French and Italian influence on Chaucer’s works

       Chaucer’s literary work is notable for its range and diversity. His writings develop through his career from a period of French influence in the late1360s. His early works are mainly based in the French models, especially the Roman de la Rose and the Poems of Guillaume de Machaut. Besides a partial translation of the Roman de la Rose, Chaucer’s most important earlier work is an allegorical lament, written in 1369, on the death of Blanche, wife of John of Gaunt, titled Book of the Duchess. Another book The ABC also shows the influence of French poets.

     A distinctive feature of Chaucer’s literary work is that it appears to assimilate the Italian influence besides French. Those works which are ascribed to the period 1372-80 are held to have the Italian influence: The House of Fame, Anelida and Arcite, early versions of the Second Nun’s Tale and The Monk’s Tale, and some of the lyrics come under this group. Major works of this period include The Parliament of Fowls, a prose translation of Bocthius’s De consolatione philosophiae and the unfinished poem Legend of Good Women.

Heroic Couplet

        Chaucer introduced the heroic couplet in his poem, Legend of Good Women, Chaucer has made a great contribution to the English verse. His prose character, pervasive humour in which he himself appears as the butt of his own jokes, have been imitated by many later poet but were never matched.

Chaucer’s greatest contribution to English literature

        Chaucer’s greatest contribution to English literature is his use of English in writings poems when much court poetry was still written in Anglo-Norman. Though his metrical technique was not fully appreciated until the 18th century, owing to the change in the language after 1400, his confidence in the language encouraged his followers and imitators also to write in English and accelerated the transition from French as the language of literature.

The most artistic work of Chaucer

       The most mature artistic work of Chaucer are his Troilus and Criseyde, a great love poem in which he perfected the seven line stanza later called” rhyme royal.

 


Ref: Atlantic Companion To Literature In English


By Ed. Mohit K. Ray