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The Age Of Chaucer

The period from 1340-1400 is called the age of Chaucer
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Two great movements may be noted in the complex life of England
during the fourteenth century
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It shows the growth of the English national spirit following the victories of Edward and the
Black Prince on French soil, during the Hundred Years' War
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The French
language lost its official prestige, and English became the speech not only of the common
people but of courts and Parliament as well
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Sometimes this movement is
quiet and strong, as when Wyclif arouses the conscience of England; again it has the
portentous rumble of an approaching tempest, as when John Ball harangues a multitude of
discontented peasants on Black Heath commons, using the famous text:
When Adam delved and Eve span
Who was then the gentleman?
It again breaks out into the violent rebellion of Wat Tyler
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A Brief Outline of the Period
An Upsurge of Nationalism
It was an age in which there was a great upsurge of nationalism, and England was emerging
as a strong nation
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England won glorious victories
at Crecy and Poitiers
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England was also becoming a united nation
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At least for the time being, as Hudson
remarks, "Every fresh triumph served to give further stimulus to national ambition and pride
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The Hundred Years' War surely made
England a united nation and a colonial power, but it also imposed unheard of hardships upon
the people
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The Great Plague known as the

Black Death, which had swept over England when Chaucer was only nine year old, made
matters worse
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Discontent among the people was
widespread
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The Peasants' Revolt
of 1381 burst like a volcano and shook the very foundations of English Society
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As Hudson writes: "The greater prelates
heaped up wealth, and lived in a Godless and worldly way; the rank and file of the clergy
were ignorant and careless; the mendicant friars were notorious for their greed and
profligacy
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Thus the ideas of the Reformation were
already becoming a force in the age of Chaucer
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The democratic spirit was growing
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This led to the
disintegration of the feudal system
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A new and prosperous merchant class was coming
into prominence and power was passing into its hands from the hands of the feudal lords
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Its authority was further weakened by
the anti-papal agitation
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This
was the spirit of the Italian Renaissance, which was to reach its full blossoming in England
only during the Age of Queen Elizabeth
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There was vast intellectual awakening and an
unprecedented spurt of literary activity
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English became
a national language from a dialect
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Humanism was one of the potent formative influences of the age of Chaucer
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The
knights of the middle ages went to distant lands in search of adventure and fought and laid
down their lives for some noble cause
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He is given to enjoyment of life
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Major English Writers of the Period
Geoffrey Chaucer:- (1340s - 1400)

Geoffrey Chaucer is an English Poet and author
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He is known as the "father of English literature" and the "father Of English poetry"
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The French, the Italian, and the English, of which the last one is the most
important and original
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His genius was fed by French poetry and romance, which were the favourite
reading of the elite during his youth
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He was considerably influenced by two French writers, De Lorris and De Meung
and translated into English their lengthy romance, The Romaunt of the Rose
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The best known, though not the best, poem of the first period is
the Perhaps the best poem of this period is the Death of Blanche the Duchesse, better
known, as the Book of the Duchesse, a poem of considerable dramatic and emotional
power, written after the death of Blanche, wife of Chaucer's patron, John of Gaunt
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The Italian Period
The Parliament of Fowls: The Italian period of Chaucer's career dates from 1372 when
Chaucer was on a trip to Italy and possibly came into personal contact with the great Italian
masters
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"The Parliament of Fowls" one of Chaucer's best works, contains passages, which
have been directly taken from Dante
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" "Troilus and Criseyde", a masterpiece, has
been taken bodily from the "Filostrato", though abundant additions and omissions make the
work entirely Chaucer's own
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Boccaccio and The "Tales": The idea
of Canterbury Tales is taken from Boccaccio's "Decameron", though the work as a whole is

Chaucer's own and belongs to the last of the English period
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The
broad plan of this work has been borrowed from Boccaccio's "Mulieribus"
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Instead of being simply imitative, he becomes independent, relying upon
himself completely
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John Wycliffe (1330-1384)

John Wycliffe is one of the greatest English religious reformers, giving gospel to the people
in their own tongue and the freedom of the gospel in unnumbered tracts and addresses
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Some of his works are Wycliffe's Bible, The Morning Star of the
Reformation, Tracts and treatises of John de Wycliffe and The last age of the Church
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He was also an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and
the pearl poet and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer
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Bernard Mandeville (1670-1733)

Bernard Mandeville was an Anglo-Dutch philosopher, political economist and satirist
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Some of his works are The Fable of the Bees (1714), Letter to
Dion (1732), The Virgin Unmask'd (1709) and A Modest Defence of Public Stews (1724)
William Langland (1330-1400)

William Langland was voicing social discontent, preaching the equality of men and the
dignity of labour
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His major
works includes "Piers Plowman", "The Vision and Creed of Piers Ploughman" and "Piers
Plowman: The A Version"
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Conclusion
A Meeting Ground of Many Forces It's an age of intense social, political, religious and literary
activity
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In short, it is a
remarkable age-an age in which men like Chaucer can make their mark
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