Chapter 10

CHAUCER.

The Poet of the new nation 267

I. Youth of Chaucer.--His London life--London in the fourteenth century--Chaucer as a page--His French campaigns--Valettus camerae Regis--Esquire--Married life--Poetry a la mode--Machault, Deguileville, Froissart, Des Champs, &c.--Chaucer's love ditties--The "Roman de la Rose"--"Book of the Duchesse" 268

II. Period of the Missions to France and Italy.--The functions of an ambassador and messenger--Various missions--Chaucer in Italy, 1372-3, 1378-9--Influence of Italian art and literature on Chaucer--London again; the Custom House; Aldgate--Works of this period--Latin and Italian deal--The gods of Olympus, the nude, the classics--Imitation of Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio--"Hous of Fame" 282

III. Troilus and Criseyde.--Plot derived from Boccaccio but transformed--A novel and a drama--Life and variety--Heroism and vulgarity--Troilus, Pandarus, Cressida--Scenes of comedy--Attempt at psychological analysis--_Nuances_ in Cressida's feelings--Her inconstancy--Melancholy and grave ending--Difference with Boccaccio and Pierre de Beauveau 298

IV. English Period.--Chaucer a member of Parliament--Clerk of the king's works--"Canterbury Tales"--The meeting at the "Tabard"--Gift of observation--Real life, details--Difference with Froissart--Humour, sympathy--Part allotted to "lowe men." The collections of tales--The "Decameron"--The aim of Chaucer and of Boccaccio--Chaucer's variety; speakers and listeners--Dialogues--Principal tales--Facetious and coarse ones--Plain ones--Fairy tales--Common life--Heroic deeds--Grave examples--Sermon. The care for truth--Good sense of Chaucer--His language and versification--Chaucer and the Anglo-Saxons--Chaucer and the French 312

V. Last Years.--Chaucer, King of Letters--His retreat in St. Mary's, Westminster--His death--His fame 341