Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 — Romaunt of the Rose; Minor PoemsChaucer, Geoffrey
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Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 — Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems
Chaucer, Geoffrey
English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500
I have no doubt at all that the _Galfrid_ here referred to is no other than
Geoffrey Chaucer, who was called, indifferently, _Galfrid_ or _Geoffrey_.
This appears from the testimony of Lydgate, who speaks, in his 'Troy-book,'
of 'Noble Galfryde, chefe Poete of Brytayne,' and again, of 'My mayster
Galfride'; see Lydgate's Siege of Troye, bk. ii. ch. 15, and bk. iii. ch.
25; ed. 1557, fol. K 2, col. 1, and fol. R 2, back, col. 2. Hence we are
not surprised to find that the author makes frequent reference to Chaucer's
Works, viz. to Anelida (l. 235), the Death of Pity (701), Troilus (872),
the Legend of Good Women (104, 873), and the Parl. of Foules (near the
end). The two allusions to the Legend of Good Women at once make the poem
later than 1385; and in fact, it must be quite a century later than that
date. There are more than 70 rimes that differ from those employed by
Chaucer. The Poet introduces to our notice personages named _Philogenet_,
_Philobone_, and _Rosial_. Of these, at least the two former savour of the
time of the Renaissance; for, although Chaucer uses the name Philostrate in
the Knightes Tale (A 1428, 1558, 1728), he merely _copies_ this name from
Boccaccio; and it is amusing to find that Boccaccio himself did not
understand it.[230]
§ 12. POEMS ADDED IN SPEGHT'S EDITIONS OF 1598 AND 1602.
We have now to consider the additions made by Speght in 1598. These were
only two, viz. _Chaucer's Dream_ and _The Flower and the Leaf_.
62. _Chaucer's Dream._ A long poem of 2206 short lines, in metre similar to
that of The House of Fame; accepted by Tyrwhitt, and in all the editions.
But there is no early trace of it; and we are not bound to accept as
Chaucer's a poem first ascribed to him in 1598, and of which the MS. (at
Longleat) was written about 1550. The language is of late date, and the
sonant final _-e_ is decidedly scarce. The poem is badly named, and may
have been so named by Speght; the proper title is 'The Isle of Ladies.' We
find such rimes as _be_, _companie_ (Ch. _be_, _company-e_); _know_, _low_,
i. e. law (Ch. _know-e_, _law-e_); _grene_, _yene_, i. e. eyes (Ch.
_gren-e_, _y-ën_); _plesaunce_, _fesaunce_ (Ch. _plesaunc-e_, _fesaunts_);
_ywis_, _kisse_ (Ch. _ywis_, _kis-se_); and when we come to _destroied_
riming with _conclude_, it is time to stop. The tediousness of this poem is
appalling[231].
63. _The Flower and the Leaf._ This is rather a pretty poem, in 7-line
stanzas. The language is that of the fifteenth century. It professes to be
written by a gentlewoman, like the Assemble of Ladies; and perhaps it
was[232]. Very likely, the same 'gentlewoman' wrote both these poems. If
so, the Flower and the Leaf is the better finished, and probably the later
of the two. It contains the word _henchman_, for which the earliest dated
quotation which I have yet found is 1415 (Royal Wills, ed. Nichols, p.
220). An interesting reference is given in the lines--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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