登陆注册
14725700000056

第56章 CHARACTERISTICS OF CHAUCER AND OF HIS POETRY.(6)

And doubtless he counted the days lost in which he was prevented from following the rule of life which elsewhere be sets himself, to study and to read alway, day by day," and pressed even the nights into his service when he was not making his head ache with writing. How eager and, considering the times in which he lived, how diverse a reader he was, has already been abundantly illustrated in the course of this volume. His knowledge of Holy Writ was considerable, though it probably for the most part came to him at second-hand. He seems to have had some acquaintance with patristic and homiletic literature; he produced a version of the homily on Mary Magdalene, improperly attributed to Origen; and, as we have seen, emulated King Alfred in translating Boethius's famous manual of moral philosophy. His Latin learning extended over a wide range of literature, from Virgil and Ovid down to some of the favourite Latin poets of the Middle Ages. It is to be feared that he occasionally read Latin authors with so eager a desire to arrive at the contents of their books that he at times mistook their meaning--not far otherwise, slightly to vary a happy comparison made by one of his most eminent commentators, than many people read Chaucer's own writings now-a-days. That he possessed any knowledge at all of Greek may be doubted, both on general grounds and on account of a little slip or two in quotation of a kind not unusual with those who quote what they have not previously read. His "Troilus and Cressid" has only a very distant connexion indeed with Homer, whose "Iliad," before it furnished materials for the mediaeval Troilus-legend, had been filtered through a brief Latin epitome, and diluted into a Latin novel, and a journal kept at the seat of war, of altogether apocryphal value. And, indeed, it must in general be conceded that, if Chaucer had read much, he lays claim to having read more; for he not only occasionally ascribes to known authors works which we can by no means feel certain as to their having written, but at times he even cites (or is made to cite in all the editions of his works), authors who are altogether unknown to fame by the names which he gives to them. But then it must be remembered that other mediaeval writers have rendered themselves liable to the same kind of charge. Quoting was one of the dominant literary fashions of the age;and just as a word without an oath went for but little in conversation, so a statement or sentiment in writing aquired greatly enhanced value when suggested by authority, even after no more precise a fashion than the use of the phrase "as old books say." In Chaucer's days the equivalent of the modern "I have seen it said SOMEWHERE"--with perhaps the venturesome addition: "I THINK, in Horace" had clearly not become an objectionable expletive.

Of modern literatures there can be no doubt that Chaucer had made substantially his own, the two which could be of importance to him as a poet. His obligations to the French singers have probably been over-estimated--at all events if the view adopted in this essay be the correct one, and if the charming poem of the "Flower and the Leaf," together with the lively, but as to its meaning not very transparent, so-called "Chaucer's Dream," be denied admission among his genuine works. At the same time, the influence of the "Roman de la Rose" and that of the courtly poets, of whom Machault was the chief in France and Froissart the representative in England, are perceptible in Chaucer almost to the last, nor is it likely that he should ever have ceased to study and assimilate them. On the other hand, the extent of his knowledge of Italian literature has probably till of late been underrated in an almost equal degree. This knowledge displays itself not only in the imitation or adaptation of particular poems, but more especially in the use made of incidental passages and details. In this way his debts to Dante were especially numerous; and it is curious to find proofs so abundant of Chaucer's relatively close study of a poet with whose genius his own had so few points in common. Notwithstanding first appearances, it is an open question whether Chaucer had ever read Boccaccio's "Decamerone," with which he may merely have had in common the sources of several of his "Canterbury Tales." But as he certainly took one of them from the "Teseide" (without improving it in the process), and not less certainly, and adapted the "Filostrato" in his "Troilus and Cressid," it is strange that he should refrain from naming the author to whom he was more indebted than to any one other for poetic materials.

But wide and diverse as Chaucer's reading fairly deserves to be called, the love of nature was even stronger and more absorbing in him than the love of books. He has himself, in a very charming passage, compared the strength of the one and of the other of his predilections:--And as for me, though I have knowledge slight, In bookes for to read I me delight, And to them give I faith and full credence, And in my heart have them in reverence So heartily, that there is game none That from my bookes maketh me be gone, But it be seldom on the holiday,--Save, certainly, when that the month of May Is come, and that I hear the fowles sing, And see the flowers as they begin to spring, Farewell my book, and my devotion.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 都市极品小神医

    都市极品小神医

    极品小神医从山上而来,懂武功,能修炼,会透视,一手治人与生死之间,施恩无数;一手征服权势与手掌之间,玩转花都;透视神眼更让他看清世间一切。他令恶霸二少闻风丧胆,更令性感美女倒贴而来,一个个别人眼里的女神都抢着要为他暖床,对此他感到很烦恼也感到很庆幸,还好他是神医,不然这样下去肾真的亏了。“来吧来吧,各位小妖精们都来吧,我要一夜战十个。”唐金自信一笑,如是说道。
  • 帝夜之风云欲来

    帝夜之风云欲来

    “诸君平身!”帝主蓦然说道,当他转过身,将臣为他而死
  • 托马斯的末日

    托马斯的末日

    活跃在国际的一个暴力犯罪组织因到处寻找财宝而残杀无辜,而令人闻风丧胆,但是世间始终有正义,美国FBI的成员在这个组织头目的屡次威胁下最终将其制服,还社会和百姓予和平与安定!
  • 泥丸李祖师女宗双修宝筏

    泥丸李祖师女宗双修宝筏

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 上古世纪梦靥

    上古世纪梦靥

    遥远的歌谣神圣的祈祷众神褪去了冠冕沉睡在众星之间遗忘在繁花盛开的时刻谁在祈祷着神的光辉洒向世间
  • CRANFORD

    CRANFORD

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 我变形了

    我变形了

    男主在旅游中发现自己和女人互换了身体,然后被自己的舍友疯狂的追求。
  • 首席盛宠之天后来袭

    首席盛宠之天后来袭

    尹少T市头号人物,天华娱乐CEO,全市排队待嫁对象。如此万里挑一竟被女人放鸽子。祁悦一夕从千金小姐沦为酒吧歌手,与父母被迫分离,接逢男友劈腿,她这悲剧人生,却因他的出现变得越发传奇。她没钱请他吃饭他亲自下厨,她住宿不方便他干脆安排了门对门。别的男人来纠缠他霸气宣誓所有权,壁咚死缠各种旁若无人的宠!
  • 我与一个狼人的爱恋

    我与一个狼人的爱恋

    在我上班的第一天认识了一个狼人,他特别帅,也很钟情,虽然认识的短,毕竟感情很深,已经到了谈婚论嫁的程度了,双方的父母也很满意。可是不幸还是来到我们的身边,在结婚的前一周,那个狼人得了癌症,过不了多久就去世了,可是我都不敢相信这个事实,也随着殉情,跳楼自杀了......
  • 九转灵帝

    九转灵帝

    苍茫九州,天骄无数,一少年自小镇出,夺天地造化,跻身绝代天骄之列,斩无数荆棘,终踏强者巅峰,书写传奇......PS:求点击,收藏,票票,求各种支持!