, messager of day,
   Salueth in her song the morwe gay,
   And firy phocebus riseth up so bright
   That all the orient laugheth with the lighte.”
                                                                                                                                           The knight’s Tale
5. The prevailing feature of chaucer’s humour is its Urbanity: the man of the worlds kindly tolerance of the weakness of his erring fellow mortals. He lays an emphasis on pathos, but it is not overlooked. In the poetry of chaucer’s the sentiment is human and unforced. We have excellent example of pathos in the tale of the ‘prioress’ and in ‘The Legend of good women’.
6.  Chaucer’s stories viewed strictly as stories, have most of the weakness of his generation : a fondness for long speeches, for pedantic digressions on such subjects as dreams and ethical problems, and for long explanation when non are necessary.
7.  His Metrical skill: The seven lined stanza a b a b b c c has become known as the Chaucerian or rhyme royal. He shows the skill that is as good as the very best apparent in the contemporary poems.
8. We many summarize chaucer’s achievement by saying that he is earliest of the great moderns. In comparison with the poets of his own time, and those of the succeeding century, the advance he makes is almost starting. All the chaucerian’s features help to create this modern atmosphere. He is indeed a genius ; he stands alone, and for nearly two hundred years none dare claim equality with him.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     IMPORTANT EVENTS OF THE AGE OF THE CHAUCER                                                                                                                                 

   EVENT	YEAR
   Edward III’s reign	1327-1377
   William Langland born	1332
   Beginning of the hundred years War with France	1338
   Chaucer born	1340
   Battle of Crecy	1346
   The Black Death (Plague)	1348-49
   Battle of Poictiers	1356
   Rechard II’s reign	1377-99
   Wyclif’s Bible	1380
   Wat Tyler’s Rebellion	1381
   Henry IV ascends the throne	1399
   Death of Langland	1400
   Death of Chaucer	1400

                                                                                             IMPORTANTS EVENTS OF THE POST-CHAUCERIAN PERIOD (1400-1557)                                                                                                                                                                                               

         
  

The Augustan Age

:The Age at a Glance
The eighteenth century in English Literature is roughly called the Augustan Age. It is also called the Classic or Neo-Classical Age in English literature. Broadly speaking, the eighteenth century is divisible into two literary Ages:
1, The Age of Pope (1700-1745)
2, The Age of Johnson(1745-1798)
Though the broad features of both the Ages are alike, there is a marked advance in literary values in the Age of Johnson over the Age of  Pope.

 Why it is called the Augustan Age?

    The term 'Augustan' was first applied to the literature of the 18th century as a term of high praise. The eighteenth century is called our 'indispensable century'. Those who used this term believed that as  the Age of emperor Augustus was the golden age in Latin Literature in the Roman Empire, so the eighteenth century was the golden age in literature in England. Now the term has just become a catchword to draw an analogy between the English literature of the first half of  the Eighteenth century and the Latin literature of the times of Vergil and Horace. Commenting upon this analogy W.H.Hudson says :"In the both cases men of letters were largely dependent upon powerful patrons. In both cases a critical spirit prevailed. In both cases the literature produced by a thoroughly artificial society was a literature, not of free creative effort and inspiration, but of self-conscious and deliberate art.

Why it is called the Classical Age ?

Eighteenth century is also called the Classic or Neo-Classical Age . The term Classical refers to ancient Latin literature which flourished in the Roman Empire. The latin poets and critics of this age were believed to be the best models and ultimate standards of Literary taste. The English poets and critics of the early eighteenth century felt honoured in being able to copy these classical poets and critics. Hense they were called Neo-classicists. Again , like these Latin poets and critics, the English poets and critics of this Age had a little faith in inspiration and talent of individual genius and had absolute faith in the laws and rulesw as precribed and practised by the ancients. A notable Critic Walsh wrote to Pope: "The best of the modern poets in all languages are those that have nearest copied ancients" This was the basic principle of Classicism.
an Age (18 century literature )
 There are many other characteristics like
1 .Lack of passion and emotion in literature.
2. Literature of Town-life.
3. Satirical and didactic.
4. Closed Heroic Couplet.
5. A gradual changes in the latter half of the eighteenth century .
6. Predominance of Logic and Reason

Jacobean to Restoration Period

 Jacobean to Restoration Period (1603-1700)
1 The Period at a Glance
The period from the Jacobean Age to the Restoration is a long  period of nearly a hundred years in the history of England . It  was a period of the greatest socio-political and religious  upheavals in the history of England. Broadly speaking, this  long period can be divided into the following historical  periods:
1. The Jacobean Age (1603-1625)
2. The Coraline Age or The Age of Charles 1 (1625-1649)
3. The  Interim Period of Commonwealth (1649-1660)
4. The Period of Restoration of Charles 2 (1660-1685)
5. James 2 (1685-1688)
6. The socio-Cultural Aftermath of the Restoration (up to 1700)

 After the death of  Queen Elizabeth in 1603, James 1  ascended the throne of England. The period of his reign is  called the Jacobean Age. After the glorious and glamorous  period of Queen Elizabeth, the reign of James 1 showed a  sharp decline in every field of national life. The spirit of  Renaissance , the craze for learning, the spirit for daring  voyages for the discovery of new lands, and the solidarity  of  England which had all touched the high water mark during  the Elizabethan Age started declining like spent up forces.  Several kinds of dissipating forces, specially in the domain of  religion, had started emerging and weakening the nation.
 

poetry
poets	years	poets	Years
Robert Herrick	1591-1674	John Donne	1573-1631
Thomas Carew	1598-1639	Abraham Cowley	1618-1667
Francis kuarles	1592-1644	Richard Crashaw	1613-1649
Sir john suckling	1600-1642	George Herbert	1593-1633
Richard Lovelace	1618-1658	Henry Vaughan	1622-1695
Andrew Marvell	1621-1658	Thomas Traherne	1634-1704
John Milton	1608-1674	Edmund Waller	1605-1687
		Samuel Butler	1612-1680
		Sir John Denham	1615-1669
		John Dryden	1631-1700

Drama
Authers	Years	Authers	Years
John Milton	1608-1674	george Farkuhar	1678-1707
John Dryden	1631-1700	Nathaniel Lee	1653-1692
William Wycherley	1640-1716	Thomas Otway	1652-1685
william Congreve	1670-1729	George Etheredge	1635-1691
John Vanbrugh	1626-1726

Prose
Authers	years	Authers	Years
John Milton	1608-1674	Thomas Hobbes	1588-1679
Jeremy Taylor	1613-1667	John Dryden	1631-1700
Richard Baxtor	1615-1691	John Bunyan	1628-1688
Thomas Fuller	1608-1661	Sir William Temple	1628-1699

 

 

JOHN MILTON

His Life 
John Milton, who occupies the greatest place among such poets as an influence and model, was Londoner by birth, and was born in Bread Street on 9th December 1608; but his family belong Oxfordshire. Milton entered St.Paul's school in 1620, and went thence five years later to Christ college, Cambridge,becoming M.A in 163.

 During the twenty years  of civil commotion he wrote, except a few sonnets, no poetry, but was fertile in controversial prose, which will be dealt with in another chapter. he married in 1643; and she died in 1652, leaving him three daughters. Meanwhile his tract writing, now devoted to purely political matters, and especially the defense of the execution of the king, he also lost his eyesight in 1652,and married a second in 1656, she also died in 1658. At the restoration he hid himself married third time in 1663, this time more successfully in comfort and permanence.The publication of his great epics followed at no long intervals, and he died on November 1674, and was buried at St. Giles's, Cripplegate. 

His Works
His works fall under three unusually well marked periods; the first including all early poems up to Lycidas; the second fertile in prose, but yielding no poetry except most of the sonnets; the third giving two Paradises and Samson Agonistes. 
Before Lycidas ,he wrote such remarkable poems like The Ode on the Nativity;, as the hearald's cry of a new great poet, is a test of the  reader's power to appreciate poetry.For the famous pair L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, no one has ever had anything but praise. Even Dr. Johnson could feel their universal charm. Comus was written in 1634 John Milton is best known for Paradise Lost, widely regarded as the greatest epic poem in English. Together with Paradise Regained, it formed his reputation as one of the greatest English poets. In his prose works he advocated the abolition of the Church of England. His influence extended not only through the civil wars and interregnum but also to the American and French revolutions
Paradise Lost
By far his best-known poem is Paradise Lost, an epic in twelve books in the tradition of Virgil's Aeneid, recounting the story of Satan's rebellion against God, and of the disobedience and fall of Adam and Eve, led astray by Satan's lies. The story of Satan's rebellion is not found in the Bible, except in passing allusions capable of more than one interpretation. I will therefore pause to sketch the story as it was generally accepted in Milton's day..

Lycidas
Edward King was a fellow student of Milton's, a Puritan youth who had written some poetry and was intending to become a preacher. He was on a ship in the Irish Sea when it sank, and he was drowned. Several of his friends decided to write poems in his memory and publish the collection. Milton's contribution, Lycidas, belongs to a tradition going back to the ancient Greeks and Romans. It is a pastoral. That is, the poet and the persons he writes about are all treated as shepherds (or shepherdesses) living in the hillsides and pastures of ancient Greece. Edward King is renamed Lycidas, and Milton mourns his death. 

SHAKESPEARE'S COMEDIES PLAYS

 In Shakespearean comedy, forces of chaos seem to contribute to a larger harmony; the promiscuity of unregulated sexual desire leads to a prospect of constancy and marriage.  This is the reason why Shakespeare’s Comedy Plays always include marriage in the end.  Shakespeare was very familiar with classical Greek comedy.  The Grecian “Old Comedy” was generally satirical and frequently political in nature, containing within it an abundance of sexual innuendos.  He also includes the comedy styles of Commedia dell’arte.  He uses the stock characters akin to Commedia dell’arte such as the foolish old man, the devious bravado, or military officers full of false bravado.  Shakespeare took the best comedic traits of various styles of Comedy and applied them to his 18 comedies.

 John Garrett (London 1959).  In an essay entitled "The Basis of Shakespearian Comedy," Professor Nevill Coghill…. pointed out that there were two conceptions of comedy current in the sixteenth century, both going back to grammarians of the fourth century, but radically opposed to each other. By the one definition, a comedy was a story beginning in sadness and ending in happiness. By the other it was, in Sidney’s words, "an imitation of common errors of out life" represented "in the most ridiculous and scornful sort that may be; so that it is impossible that any beholder can be content to be such a one." Shakespeare, he declared, accepted the first; Johnson, the second….

A further sub genre of the comedy is the tragicomedy - a serious play with a happy ending. For example, Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale could be considered a tragicomedy because it reaches a tragic climax but ends with a happy conclusion. Here is a list of Shakespearean comedies:

A further subgenre of the comedy is the tragicomedy - a serious play with a happy ending. For example, Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale could be considered a tragicomedy because it reaches a tragic climax but e

The plot is very important in Shakespeare's comedies. They are often very convoluted, twisted and confusing, and extremely hard to follow. Another characteristic of Shakespearean comedy is the themes of love and friendship, played within a courtly society. Songs often sung by a jester or a fool parallel the events of the plot. Also, foil and stock characters are often inserted into the plot.

Love provides the main ingredient for the plot. If the lovers are unmarried when the play opens, they either have not met or there is some obstacle in the way of their love. Examples of the obstacles these lovers go through are familiar to every reader of Shakespeare: the slanderous tongues which nearly wreck love in Much Ado About Nothing; the father insistent upon his daughter marrying his choice, as in A Midsummer Nights Dream; or the expulsion of the rightful Duke's daughter in As You Like It.

Shakespeare uses many predictable patterns in his plays. The hero rarely appears in the opening lines; however, we hear about him from other characters. The hero does not normally make an entrance for a few lines, at least, if not a whole scene. The hero is also virtuous and strong, but he always possesses a character flaw.

In the comedy itself, Shakespeare assumes that we know the basic plot, and he jumps right into it with little or no explanation. Foreshadowing and foreboding are put in the play early and can be heard throughout the drama. Many Shakespearean comedies have five acts. The climax of the play is always during the third act.

nds with a happy conclusion. Here is a list of Shakespearean comedies: 

• All's Well That Ends Well
• As You Like It
• The Comedy of Errors
• Cymbeline
• Love's Labour's Lost
• Measure for Measure
• The Merchant of Venice
• The Merry Wives of Windsor
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Pericles Prince of Tyre
• Taming of the Shrew
• The Tempest
• Twelfth Night
• The Two Gentlemen of Verona
• The Winter's Tale

THE LIFE OF SHAKESHPEARE

THe results of the almost ferocious industry spent upon unearthing and analysing every date and detail of Shakespeare's life are on whole very merge, and for literary purposes almost entirely unimportant, while with guesswork we have nothing to do. The certainties may be summarised very briefly, William Shakespeare was traditionally born on 23rd of April, and certainly baptised on the 26th of April 1564, at Stafford-on-Avon . His grandfather's name was Richard, that of his father, a dealer in hides, gloves, corn, wood, etc., and the poet's mother was Mary Arden. He had two sisters and three brothers. The family, which through Mary Arden had some small landed property, was at one time prosperous, at others not.

Shakespeare himself married early; the date of the actual ceremony is not known, but bond of marriage passed between him and his wife, Anne Hathaway on November 1582, when he was little more than eighteen, and his wife,  a yeoman's daughter, eight years older. They had three children , Susanna, Hamnet, and Judith. 

Tradition there is- through of no great age, and of exceedingly slight authority- as to his leaving Stafford for London, perhaps in 1585, 1586, or 1587, and perhaps in consequence of deer stealing prank in the neighbouring park of sir Thomas Lucy of Charlotte. He perhaps began his connection with the theatre as a horse-holder; and was pretty certainly as an actor before long.

In 1593 appeared his first work, the remarkable Venus and Adonis, and next year the rather less remarkable Lucrece. He was connected soon after the middle of the last decade of the century with divers theatres, become a shareholder in them and by 1597 could buy a good house, New place, at Stratford, where he afterwards enlarged his property. It is to be noted that his constant residence at London during ten years, his wife desertion of his wife, etc., are all matters of guesswork founded on barely negative evidence. London was his headquarters during this decade from 1586 to 1596, and occasionally visited  by him during third- at close of which, in 1616 on 23rd April, he died. His reputation, through it has steadily grown, has always been great;  there has never from the day of his death to this day been wanting testimony to his position from the greatest living names of the time in English Literature.