Saks Aspects of Chaucer's Poetic Art ‘As A Story Teller cer is a born story-teller. Norman G; Spee alls a broad story, but it could harm no one, it is full of fun and humour. He is as broad as Fielg: never as coarse as Smollett. His effects are obtaineg waste of effort. His poetry is simple, natural, gq, unaffected. His men and women are alive as Shakespeare, Scott, or Dickens and they are : and women in the street, travelling along an ordinary ro the background of an ordinary everyday sky. His porty, little masterpieces, vivid, contrasted, and finished. Hea a microcosm of English life, noisy, arrestive, good hum which the dignified Knight risks cheek by jowl drunken Cook, and the poor Clerk of Oxford rubs shoulg _ the handsome Squire and the spotted Summo Langland, he possessed a gift of satire, a contempt of and a power of individual characterisation. 3 A notable point about Chaucer is that he uses all tl of story extént at his time. There was first of all the romantic adventure, filled with the attitude and Chivalry : such as the Knight's Tale. Then there y ‘exemplum,' the story of a saint often used to e moral of a sermon. Perhaps the story of Hugh of Li Prioress is a good example. There is the magnificent ex the Nun's Priests Tale to show what Chaucer could d 'bestiary’ or animal story. Finally, there are a ‘ ‘fabliaux—tales of ordinary life, amusing, often a lit Scanned by TapScanner ‘Scanned with Camsscannersome ASPECTS OF HIS POETIC arr ” Chaucer tells his stories in a m ack of transforming an old tal ‘anner that its appeal increases m ost effective Way. le into a new one in tattt n Manifold and its humag ferest becomes Perennial. In this respect his ‘samt inttxespearean. And his popularity is no less, Lawing right she, Chaucer's tales have been read with admintice and 589° ed (if not always skilfully) in most periods between the imi nth century and the present; and in our own century they found their largest andience so far, through the suilte cy of Nevil Coghill, whose modernisations, originally egered for radio, have in their paperback form becom oMqucer for a great host of readers. All this seems.pleasingly ch q to their being the concluding work of our earliest able poet, and a striking confirmation of that range and .s which was best expressed by Dryden: He must have been a man of a most wonderful comprehensive nature, because, as it has been truly observed of him. He has taken into the compass of his _ Canterbury Tales the various manners and humours (as we now call them) of the whole English nation, in ed Speirs recognises Chaucer's art of story-telling as a to the birth of the English novel. He says that in the Tales we see the English novel actually in being, tics of the eigteenth and nineteenth century _ "Chaucer's preoccupations here are those of the sts. He explores the theme of the individual's ty in which he lives; launches the comedy of and the conflict of interests and mores; Scanned by TapScannerScanned by TapScanner ‘Scanned with CamsscannerScanned by TapScanner ‘Scanned with Camsscanner20 yaw The Art of Narrative in the Prologue CO R. K. Root says that pre-eminently Chaucer's fame his power as a narrator, the power to tell an interesting supremely well. His narrative method is characterie straight forwardness, directness and simplicity. 0, ed stories have a single plot, one main thread of intere. Y taken up at the beginning and followed without inte : the end. This is the method of Boccaccio and of mediee telling in general. Sir Walter Raleigh observes that it is gig to pass over the name of Chaucer without marking the hy pitch of perfection which he brought to the art of n, verse. Not until centuries after his time could there be English verse his - spirited incident, his characterisation, his dramatic realism, his sly gentle hu age and nation, in ridding himself of the allegorical fetters cramped the growth of English literature even in the fifte century. It is not only that he had an unexampled r genius, which prompted him to substitute for the scheme of the Decameron, a brilliant dynamical scheme own instinct with life and grace. The greatness of Cl dramatic power has left its impress on his story-telling in hundred subtleties of inspired observation, to be equalled by the sudden startling dramatic felicities of the great romat playwrights. But first of all he was a great narrative < Incomparably the greatest of an age, that loved sto Scanned by TapScanneroF NARRATIVE 301 ihe Sumpnour's cynical i jssent from t ynical contempt f to Con's curse, and adds with humorous ambiguity, is viction—— is r qurs wol slee right as assoilyng saveth, ive play of his own thought and humour nat slumimnts of the stories he tells so tersely and vividly ge ound cert much of his greatness as narrator. ooh semarks = "Chaucer is known to everybody as the yowell tellers, aS incomparably the greatest of our of ts, Indeed, if we disregard the epic, which poets aif, 1 do not see why we sould hesitate t of all narrative poets whatsoever making no ee of era or of language." another critic has pointed out that Chaucer's genius was : narrative and not dramatic. The true dramatist has a sei ion to his personages ; he has not merely eee pecs has made them, begotten them, endowed them em sad breath by which he himself lives. However fay seay after from him in character, part of him is jn each of them; and it is in these reproductions is visible to his audience. Between Chaucer and jn his stories this relation does not exist ; they do always share his life, and he is never content to be lost and jn them. He is aften simply a reporter and always 1 with the audience, takes the readers into with a delightful intimacy which is necessarily by the impersonality of theatrical form. In fact the cate comments and description would be lost, and we to sacrifice these for a wilderness of stage by _greates' . feature of Chaucer's narrative art is his of Chaucer ever feels dull or he has to tell or the stories he has always vivid, pictorial, and amusing. familiar and economical. The here and there do not disturb, attention, because more often nd illuminating nature. The ind the teller is another vital narrative technique. Scanned by TapScannera7, Humour, Satire and Trony in the Prologue Humour is the sympathetic appreciation of the comic, the Humour meaatias us to love while we laugh. It is the ty which enables us to see the person's point of view, to Best Se een crimes and misdemeanours. Above all, it is dis guish a points out those enduring peculiarities, those poo a d harmless weaknesses which give a character a in our affections. There is no sting in humour, no ice in superiority. On the contrary, it contains an Baers varices, Obviously humour is distinct from cement of (fan be distinguished from farce and ‘wit only but pia externals when speaking of them. Humour is insisting satcoit of all comedy. Satire, being destructive, not is in a class apart, but even satire may become so ed by humour as it does in Chaucer that it may lose the element of caricature and serve only to give a keener edge to 4 1's whole point of view is that of the humorist. He is acomic poet who saunters gaily through life pausing the notice trifle as he passes. He views the world as the ia ed traveller views a foreign country. He possesses faculty of amused observation in a pre-eminent degree. Again and again he contrives to invest some Perfectly trifling and commonplace incident with an air of whimsicality, and by sodoing to make it at once realistic and remote. is essentially English. It is not the "wit" It is born of a strong commonsense and a i and there are the qualities of the greatest like Shakespeare and Fielding. R.K. Root © Scanned by TapScanner314 THE PROLOG TOTS CANTER cer's humour as “protean in its Variety" aad dines and boisterous horseplay in the tales Miller and the Summoner to the sly insinuations of Tale and the infinitely graceful burlesbue of Sir Thop intermediate stage between these extreines is represe, most characteristic mean between the. two being perhaps, in the tales of the Nun's Priest: “Chaucer's humour, as has been acknowledged | every cI in always syampathetic. In the Prologue, ¢ his handling of the Monk and the Friar thére is no As Legouis puts it Chaucer does not treat ‘with disq whose foolishness he has fathomed, nor does -he tum disgust from the rascal whose tricks he has, letected. If h can be defined as "the sympathetic appreciation Of ‘the Ze, the faculty which enbles us to laugh—but % affectionately and sympathetically, then. Chaucer was it great humorist. In his description of the ‘Wife of, reminds us of Shakespeare's treatment of Sir Toby ix Night and of Falstaff in Henry JV. In. fact, Chaucer. appreciate a character even when laughing at ‘it, Chaucer invariably makes more fun of the the institution to which he belongs, pecker poetry.” Cazamian observes that Guanes humour the rich fields of character. He derives "quaintness of individuality". By his keen insight he detects incongruities in men presents before his readers in an amusing facts are quite trivial in themselves but way Chaucer tells them e.g. the fey versed ia bread Loa dhs the Reeve tia deat Scanned by TapScanner ‘Scanned with Camsscanneryp, SATIRE AND IRONY | our. a9 ng as in the case of the Clerk of Oxford, farcical as in the Wife of Bath; pointedly inde mer and the Summoner; or coarse, as happens in the of the Miller, the Reeve and the Pordoner. Albert, disagrees that Chaucher’s humour is pure fun. He “tis seldom that the satirical intent is wholly lacking, as jn the case of the Good Parson, but, except in rare cases, i nreisgood-humoured and well-meant. discerning critic has pointed out that Chaucer's humour prologue derives from the fact that he is himself one of ims, one of the original twenty-nine, He is both actor 5] tor and both he and his audience enjoy the antics this clever arrangements enables him to preform. As m-narrator, he often discloses to pis readers something a character which none c‘ the other pilgrims could ly know, but which adds something important to our ion of the person concerned. For example he reveals to ss sang the divine service intoning through the nose she would not like to do so outside her convent. ers humour in the Prologue is also due to his descriptive style. He deliberately departs from lifeless forms of traditional portraiture and himself to strikingly realistic or lifelike portrayals ir very realism of speech and idiom make the delightful. eos: Scanned by TapScanner ‘Scanned with CamsscannerTHE PROLOGUE TO THE CANTER making the Wife of Bath excelled even the matchless of Ypres and Ghent. To conclude, Chaucer's humour is one of yy, assets of his poetic art. As Compton-Rickett Says, m his considerable power, pathos, his happy Tenuta ing imagination, it is as a great humorist that he lings bis our memories, with humour, rich, profound and sane, spite and cynicism, irradiated by a genial consummate knowledge of human nature, 2. Satire Satire differs from humour in that it has a defi purpose. "It is our purpose, Crites, to correcl/And 7 our laughter says Mercury in Cynthia's Revels Tua Ww deliberately alienates our sympathies from those describes, and as the true humorist is apt to pass from ¢ to romance, and from romance to tragedy, so the infrequently ends by finding rage and disgust overpg sense of the ridiculous. Ben Jonson passes from the com, Every Man in his Humour to the bitterness of from the comparative lightness of Gulliver in D savage brutality of the Hounyhymns. But of such satire, and simple—few examples are to be found in Chaucer, The fact is that satire is not Chaucer's natural too quick-witted not to see through sham and interest lies in portraiture rather than in exposure. to point life as he sees it, to hold up the mirror to 316 Scanned by TapScanner1D IRONY saTIRE AN 37 our. ; stise and expose it. Chaucer hi ith t0 cree ‘as whole-heartedly as Pialainybaten Maser 3 the er's Tale affords the best instance of the oe ofthe poet's humour when he is brought face to inka ee ming rogue: ; chaucet we have no sustained satire of the Popean or Io . His genius is like that of Shakespeare, n degree of negative capability. Hence, Chaucer 4 impression of being a great satirist, although in his 15 us BF jn the portraits of the Prologue we have os i s of satire. It would be rather more suitable to mic satirist in relation to his General Prologue ury Tales. Brewer remarks : For all the veriety of is extraordinarily rich Prologue, comic satire therefore, certain limitations of scope. "aristocracy are excluded, for the Knight is Rely iow ranking, and is in any case an ideal gure: and rough comedy of the life of the great mass find no place, and again their two are idealized portraits. The characters of st ranks were not suitable for comic treatment, r seems to have had relatively little poor, as we at once realize when we e him with Langland. In the Prologue we mainly see the ‘people, and we see them through Chaucer's eyes from moral and social station. We can afford to fe look through the eyes of a poet masculine, ted, who knows there is "joy after woe, and the Scanned by ‘apScannerScanned by TapScanner ‘Scanned with Camsscannergqrtntt AND IRONY gar 2, sometimes SO silly, sometimes so outra conte ‘unhappily, 80 familiar that people tiemoaate one 6 se of such a truth is displayed as though it ‘wne a ca they be shocked into understanding it. ridieven then they are not convinced, They attack the mes provocatol, a liar. That is the penalty of being a asa ges irony’ ‘Aristotle, who knew men and liked neat uw 4 that irony was the opposite of boasting ; it was 4 dissimulation, self-depreciation, ny and wounding sarcasti¢ irony can be used as Gentle tt 'Y of satire. They are, however, most effective : pon0logue th where 4 skillful satirist can, now and then, allow to flash through the mildly-coloured cloud of real Po The finest example of this in Chaucer is, as has Be ned above, in the Pardoner's prologue to his tale, H chaucer Jets the whole truth come out of the mouth of himself. é who believes that Chaucer is frequently ironical res) for Chaucer irony is what metaphor bat in Etcaicony and metaphor put into the same set ‘words a double meaning ; whereas in metaphor they are by comparison, in irony they are linked by contrast. The ‘lage is important. In each case the two elements of the ie meaning modify each other, though one may be In the case of irony the superficial ‘false’ meaning is of the total meaning. It modifies the "true" meaning, if ‘asserting that even the underlying meaning is not the titor for our assent; or by establishing a limited Scanned by TapScanner ‘Scanned with CamsscannerScanned by TapScanner ‘Scanned with CamsscannerScanned by TapScanner ‘Scanned with Camsscanner435 ons were often to be found in a surprisi “able combination. Chaucer saw this and escaltoner ed pin fe in all its true colours pen end He requests, 1 *{ beg to YOu, in courtesy, not to condemn me as unmannerly, if | speak painly and with no concealings." Mnishes to avoid “things invented and phrases new" in a tation of his character's dealings. He had nothing of a r the zealous reformer. He saw life and bh rE wes He ett to others to seek morals from it. from the lage of tradition and convention. is that of a realist, a humanist, and has none of the udice which characterises other medieval English ost js God's plenty’ : life in all its aspects ‘The pilgrims of The Prologue come from a wide spectrum gociety of Chaucer's time. They not only belong to professions; they are also of every shade of moral ‘The high and the low, the good and the vicious, the and the lecherous, all act their parts on this worldly dishonest Miller and the fun-loving and somewhat Wife of Bath mingle with the studious Oxford Clerk and oh ted and prim Prioress. The chivalrous and Knight and the poor, good Parson rub shoulders with idly Monk, the corrupt Friar and the wicked Summoner Pardoner. The Doctor's avarice is matched by dealings of the Man of Law. Indeed, we find that xed and the vicious far outnumber the virtuous Against the Knight, the Parson and the Ploughman, whole galaxy of vice and wickedness of all hues IANT QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS | Scanned by TapScannerScanned by TapScanner ‘Scanned with CamsscannerRage UBSTIONS WITH ANBWIRE 437 ‘ ity of grave philosopher or religious thinke e ope is free and tolerant, broad enough to icine peauty of the Knight tale, the pathetic loveliness of "tale, and the bawdy and boisterously funny stories and the Miller. His vision is one of sympathy and ness. It is also quite clear that he did not Tespect vice table ness. His ironic treatment exposes folly as folly. His ked) es not imply that he condoned vice and evi], His tion for the knight, the Parson, the and the oxford Clerk is obvious. Equally apparent igrespect for the Pardoner, Summoner, Monk and other Te oa acte rs. His poetry implies his respect and love of partie and unselfishness. Nowhere does it seem that ‘- advocates vice Or wickedness as things to be followed. ycel ic is Reeve ce do c iis cleat that Chaucer did not set out to reform society. He tainly does not show a strong ethical bias. His vision was too too tolerant and benign to allow strong moral 5 onising. Human fraility existed, and Chaucer accepted it. did not feel the necessity to don a jud idemn. ; ; and evil. His poetry presented a picture of life in its d reality. Such a reproduction of reality might have 3 , morose, and bitter. It might have bred disgust and % . for life and men. But Chaucer, without flattering his ; J, placed it in an atmosphere which is good to breath, as a so aptly comments. ‘No one can read him and not be to be in the world’. However, it is quite a different thing to 4 ucer was immoral. That he was not. i Scanned by TapScanner