Chaucer and the French Tradition: A Study in Style and Meaning.

Description: Describes aspects of medieval French poetry that influenced Chaucer's style, high and low, tracing the idealizing, nonrepresentational conventions of courtly romances from the early twelfth century to their epitome in Guillaume's de Lorris's portion of the "Roman de la Rose," and surveying the naturalistic, colloquial aspects of fabliaux, beast epics, and fables as they influence Jean de Meun's subsequent portion. Analyzes Chaucer's fusions of these traditions in his mature poetry through blending, juxtaposition, and parody: BD emulates relatively pure courtly style; increasing use of realistic conventions enrich HF and PF. TC balances courtly features and realism, contrasting both with Boethian sublimity to disclose their limits. CT displays the courtly (KnT and ClT), the realistic (RvT, WBT, CYT), and rich mixtures (MilT, MerT, NPT). Variety in styles and tones produce a Gothic tension between the ideal and the phenomenal.

Chaucer Subjects: Style and Versification
Sources, Analogues, and Literary Relations