'Endityinges of Worldly Vanitees' : Truth and Poetry in Chaucer as Compared with Dante
- Author / Editor
- Franke, William.
'Endityinges of Worldly Vanitees' : Truth and Poetry in Chaucer as Compared with Dante
- Published
- Chaucer Review 34: 87-106, 1999.
- Description
- Although only seventy years separated Dante's and Chaucer's creative peaks, different philosophies affected their attempts to communicate divine truth through poetry. Reflecting Augustinian philosophy, Dante believed that all things divine could be reflected and revealed through language. That more skeptical philosophies influenced Chaucer may explain why his poetry strives to unmask human folly rather than to affirm virtue.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Background and General Criticism.
- Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations.