The Boethian Dialogue in Chaucer's 'Book of the Duchess'
- Author / Editor
- Cherniss, Michael D.
The Boethian Dialogue in Chaucer's 'Book of the Duchess'
- Published
- Journal of English and Germanic Philology 68 (1969): 655-65.
- Description
- Details way in which the dialogue between the Dreamer and Black Knight in BD "closely follows the pattern of the first two books" of Boethius's "Consolation of Philosophy," with the Dreamer paralleling Philosophy and the Knight the character Boethius, indicating that "Chaucer desires that his audience apply the doctrine of Lady Philosophy to the tragic loss of the Knight." Discourages traditional equations of the Knight with John of Gaunt and the lady with Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Book of the Duchess
- Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations