Opening the text

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury TalesChaucer, Geoffrey

General

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales

Name: Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales
Author: Chaucer, Geoffrey

Chaucer, Geoffrey

English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500

By preve as wel as by auctoritee,
  That wikked fruit cometh of a wikked tree,                           2395
  That may ye finde, if that it lyketh yow.
  But for this ende I speke this as now,
  To telle you of false Demophon.
  In love a falser herde I never non,
  But-if hit were his fader Theseus.                                   2400
  'God, for his grace, fro swich oon kepe us!'
  Thus may thise women prayen that hit here.
  Now to theffect turne I of my matere.                                (10)
    Destroyed is of Troye the citee;
  This Demophon com sailing in the see                                 2405
  Toward Athenes, to his paleys large;
  With him com many a ship and many a barge
  Ful of his folk, of which ful many oon
  Is wounded sore, and seek, and wo begoon.
  And they han at the sege longe y-lain.                               2410
  Behinde him com a wind and eek a rain
  That shoof so sore, his sail ne mighte stonde,
  Him were lever than al the world a-londe,                            (20)
  So hunteth him the tempest to and fro.
  So derk hit was, he coude nowher go;                                 2415
  And with a wawe brosten was his stere.
  His ship was rent so lowe, in swich manere,
  That carpenter ne coude hit nat amende.
  The see, by nighte, as any torche brende
  For wood, and posseth him now up now doun,                           2420
  Til Neptune hath of him compassioun,
  And Thetis, Chorus, Triton, and they alle,
  And maden him upon a lond to falle,                                  (30)
  Wher-of that Phillis lady was and quene,
  Ligurgus doghter, fairer on to sene                                  2425
  Than is the flour again the brighte sonne.
  Unnethe is Demophon to londe y-wonne,
  Wayk and eek wery, and his folk for-pyned
  Of werinesse, and also enfamyned;
  And to the deeth he almost was y-driven.                             2430
  His wyse folk to conseil han him yiven
  To seken help and socour of the queen,
  And loken what his grace mighte been,                                (40)
  And maken in that lond som chevisaunce,
  To kepen him fro wo and fro mischaunce.                              2435
  For seek was he, and almost at the deeth;
  Unnethe mighte he speke or drawe his breeth,
  And lyth in Rodopeya him for to reste.
  Whan he may walke, him thoughte hit was the beste
  Unto the court to seken for socour.                                  2440
  Men knewe him wel, and diden him honour;
  For at Athenes duk and lord was he,
  As Theseus his fader hadde y-be,                                     (50)
  That in his tyme was of greet renoun,
  No man so greet in al his regioun;                                   2445
  And lyk his fader of face and of stature,
  And fals of love; hit com him of nature;
  As doth the fox Renard, the foxes sone,
  Of kinde he coude his olde faders wone
  Withoute lore, as can a drake swimme,                                2450

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury TalesChaucer, Geoffrey

General

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales

Chaucer, Geoffrey

English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500

By preve as wel as by auctoritee,
  That wikked fruit cometh of a wikked tree,                           2395
  That may ye finde, if that it lyketh yow.
  But for this ende I speke this as now,
  To telle you of false Demophon.
  In love a falser herde I never non,
  But-if hit were his fader Theseus.                                   2400
  'God, for his grace, fro swich oon kepe us!'
  Thus may thise women prayen that hit here.
  Now to theffect turne I of my matere.                                (10)
    Destroyed is of Troye the citee;
  This Demophon com sailing in the see                                 2405
  Toward Athenes, to his paleys large;
  With him com many a ship and many a barge
  Ful of his folk, of which ful many oon
  Is wounded sore, and seek, and wo begoon.
  And they han at the sege longe y-lain.                               2410
  Behinde him com a wind and eek a rain
  That shoof so sore, his sail ne mighte stonde,
  Him were lever than al the world a-londe,                            (20)
  So hunteth him the tempest to and fro.
  So derk hit was, he coude nowher go;                                 2415
  And with a wawe brosten was his stere.
  His ship was rent so lowe, in swich manere,
  That carpenter ne coude hit nat amende.
  The see, by nighte, as any torche brende
  For wood, and posseth him now up now doun,                           2420
  Til Neptune hath of him compassioun,
  And Thetis, Chorus, Triton, and they alle,
  And maden him upon a lond to falle,                                  (30)
  Wher-of that Phillis lady was and quene,
  Ligurgus doghter, fairer on to sene                                  2425
  Than is the flour again the brighte sonne.
  Unnethe is Demophon to londe y-wonne,
  Wayk and eek wery, and his folk for-pyned
  Of werinesse, and also enfamyned;
  And to the deeth he almost was y-driven.                             2430
  His wyse folk to conseil han him yiven
  To seken help and socour of the queen,
  And loken what his grace mighte been,                                (40)
  And maken in that lond som chevisaunce,
  To kepen him fro wo and fro mischaunce.                              2435
  For seek was he, and almost at the deeth;
  Unnethe mighte he speke or drawe his breeth,
  And lyth in Rodopeya him for to reste.
  Whan he may walke, him thoughte hit was the beste
  Unto the court to seken for socour.                                  2440
  Men knewe him wel, and diden him honour;
  For at Athenes duk and lord was he,
  As Theseus his fader hadde y-be,                                     (50)
  That in his tyme was of greet renoun,
  No man so greet in al his regioun;                                   2445
  And lyk his fader of face and of stature,
  And fals of love; hit com him of nature;
  As doth the fox Renard, the foxes sone,
  Of kinde he coude his olde faders wone
  Withoute lore, as can a drake swimme,                                2450

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales

Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 — The House of Fame; The Legend of Good Women; The Treatise on the Astrolabe; The Sources of the Canterbury Tales

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