Late Medieval English Literature: Chaucer and Gawain
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A 14th-Century Romance
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the most famous romance of the late 14th century and one of the best-known Arthurian stories. This work is characterized by its use of the alliterative verse of the epic, combined with a lyrical element.
The Green Knight’s Challenge and Themes
The poem describes how Sir Gawain, a knight of King Arthur’s Round Table, accepts a challenge from a mysterious “Green Knight.” The challenge requires any knight to strike him with his axe, provided the challenger agrees to take a return blow in a year and a day.
The poem offers a close acquaintance with the courtly life of the age, and the writer was evidently a lover of the chase. It holds historical value and is remarkable for the deep and tender love of nature displayed throughout, with delightful passages describing the charms of wild scenery. Furthermore, the work displays:
- An intimate knowledge of medieval craftsmanship and art.
- Literary power in its treatment of the story, skillfully avoiding monotony and repetition.
- A strong didactic element.
The poet possessed a solid biblical education, was well-read in contemporary authors, and conducted literary activity in a provincial household, likely with access to the metropolis. The manuscript itself provides the evident terminus ante quem, and it has been dated on stylistic grounds around 1400. In the manuscript, Sir Gawain is preceded by three other works titled by modern scholarship:
- Pearl
- Cleanness
- Patience
Geoffrey Chaucer: Literary Periods and Masterpieces (1343–1400)
Geoffrey Chaucer’s literary activity is traditionally divided into three periods: French, Italian, and English.
Chaucer’s French Period (Until 1372)
This period includes:
- A translation of Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun’s Roman de la Rose (about 22,000 verses) into English as The Romaunt of the Rose.
- The Book of the Duchess (1369), an elegy for Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster and John of Gaunt’s first wife, who died of plague that year. The poem is told in octosyllabic couplets describing the poet’s dream.
Chaucer’s Italian Period (1372–1386)
Influenced by Petrarch and Boccaccio, this period produced several major works:
- The Story of Constance
- Compleynt to His Lady
- The House of Fame (a dream vision)
- The Parlament of Fowls
- Troilus and Criseyde (his greatest work until 1385)
Troilus and Criseyde: The First English Novel
Troilus and Criseyde is a poem written in ‘rhyme royal’ and is considered by critics to be the first novel in English. It is the tragedy of Troilus, not of Criseyde, focusing on the “double sorwe” of Troilus, as made clear in the first line. It functions as a chivalric romance where Troilus is the hero.
Chaucer’s English Period (1386–1400)
This final period is defined by Chaucer’s undisputed masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales.
The Canterbury Tales: Structure and Themes
The Canterbury Tales is a long narrative poem that opens with the General Prologue. Here, a group of 29 pilgrims meets at the Tabard Inn in Southwark to begin their journey to Canterbury.
Narrative Structure and the Pilgrims
Following the prologue, the work consists, in the tradition of Boccaccio, of the stories told by these pilgrims. The author uses the general narration—the journey itself—as the unifying story. Each pilgrim holds a double status: they are both a character in the general narration and a narrator of their own tale. When a pilgrim tells a story, their status shifts from the pilgrim character of the general narration to the pilgrim narrator of a different story.
Medieval Sensuality and Humor
Many lines in The Canterbury Tales suggest that Chaucer gave free rein to a medieval, sexually obsessed, sensual, and even obscene spirit. Such events represent comic effect, as the author’s manner seems humorous rather than critical or satirical.
The Wife of Bath: A Study in Vitality
The Wife of Bath, characterized by enormous vitality and personality, advocates for free love and challenges traditional concepts of marriage. She misinterprets a biblical passage where Jesus criticizes a woman for being married five times, stating instead, “God made us to wax and multiply.” Furthermore, the prologue to her tale implies that she might have joined the pilgrimage hoping to find a sixth husband.