Geoffrey Chaucer Essays

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Troilus and Criseyde

In Troilus and Criseyde, a Trojan prince, Troilus falls in love with Criseyde who is a beautiful widow. Pandarus who is Troilus’ friend and Criseyde’s uncle, helps Troilus by making Criseyde fall in love with him by fair means or foul. Troilus and...

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Chaucer's Poetry

In Chaucer’s Parlement of Foules, the dreamer is a lover and a writer of poetry; his dream occurs primarily in a series of images and interactions, left ultimately in a question unanswered by the formel eagle. This is a moment of synecdoche, in...

Chaucer's Poetry

Geoffrey Chaucer's poem “The Book of the Duchess” was written between the years 1369-1372. The poem is a product of Chaucer’s French period. This work was written for Chaucer's principal patron, John of Gaunt, after the death of his first wife,...

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Chaucer's Poetry

Chaucer, at least on the surface, recreates the commonly perceived stereotype of a vile woman in Alisoun; and as D.W. Robertson in Chaucer’s Exegetes states, “She is but an elaborate iconographic figure designed to show the manifold implications...

12th Grade

Chaucer's Poetry

Throughout ‘The Wife of Bath’s Prologue’, Chaucer uses imagery to enhance our understanding of the Wife’s character and principles. Chaucer makes use of simple yet powerful metaphors such as fire and nature to augment our understanding of the Wife...

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Chaucer's Poetry

Women in the Middle Ages generally had little opportunity to provide influence either in life or in literature. Little is known of their lives and thoughts because little was written from their viewpoint. Yet in an age and a society dominated by...