Chaucer from Prentice to Poet

The Metaphor of Love in Dream Visions and Troilus and Criseyde

Edward I. Condren

• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9780813070957
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism in Poetry
• Index: Literature

A comprehensive reevaluation of Chaucer's early poetry, from the "dream visions" to Troilus and Criseyde

While covering all the major work produced by Geoffrey Chaucer in his pre-Canterbury Tales career, Chaucer from Prentice to Poet seeks to correct the traditional interpretations of these poems. Edward Condren provides new and provocative interpretations of the three "dream visions"—Book of the Duchess, Parliament of Fowls, and House of Fame—as well as Chaucer's early masterwork Troilus and Criseyde.

 

Condren draws an arresting series of portraits of Chaucer as glimpsed in his work: the fledgling poet seeking to master the artificial style of French love poetry; the passionate author attempting to rebut critics of his work; and, finally, the master of a naturalistic style entirely his own.

 

This book is one of the few works written in the past century that reevaluates Chaucer's early poetry and the only one that examines the Dream Visions in conjunction with the Troilus.It should frame the discourse of Chaucer scholarship for many generations to come.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Abbreviations
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Book of the Duchess
• 3. Parliament of Fowls
• 4. House of Fame
• 5. The Missing Tidings of the House of Fame
• 6. Troilus and Criseyde
• Appendix A: Parallel Structures of Duchess, Fowls, and Fame with its Tidings of Love
• Appendix B: The Golden Proportion
• Notes
• Works Cited
• Index