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

Out at a windowe for to pace;
  And, when they metten in that place,
  They were a-chekked bothe two,
  And neither of hem moste out go;
  For other so they gonne croude,                                      2095
  Til eche of hem gan cryen loude,
  'Lat me go first!' 'Nay, but lat me!
  And here I wol ensuren thee
  With the nones that thou wolt do so,
  That I shal never fro thee go,                                (1010) 2100
  But be thyn owne sworen brother!
  We wil medle us ech with other,
  That no man, be he never so wrothe,
  Shal han that oon [of] two, but bothe
  At ones, al beside his leve,                                         2105
  Come we a-morwe or on eve,
  Be we cryed or stille y-rouned.'
  Thus saugh I fals and sooth compouned
  Togeder flee for oo tydinge.
    Thus out at holes gonne wringe                              (1020) 2110
  Every tyding streight to Fame;
  And she gan yeven eche his name.
  After hir disposicioun,
  And yaf hem eek duracioun,
  Some to wexe and wane sone,                                          2115
  As dooth the faire whyte mone,
  And leet hem gon. Ther mighte I seen
  Wenged wondres faste fleen,
  Twenty thousand in a route,
  As Eolus hem blew aboute.                                     (1030) 2120
    And, lord! this hous, in alle tymes,
  Was ful of shipmen and pilgrymes,
  With scrippes bret-ful of lesinges,
  Entremedled with tydinges,
  And eek alone by hem-selve.                                          2125
  O, many a thousand tymes twelve
  Saugh I eek of these pardoneres,
  Currours, and eek messangeres,
  With boistes crammed ful of lyes
  As ever vessel was with lyes.                                 (1040) 2130
  And as I alther-fastest wente
  Aboute, and dide al myn entente
  Me for to pleye and for to lere,
  And eek a tyding for to here,
  That I had herd of som contree                                       2135
  That shal not now be told for me;--
  For hit no nede is, redely;
  Folk can singe hit bet than I;
  For al mot out, other late or rathe,
  Alle the sheves in the lathe;--                               (1050) 2140
  I herde a gret noise withalle
  In a corner of the halle,
  Ther men of love tydings tolde,
  And I gan thiderward beholde;
  For I saugh renninge every wight,                                    2145
  As faste as that they hadden might;
  And everich cryed, 'What thing is that?'
  And som seyde, 'I not never what.'
  And whan they were alle on an hepe,
  Tho behinde gonne up lepe,                                    (1060) 2150
  And clamben up on othere faste,
  And up the nose on hye caste,
  And troden faste on othere heles
  And stampe, as men don after eles.
    Atte laste I saugh a man,                                          2155
  Which that I [nevene] naught ne can;
  But he semed for to be
  A man of greet auctoritee....                                 (1068) 2158

(_Unfinished._)

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

Out at a windowe for to pace;
  And, when they metten in that place,
  They were a-chekked bothe two,
  And neither of hem moste out go;
  For other so they gonne croude,                                      2095
  Til eche of hem gan cryen loude,
  'Lat me go first!' 'Nay, but lat me!
  And here I wol ensuren thee
  With the nones that thou wolt do so,
  That I shal never fro thee go,                                (1010) 2100
  But be thyn owne sworen brother!
  We wil medle us ech with other,
  That no man, be he never so wrothe,
  Shal han that oon [of] two, but bothe
  At ones, al beside his leve,                                         2105
  Come we a-morwe or on eve,
  Be we cryed or stille y-rouned.'
  Thus saugh I fals and sooth compouned
  Togeder flee for oo tydinge.
    Thus out at holes gonne wringe                              (1020) 2110
  Every tyding streight to Fame;
  And she gan yeven eche his name.
  After hir disposicioun,
  And yaf hem eek duracioun,
  Some to wexe and wane sone,                                          2115
  As dooth the faire whyte mone,
  And leet hem gon. Ther mighte I seen
  Wenged wondres faste fleen,
  Twenty thousand in a route,
  As Eolus hem blew aboute.                                     (1030) 2120
    And, lord! this hous, in alle tymes,
  Was ful of shipmen and pilgrymes,
  With scrippes bret-ful of lesinges,
  Entremedled with tydinges,
  And eek alone by hem-selve.                                          2125
  O, many a thousand tymes twelve
  Saugh I eek of these pardoneres,
  Currours, and eek messangeres,
  With boistes crammed ful of lyes
  As ever vessel was with lyes.                                 (1040) 2130
  And as I alther-fastest wente
  Aboute, and dide al myn entente
  Me for to pleye and for to lere,
  And eek a tyding for to here,
  That I had herd of som contree                                       2135
  That shal not now be told for me;--
  For hit no nede is, redely;
  Folk can singe hit bet than I;
  For al mot out, other late or rathe,
  Alle the sheves in the lathe;--                               (1050) 2140
  I herde a gret noise withalle
  In a corner of the halle,
  Ther men of love tydings tolde,
  And I gan thiderward beholde;
  For I saugh renninge every wight,                                    2145
  As faste as that they hadden might;
  And everich cryed, 'What thing is that?'
  And som seyde, 'I not never what.'
  And whan they were alle on an hepe,
  Tho behinde gonne up lepe,                                    (1060) 2150
  And clamben up on othere faste,
  And up the nose on hye caste,
  And troden faste on othere heles
  And stampe, as men don after eles.
    Atte laste I saugh a man,                                          2155
  Which that I [nevene] naught ne can;
  But he semed for to be
  A man of greet auctoritee....                                 (1068) 2158

(_Unfinished._)

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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