The Book of the Duchess, the Parliament of Fowls, and the House of Fame
The Parliament of Fowls and the House of Fame are closely related to each other and to the Book of the Duchess, as all three of the poetry share several similar themes. Written between 1368 and 1380 they are some of Chaucer’s earliest works in which aspects of some of the great writers of his time are evident. There are three major themes intertwined within the three works, which Chaucer has added to the Dream Vision genre.
The first work, possibly written from 1368-1372, the Book of the Duchess begins with the love-sick narrator finally falling asleep as he reads the sad love story of Seys and Alcyone (originally written by Ovid). He dreams that he is in bed early in the morning, then out hunting in the forest. He follows a dog down a path and finds a knight dressed in black who laments the loss of his lady. The narrator forces the knight to tell him about her, eventually learning that she is dead. The other hunters reappear, a bell strikes, and the narrator awakes.
Written in the late 1370’s, the House of Fame consists of three books, and unfortunately is incomplete. A short prologue on dreams and an invocation to sleep precedes book one, which tells of the narrator’s visit to the Temple of Glass where he finds images, suggested by book four and other parts of Virgil’s Aeneid. Seized by a chatty golden eagle at the start of book two, he is carried up into the House of Fame, which is located in the heavens. There he sees, during book three, images of famous writers; in particular he sees how arbitrary Fame is. Beside the House of Fame he sees the Labyrinth, representing all the complexity of human existence. “A man of gret auctorite” (H...
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...ay. Through the use of several references to famous texts, Chaucer helped explain his poetry to his audience at the time and to us now.
Sources Cited
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Lohr 1
The achievements and expertise of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Hildegard of Bingen were similar in that both contributed to literature. Although Eleanor of Aquitaine was often up to her knees in political affairs, nevertheless found time to cultivate the arts and patronize literature (Lindenmuth, 2005, p.1). At the royal court at Poitiers, she dedicated much of her money toward the patronage of all kinds of rising artists in all areas, but she’s best known for promoting the troubadours and romance writers (Lindenmuth, 2005, p.1). Eleanor herself greatly contributed to the rules of courtly love (Au, p.1), whose key features became humility, courtesy, and adultery (Delahoyde, Courtly Love, p.1), but her main contributions to literature were indirect.
The nurses that are left to care for the patients are affected by the nursing shortage. They are made
Forty years ago in America childhood obesity was rarely a topic of conversation. A survey done in the early 1970s showed that 6.1% of children between the ages 12 and 19 were overweight. Eight years later the same survey was done and 17.4% were considered overweight (Iannelli). “Childhood obesity epidemic in America is now a confirmed fact since the number of overweight or obese children has more than tripled during the last 30 years” (Childhood Obesity Epidemic). “Over the last 20 years, the prevalence of obesity in children aged 6 to 11 years has tripled from 6.5% to 19.6%” (Childhood Obesity Epidemic). As a nation statistics should be alarming. Why are American children today so obese?
Geoffrey Chaucer has successfully developed several themes which are seen throughout his works. Although the literary techniques that Chaucer uses are not his own, these themes which reoccur are in the one of a kind style which defines Chaucer's works.
The effects of obesity in children are immediate health problems as well as long term health problems. According to the WebMD article “Children’s Health” states that “children have fewer weight-related health and medical problems than adults. However, overweight children are at high risk of becoming overweight adolescents and adults, placing them at risk of developing chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes later in life.” Obesity has negative effects on children, which raises concern, because lon...
The prolonged shortage of skilled nursing personnel has been a serious concern to the healthcare industry, and this shortage has impacted the quality of care delivery. In addition, nursing turnover has also exacerbated the problem of nursing shortage. Nursing shortage has been blamed on many nurses retiring and less younger nurses joining the occupation. There is also an increase in life expectancy (baby boomers) leading an increase in both physical and mental ailment with subsequent demand in nursing care. Nurses are also leaving nursing profession because of inadequate staffing, tense work environment, negative press about the profession, and inflexible work schedules. Even though nursing is a promising career and offers job security, the
Gioia, Dana, and X.J. Kennedy. "My Last Duchess." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, Compact Edition, Interactive Edition. 5th ed. New York: Pearson; Longman Publishing, 2007. 432-433. Print.
Childhood obesity is a serious problem among American children. Some doctors are even calling childhood obesity an epidemic because of the large percentage of children being diagnosed each year as either overweight or obese. “According to DASH sixteen to thirty-three percent of American children each year is being told they are obese.” (Childhood Obesity) There is only a small percentage, approximately one percent, of those children who are obese due to physical or health related issues; although, a condition that is this serious, like obesity, could have been prevented. With close monitoring and choosing a healthier lifestyle there would be no reason to have such a high obesity rate in the United States (Caryn). Unfortunately, for these children that are now considered to be obese, they could possibly be facing some serious health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancers. All of these diseases have been linked to obesity through research. These children never asked for this to happen to them; however, it has happened, and now they will either live their entire life being obese, or they will be forced to reverse what has already been done (Childhood Obesity).
It is very clear when you sit down and begin to read Chaucer’s work that
Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales: Riverside Chaucer Third Edition. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,1987. 3-328 Secondary
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. "The Lady of Shalott." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams. 6th ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 1993. 1059-1063.
In the Middle Ages, when The Canterbury Tales was written, society became captivated by love and the thought of courtly and debonair love was the governing part of all relationships and commanded how love should be conducted. These principles changed literature completely and created a new genre dedicated to brave, valorous knights embarking on noble quests with the intention of some reward, whether that be their life, lover, or any other want. The Canterbury Tales, written in the 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer, accurately portrays and depicts this type of genre. Containing a collection of stories within the main novel, only one of those stories, entitled “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”, truly outlines the 14th century community beliefs on courtly love.
The Medieval period of The Canterbury Tales is held on April 11, 1387. The writing style of tales are literary skilled. “There is clear evidence in them that Chaucer was familiar with a considerable number of the great book of his time, and it is fairly well established that his writings show a steady increase in his literary skill” (Chaucer xxxvii). Chaucer is a writer of surprise. His stories not only come from plots of other writers but also from his lifetime. “There is of course no explaining where or how Chaucer acquired his ability as a great storyteller. However, the fact that he was a man of affairs as well as a man of books, a civil servant who dealt frequently with people from all walks of life, seem to have had great influence on the writing he did at night when he returned home from the office” (Chaucer xxxv). The Prioress tells an anti-Semitic tale, which reflects her position among the clergy.
Chaucer is not some unknown literary author who is known only by a dozen people in the English field. Besides Shakespeare, Chaucer is probably one of the most well-known contributors to English literature, if not the most well-known. His name is instantly recognizable, and many a high school student learned of him through the oftentimes-painful reading of his most famous work, The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer’s work is an extremely important text in terms of the evolution of the English language; The Canterbury Tales set itself apart from other literary works at the time by being one of the first pieces of literature to be written in English instead of French, and its extreme popularity spurred the creations of even more English literature, allowing the language to regain its prominence and evolve into the English we know today (“Chaucer”; Kemmer). Today, it’s the most prominent example of Middle English work, and is studied not just for its literary worth but as evidence of what the language was like at the time. The Canterbury Tales and Chaucer’s importance are extreme, and the author enjoyed his fame during his life as well as long after, largely due to his abilities to make sound decisions, take risks, learned to learn as a professional, and transfer knowledge, skills that people even today can utilize to be successful.
English literature is continuously developing into a more complex, and interwoven network of shared, or argued ideas. Proof of this goes back into all of the varieties of literature that we have discovered from times past, as well as anything new that is written today. One example of these works of art that has been studied intensely over the years includes the story of The Duchess of Malfi written by John Webster somewhere between 1580 and 1625. This is a story of tragic loss, desperate love, and vicious vengeance which all comes together to form one of the greatest tragedies of all time.