Social ChaucerEach generation finds in Chaucer's works the concerns and themes of its own era. But what of Chaucer's contemporaries? For whom was he writing? With what expectations would his original audience have approached his works? In what terms did he and his audience understand their society, and how does his poetry embody a view of society? These are some of the questions Paul Strohm addresses in this innovative look at the historical Chaucer. Fourteenth-century English society was, he reminds us, in a state of accelerating transition: feudalism was yielding to capitalism, and traditional ways of understanding one's place in society were contending with new social paradigms. Those like Chaucer who lived on the fringe of gentility were particularly sensitive to these changes. Their social position opened the way to attractive possibilities, even as it exposed them to special perils. Strohm draws on seldom-considered documents to describe Chaucer's social circle and its experiences, and he relates this circle to implied and fictional audiences in the texts. Moving between major works like the Canterbury Tales and less frequently discussed works like Complaint of Mars, he suggests that Chaucer's poetry not only reproduces social tensions of the time but also proposes conciliatory alternatives. His analysis yields a fuller understanding of Chaucer's world and new insight into the social implications of literary forms and styles. |
Contents
Chaucer and the Structure of Social Relations I | 1 |
The Kings Affinity | 24 |
Audience | 47 |
Selflessness and Selfishness | 84 |
Time and the Social Implications | 110 |
A Mixed Commonwealth of Style | 144 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
addressed Anelida annuity Arcite argue aristocratic assertion audience Bastard Feudalism Brembre Bukton Cambridge Canterbury Canterbury Tales chamber knights Chaucer Review Chaucer's Chaucer's poetry cherls circle complaint Criseyde's diverse earthly English esquires estates evidence example extratemporal faction feudal fourteenth century genres gentils gentlepersons Gower Harry Bailly hierarchy household human Ibid ideology implied indenture John Gower John of Gaunt king king's Knight's Tale knights and esquires Lancastrian less Life-Records literary London lord lordship Mars medieval merchants Middle Ages middle strata Miller's Tale narrator narrator's natural oaths Pandarus Parliament of Fowls Parson's Tale particular persons pilgrimage pilgrims poem political polyphony Ralph Strode rank relations retained retinue Richard royal Scogan sense situation social groups society status Strode stylistic suggest sworn tellers temporal tercel texts Thomas Thomas Usk tion traditional transcendent Troilus and Criseyde trouthe ultimate University Press Vache vassalage Venus voice