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The Parliament of Birds
In this collection of poems, among his very best, Chaucer showcases his lyrical skills to perfection. Verging from tragic to comic, the overriding theme of the poetry is love, in its many guises. Chaucer tells of his passion for reading, which allows him to eavesdrop on a "parliament of birds" on St Valentine’s Day; he tells how he, as an inveterate reader, forsakes his books on the first of May to wander into the fields; he complains of being short of money; and he complains to his scribe for copying his verses badly. All in all, in the course of the poetry he reveals a lot about himself, and does so throughout in an engaging and civilized manner.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1383
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About the author
Geoffrey Chaucer
1,217 books1,349 followersGeoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He was the first writer to be buried in what has since come to be called Poets' Corner, in Westminster Abbey. Chaucer also gained fame as a philosopher and astronomer, composing the scientific A Treatise on the Astrolabe for his 10-year-old son, Lewis. He maintained a career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, and member of parliament.
Among Chaucer's many other works are The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women, and Troilus and Criseyde. He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman French and Latin. Chaucer's contemporary Thomas Hoccleve hailed him as "the firste fyndere of our fair langage" (i.e., the first one capable of finding poetic matter in English). Almost two thousand English words are first attested to in Chaucerian manuscripts. As scholar Bruce Holsinger has argued, charting Chaucer's life and work comes with many challenges related to the "difficult disjunction between the written record of his public and private life and the literary corpus he left behind". His recorded works and his life show many personas that are "ironic, mysterious, elusive [or] cagey" in nature, ever-changing with new discoveries.
Among Chaucer's many other works are The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women, and Troilus and Criseyde. He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman French and Latin. Chaucer's contemporary Thomas Hoccleve hailed him as "the firste fyndere of our fair langage" (i.e., the first one capable of finding poetic matter in English). Almost two thousand English words are first attested to in Chaucerian manuscripts. As scholar Bruce Holsinger has argued, charting Chaucer's life and work comes with many challenges related to the "difficult disjunction between the written record of his public and private life and the literary corpus he left behind". His recorded works and his life show many personas that are "ironic, mysterious, elusive [or] cagey" in nature, ever-changing with new discoveries.
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January 2, 2019Selection of shorter Chaucer poems in original middle English (but with standarised spelling) with parallel modern English text.
The boke is ful neatly arrayed with the middle English (so hite the manner of speakinge in the days of Chaucer) on the left and the translation on the right. The is a word list at the back, and a couple of pages of scanty endnotes, the cover is right pretty too. There are no other supporting materials, the introductions are brief and give no context to the poems most of which are about love. At least one of the poems seems to be freely adapted from the French, or plagiarised as an unfriendly voice might say.
I had thought that I might read the translation then the original, or vice versa, in fact I started with the middle English and when tired switched to the translation, sometimes switching back. I think the translation is a clever exercise (you can see how the translator in her verse tries to work round Chaucer's original, introducing a metaphor maybe to preserve the structure) and it's good for a lazybones like me or when the eyen are tired and the brain right weary. Strictly speaking I'd prefer a gloss and footnotes on the page - but that would spoil the prettiness of the layout and this is above all an attractive little volume.
The love verse seems to my poor eyen to be within the courtly love tradition, to hope that his wife wasn't put out by them is I guess to impose my cultural expectations on a different world, just as it is to wonder how he got time to write when employed full time as one of the King's customs officials, . His is a world in which classical learning (Cierco's The Dream of Scipio, Roman gods and goddess impinge upon a Christian and Feudal world, the difference between the macrocosm and the microcosm is purely one of scale, the Birds of the title piece gather before Venus in a parliament and the birds present their suits and petitions to the divinity just as Chaucer will, in other poems, to the earthly King (for money) and to the Queen of Heaven (for mercy).
There are a couple of poems to friends, in one of which Chaucer shamelessly promotes his own work( Eenvoy de Chaucer a Bukton , and one to Adam, his scribe, who gets immortalised for his sloppy work as a copyist, which seems a bit unfair, particularly in an age without fixed spelling conventions.
A nice bit of fun.
The boke is ful neatly arrayed with the middle English (so hite the manner of speakinge in the days of Chaucer) on the left and the translation on the right. The is a word list at the back, and a couple of pages of scanty endnotes, the cover is right pretty too. There are no other supporting materials, the introductions are brief and give no context to the poems most of which are about love. At least one of the poems seems to be freely adapted from the French, or plagiarised as an unfriendly voice might say.
I had thought that I might read the translation then the original, or vice versa, in fact I started with the middle English and when tired switched to the translation, sometimes switching back. I think the translation is a clever exercise (you can see how the translator in her verse tries to work round Chaucer's original, introducing a metaphor maybe to preserve the structure) and it's good for a lazybones like me or when the eyen are tired and the brain right weary. Strictly speaking I'd prefer a gloss and footnotes on the page - but that would spoil the prettiness of the layout and this is above all an attractive little volume.
The love verse seems to my poor eyen to be within the courtly love tradition, to hope that his wife wasn't put out by them is I guess to impose my cultural expectations on a different world, just as it is to wonder how he got time to write when employed full time as one of the King's customs officials, . His is a world in which classical learning (Cierco's The Dream of Scipio, Roman gods and goddess impinge upon a Christian and Feudal world, the difference between the macrocosm and the microcosm is purely one of scale, the Birds of the title piece gather before Venus in a parliament and the birds present their suits and petitions to the divinity just as Chaucer will, in other poems, to the earthly King (for money) and to the Queen of Heaven (for mercy).
There are a couple of poems to friends, in one of which Chaucer shamelessly promotes his own work( Eenvoy de Chaucer a Bukton , and one to Adam, his scribe, who gets immortalised for his sloppy work as a copyist, which seems a bit unfair, particularly in an age without fixed spelling conventions.
A nice bit of fun.
March 7, 2016
"The lyf so short, the crafte so long to lerne,
Th'assay so hard, so sharp the conquering,
The dredful joye, that alway slit so yerne,
Al this mene I by love, that my feling
Astonyeth with his wonderful worching
So sore y-wis, that whan I on him thinke,
Not wot I wil that I wake or winke."
"The Parlement of Foules" is another interesting dream-inspired poem of Chaucer's, just not quite as intriguing as "The Book of the Duchess". In fact, the format is almost exactly the same- the poet reads and recites a story, falls asleep and has a rather allegorical dream, then wakes up and ponders what just happened. Only this time, the poet does not seem as satisfied or as fulfilled with the results of having dreamed, and for good reason. As well as being a little more confusing as certainly more of an obscure message, "Foules" is not quite as well thought out.
So, from what I can understand, the point of the dream, in which a female eagle chooses not to mate with a male eagle, is that making the choice not to make a choice is as valid as any other option. While that's well and good, the end of the poem explicitly states that the poet wakes up feeling like he didn't really feel content with that. I don't blame him, it's not much of a message at all really. While maybe it's a good reminder that one's options are more extensive than what may seem possible, it doesn't settle as a real moral message, which is what I have really come to expect from a medieval work like this.
Th'assay so hard, so sharp the conquering,
The dredful joye, that alway slit so yerne,
Al this mene I by love, that my feling
Astonyeth with his wonderful worching
So sore y-wis, that whan I on him thinke,
Not wot I wil that I wake or winke."
"The Parlement of Foules" is another interesting dream-inspired poem of Chaucer's, just not quite as intriguing as "The Book of the Duchess". In fact, the format is almost exactly the same- the poet reads and recites a story, falls asleep and has a rather allegorical dream, then wakes up and ponders what just happened. Only this time, the poet does not seem as satisfied or as fulfilled with the results of having dreamed, and for good reason. As well as being a little more confusing as certainly more of an obscure message, "Foules" is not quite as well thought out.
So, from what I can understand, the point of the dream, in which a female eagle chooses not to mate with a male eagle, is that making the choice not to make a choice is as valid as any other option. While that's well and good, the end of the poem explicitly states that the poet wakes up feeling like he didn't really feel content with that. I don't blame him, it's not much of a message at all really. While maybe it's a good reminder that one's options are more extensive than what may seem possible, it doesn't settle as a real moral message, which is what I have really come to expect from a medieval work like this.
October 29, 2017
Preferring Not to, Part III
Admittedly, the ending of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Valentine poem The Parlement of Foulys is anything but satisfying, but does the narrator’s experience not mirror what every single one of us might have thought, once in a while, after finishing a book? And, to follow this up with a second question, does the lack of an immediate light bulb moment necessarily preclude the chance that, as you carry a book’s ideas around with you for a while, it may eventually spark off some insight in your own mind?
Granted, the female eagle in our narrator’s dream did not choose any of the three male eagles courting her, and in a Valentine setting – I even learned that Geoffrey Chaucer could well lay claim to having started this whole Valentine thing, which is the only bit of information I know to his discredit – this reluctance may not go down too well with a reader who expects a happy union of hearts and such at the end of a Valentine poem, but then what may seem reluctance and primness can also be put down to common sense. Instead of proving themselves worthy and deserving through their own words – wasting, by the way, the other birds’ time, as soon becomes obvious –, those three eagles might just as well start proving themselves worthy and deserving in deeds. It is quite admirable of the female eagle to have her own way here instead of succumbing to the expectations dictated her by social – if one can use this word in connection with birds, even though they may stand for people – pressure.
The narrator’s lack of satisfaction with his dream might not be traced back to the female eagle at all, but to his own way of going through life. It’s with a certain tongue-in-cheek attitude that Chaucer gives a description of the narrator (himself?) here when he says:
In other words, we have got a vicarious liver here, someone who prefers reading of love to experiencing it himself, which might be deemed rather wise on one hand – considering the boring bits that are usually skipped in books but have to be unmercifully seen through in conversations across the breakfast table –, but which, on the other hand, will never let him experience the real feeling, warts-and-all, and probably not even enable him to get more than a shadow of an idea as to how Lovers in Literature feel. And so, it’s little wonder that our narrator’s dream takes the ending of a shaggy-dog-story, that after a long and dramatic introduction, wise words from Scipio and wiser ones from Nature herself, and after formulaic grandiloquence from our three male eagles, the other birds soon fall into humorous bickering and the female eagle mirrors the narrator’s weak-spirited “I prefer not to”, although probably with a much better reason. I don’t know if it was really Luther who said, ”Aus einem verzagten Arsch kommt kein fröhlicher Furz“, but surely Chaucer might be interpreted to have said the same, only in a more roundabout fashion, in this tongue-in-cheek Valentine poem.
”I hope, iwis, to rede so som day
That I shal mete som thyng for to fare
The bet, and thus to rede I nyl nat spare.”
Admittedly, the ending of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Valentine poem The Parlement of Foulys is anything but satisfying, but does the narrator’s experience not mirror what every single one of us might have thought, once in a while, after finishing a book? And, to follow this up with a second question, does the lack of an immediate light bulb moment necessarily preclude the chance that, as you carry a book’s ideas around with you for a while, it may eventually spark off some insight in your own mind?
Granted, the female eagle in our narrator’s dream did not choose any of the three male eagles courting her, and in a Valentine setting – I even learned that Geoffrey Chaucer could well lay claim to having started this whole Valentine thing, which is the only bit of information I know to his discredit – this reluctance may not go down too well with a reader who expects a happy union of hearts and such at the end of a Valentine poem, but then what may seem reluctance and primness can also be put down to common sense. Instead of proving themselves worthy and deserving through their own words – wasting, by the way, the other birds’ time, as soon becomes obvious –, those three eagles might just as well start proving themselves worthy and deserving in deeds. It is quite admirable of the female eagle to have her own way here instead of succumbing to the expectations dictated her by social – if one can use this word in connection with birds, even though they may stand for people – pressure.
The narrator’s lack of satisfaction with his dream might not be traced back to the female eagle at all, but to his own way of going through life. It’s with a certain tongue-in-cheek attitude that Chaucer gives a description of the narrator (himself?) here when he says:
”For al be that I knowe nat Love in dede,
Ne wot how that he quiteth folk here hyre,
Yit happeth me ful ofte in bokes reede
Of his myrakles and his crewel yre.”
In other words, we have got a vicarious liver here, someone who prefers reading of love to experiencing it himself, which might be deemed rather wise on one hand – considering the boring bits that are usually skipped in books but have to be unmercifully seen through in conversations across the breakfast table –, but which, on the other hand, will never let him experience the real feeling, warts-and-all, and probably not even enable him to get more than a shadow of an idea as to how Lovers in Literature feel. And so, it’s little wonder that our narrator’s dream takes the ending of a shaggy-dog-story, that after a long and dramatic introduction, wise words from Scipio and wiser ones from Nature herself, and after formulaic grandiloquence from our three male eagles, the other birds soon fall into humorous bickering and the female eagle mirrors the narrator’s weak-spirited “I prefer not to”, although probably with a much better reason. I don’t know if it was really Luther who said, ”Aus einem verzagten Arsch kommt kein fröhlicher Furz“, but surely Chaucer might be interpreted to have said the same, only in a more roundabout fashion, in this tongue-in-cheek Valentine poem.
March 26, 2022
With no background whatsoever in Middle English, I did not think I would be able to finish this poem with any understanding of what I’d read. Funnily enough, the less intently I read word after word and the more I read it in that ‘dreamy’ way I usually read modern poetry, the more everything I’d read made sense to me. A lot of the deeper meanings went over my head, admittedly, but fortunately the edition I read had a fairly generous gloss and footnotes that clarified these deeper layers.
While I began reading this out of a curiosity to learn more about the illustrious Chaucer, I was also ‘pleasauntly’ surprised by the connections it has with the stuff I’m researching at present. Certainly a poem I shall revisit in due time again.
While I began reading this out of a curiosity to learn more about the illustrious Chaucer, I was also ‘pleasauntly’ surprised by the connections it has with the stuff I’m researching at present. Certainly a poem I shall revisit in due time again.
February 15, 2013
Chaucer is my Valentine.
November 11, 2018
I came to Chaucer through Camus's Lyrical essays, and in particular The Minotaur, or Stopping in Oran.
Not being fond of or adept at Middle English, I found the poem itself rather uninteresting (a lot of things are when coming from Camus!). Various vocabulary aids helped, but what I enjoyed most was reading aloud: the words fall into place that way.
They fail to see these congresses of and romantic love for what they are—the parliaments of birds one finds in Hindu literature. But no one, on the boulevards of Oran, discusses the problem of Being, or worries about the way of perfection. There is only the fluttering of wings, the flaunting of outspreads tails, flirtations between victorious graces, all the rapture of a careless song that fades with the coming of night.
(Translated by Ellen Conroy Kennedy)
Not being fond of or adept at Middle English, I found the poem itself rather uninteresting (a lot of things are when coming from Camus!). Various vocabulary aids helped, but what I enjoyed most was reading aloud: the words fall into place that way.
October 22, 2022
twit twoo lemmie smash
June 15, 2023
Imagine a group of birds and Mother Nature deciding who you should marry as if it were a case in court, but you are like “I can make my own decisions, thank you,” and they’re like “Actually, why not, go for it.”
That’s it. That’s the story.
That’s it. That’s the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2024
Chaucer’s shorter poems: classical myths, courtly love, elegant wit. Top tips: Parliament Birds, Complaint Mars.
May 6, 2019
Libro leído para el Reto de medio tiempo punto no. 20: Un libro medieval.
"Considero un gran prodigio - ¡por esta luz!- que pueda estar vivo, sin poder dormir bien ni de día ni de noche. Pienso cada tontería, simplemente por falta de sueño, que juro por mi fe que no puedo concentrarme en nada. No hay cosa que me agrade o desagrade. Todo me da igual. No me importa ni la alegría ni la pena. No siento nada por nada. Me encuentro tan aturdido que siempre estoy a punto de desfallecer, pues mi cabeza está llena de fantasía en todo momento".
¡Pero qué gran belleza he leído!
Leer a Chaucer fue un placer indescriptible. Tal vez muchos no lo conozcan pero sí han oído hablar de su famosa obra The Canterbury Tales, tal vez ya la hayan leído. Sin embargo, antes de adentrarme a los cuentos de Canterbury quise leer un libro que recopila tres poemas que parten del sueño. "El parlamento de las aves y otras visiones del sueño" es una excelente forma de introducirse a la obra Chauceriana. Siruela recopiló las obras: "El libro de la duquesa", "La casa de la fama", "El parlamento de las aves y "La leyenda de las buenas mujeres".
Respecto a la edición, hablando con un amigo, que estudió literatura inglesa, me comentó que el inglés que manejaba Chaucer fue el más arcaico, difícil de traducir, sobre todo estas primeras obras que escribió, por lo que esta traducción de Jesús Serrano Reyes es un trabajo arduo y, aunque está en prosa, mantiene cierta sonoridad y rima que se agradece bastante. Un punto en contra de esta versión es la falta de notas. Puede que las referencias las explique el mismo Chaucer y hasta te diga en qué libro encontrarlas pero hay ciertos datos que se merecen una nota para darle más contexto a la obra. De ahí en fuera, es un libro maravilloso.
Ahora, estas cuatro obras tienen dos cosas en común: la evocación de los sueños y el amor. Muchos de sus versos son versiones de leyendas grecorromanas (como se aprecia en la Leyenda de las buenas mujeres) y otros parten de capítulos específicos de la mitología (como en el libro de la duquesa). Si bien, se necesitaría leer de principio; los poemas homéricos; Las metamorfosis de Ovidio; La Eneida de Virgilio, junto con sus Geórgicas; y El libro de la Rosa, por mencionar algunos, el mismo Chaucer te dice en qué obras se encuentra cada leyenda o mito que menciona en sus versos, con tener una idea vaga de lo que abarcan estas obras se puede disfrutar de los poemas de Chaucer, pero, obviamente, si has leído estas obras disfrutarás más de las referencias.
No quiero ahondar por ahora más en la trama de cada poema, eso lo dejaré para el blog, sin embargo, quiero hacer especial mención a la última obra del libro "La leyenda de las buenas mujeres" que me impactó bastante. Un poema maravilloso en el que Chaucer recopila algunas tragedias de pasión y amor en las cuales sufrieron mujeres. Chaucer reivindica a las mujeres mencionadas describiendo sus tragedias y acusando, en la mayoría de las leyendas, a los hombres, que en varios casos fueron honrados como héroes, de ejercer el poder vilmente sobre ellas. Una obra que fue escrita alrededor de 1386, una época donde las mujeres no tenían ni una pizca de derechos, fue un poema revolucionario e impactante. Por mencionar algunas tragedias, menciona a Cleopatra, Dido, Hipsípile, Medea, Ariadna, Lucrecia, Fílide, entre otras. Sin duda, la mejor obra del libro.
"Considero un gran prodigio - ¡por esta luz!- que pueda estar vivo, sin poder dormir bien ni de día ni de noche. Pienso cada tontería, simplemente por falta de sueño, que juro por mi fe que no puedo concentrarme en nada. No hay cosa que me agrade o desagrade. Todo me da igual. No me importa ni la alegría ni la pena. No siento nada por nada. Me encuentro tan aturdido que siempre estoy a punto de desfallecer, pues mi cabeza está llena de fantasía en todo momento".
¡Pero qué gran belleza he leído!
Leer a Chaucer fue un placer indescriptible. Tal vez muchos no lo conozcan pero sí han oído hablar de su famosa obra The Canterbury Tales, tal vez ya la hayan leído. Sin embargo, antes de adentrarme a los cuentos de Canterbury quise leer un libro que recopila tres poemas que parten del sueño. "El parlamento de las aves y otras visiones del sueño" es una excelente forma de introducirse a la obra Chauceriana. Siruela recopiló las obras: "El libro de la duquesa", "La casa de la fama", "El parlamento de las aves y "La leyenda de las buenas mujeres".
Respecto a la edición, hablando con un amigo, que estudió literatura inglesa, me comentó que el inglés que manejaba Chaucer fue el más arcaico, difícil de traducir, sobre todo estas primeras obras que escribió, por lo que esta traducción de Jesús Serrano Reyes es un trabajo arduo y, aunque está en prosa, mantiene cierta sonoridad y rima que se agradece bastante. Un punto en contra de esta versión es la falta de notas. Puede que las referencias las explique el mismo Chaucer y hasta te diga en qué libro encontrarlas pero hay ciertos datos que se merecen una nota para darle más contexto a la obra. De ahí en fuera, es un libro maravilloso.
Ahora, estas cuatro obras tienen dos cosas en común: la evocación de los sueños y el amor. Muchos de sus versos son versiones de leyendas grecorromanas (como se aprecia en la Leyenda de las buenas mujeres) y otros parten de capítulos específicos de la mitología (como en el libro de la duquesa). Si bien, se necesitaría leer de principio; los poemas homéricos; Las metamorfosis de Ovidio; La Eneida de Virgilio, junto con sus Geórgicas; y El libro de la Rosa, por mencionar algunos, el mismo Chaucer te dice en qué obras se encuentra cada leyenda o mito que menciona en sus versos, con tener una idea vaga de lo que abarcan estas obras se puede disfrutar de los poemas de Chaucer, pero, obviamente, si has leído estas obras disfrutarás más de las referencias.
No quiero ahondar por ahora más en la trama de cada poema, eso lo dejaré para el blog, sin embargo, quiero hacer especial mención a la última obra del libro "La leyenda de las buenas mujeres" que me impactó bastante. Un poema maravilloso en el que Chaucer recopila algunas tragedias de pasión y amor en las cuales sufrieron mujeres. Chaucer reivindica a las mujeres mencionadas describiendo sus tragedias y acusando, en la mayoría de las leyendas, a los hombres, que en varios casos fueron honrados como héroes, de ejercer el poder vilmente sobre ellas. Una obra que fue escrita alrededor de 1386, una época donde las mujeres no tenían ni una pizca de derechos, fue un poema revolucionario e impactante. Por mencionar algunas tragedias, menciona a Cleopatra, Dido, Hipsípile, Medea, Ariadna, Lucrecia, Fílide, entre otras. Sin duda, la mejor obra del libro.
May 23, 2022
It is interesting to consider the periods of time all in mind. A writer ~700 years ago calls into his dream-state storyline prominent Roman & Carthaginian figures from ~1500+ years prior to that. I get a sense of the long long conversation that writing can be.
This is a present parallel-text edition with the Middle English text on the left page and the translation on the right page. Although I did not read all the Middle English words, it was definitely a fascinating aspect of this book and I did stop a number of times to find out what Middle English words may have evoked certain present words.
This is a present parallel-text edition with the Middle English text on the left page and the translation on the right page. Although I did not read all the Middle English words, it was definitely a fascinating aspect of this book and I did stop a number of times to find out what Middle English words may have evoked certain present words.
March 11, 2021
Libro maravilloso del medieval fantástico; enmarcado en un género mágico de la época: las visiones del sueño. Chaucer escribe en la tradición de los intelectuales poetas de la época, haciendo alusiones eruditas y a veces demasiado extensas sobre los mitos y las leyendas romanas y a la antigüedad (sobre todo Ovidio, Virgilio) para introducirnos o profundizarnos en sus cuentos, pero también como recurso poético para que estos influyan en la historia, no son mera referencia, sino recurso vivo; muy en la tradición de Dante con su Comedia que se encuentra a personajes históricos deambulando por el infierno por ejemplo, pues así como éste, Chaucer se integra como autor/personaje dentro de sus relatos. Otro rasgo es que podemos disfrutar de la forma poética en verso en la cual (por ser la traducción en español) intuimos escribe, sin embargo conserva esa musicalidad, ese fluir entre palabras que la hace muy vivida aunque también a veces un poco cansada. Otro rasgo qué hay, es de corte sociológico histórico, pues podemos mirar las formas, las costumbres y maneras de la corte medieval inglesa, la lealtad ciega e irrenunciable a cualquier costa, el amor pasional con una entrega total al amante, la excesiva idealización de los atributos del enamorado/a, la tragedia absoluta ante la pérdida ya sea por abandono o muerte de este amor, el ostracismo social hacia la mujer que “pierde su honor”, la cuna, las virtudes, a veces rayando en un amor cortes que puede parecernos extremadamente cursi y patriarcal a nuestros ojos de hoy en día, pero con una construcción literaria/poética tan exquisita que concluyes que a ojos de época era una justificación que bastaba.
En el cuento de “El libro de la duquesa” vemos esta técnica literaria de la visión del sueño cuando Chaucer después de narrarnos que sufre de una insomnia casi mortal, lee una leyenda antigua sobre los dioses del sueño que se ofrece como última esperanza. Al hacer una promesa de sacrificio a ellos, finalmente se hunde profundamente dormido (dando a entender que los dioses antiguos aun están e influyen sobre ellos) y despierta a una cacería de la realeza en la cual, después de atravesar un bosque idílico mágico, casi de formato Disney, se encuentra con el duque el cual le narra y canta la pérdida de su amada con una forma descriptiva poética desbordada, trágica y pasional.
En la “Casa de la Fama” uno de sus cuentos más imaginativos, de nuevo nos introduce a esta visión del sueño (la cual con claridad tiene una relevancia y signo divinos mayores pues le inspiran a escribir y contarnos este maravilloso cuento y de paso a divinizarlo a él como escritor) el Dios Jupiter le agradece sus servicios como escritor y le ofrece una visita a esta Casa que es un recinto magnético del sonido (pues gracias a un argumento no mágico sino racional nos explican cómo es que todos los sonidos internos, externos, suaves o estridentes pueden llegar ahí) y a través del águila real de Jupiter es conducido a esta casa donde también la Diosa de la Fama habita y recompensa (y nos da su visión moral sobre la fama de paso) a cualquier persona que le merezca. Es uno de sus cuentos más maravillosos, de espacios de materiales preciosos, dimensiones desproporciónales, y arquitecturas imposibles.
En el parlamento de las aves, nos introduce a una nueva visión que es el animal fantástico, en este caso un congreso de aves de cada especie, que según su rango y jerarquía natural (aunque claro está relacionado con las virtudes de la época) se reúne alrededor de la Diosa Naturaleza para decidir el destino conyugal de su ave real. La discusión y defensa de estas aves a favor o en contra del casamiento del ave es a veces cómico, absurdo, y cursi. Pero puede que sea (esto es una intuición propia) una representación o metáfora de cómo la corte medieval inglesa decidía, discutía, sobre quién sería el candidato idóneo para una princesa o dama real. Y claro está, si esto sucede, aunque sea en el plano etéreo celestial e invisible de las decisiones divinas, pues tiene como tanto en la tierra como en el cielo, replicarse en las representantes “legítimos” de lo celestial que es la nobleza real. Eso convertiría a Chaucer en un medio (y las visiones del sueño en el canal de transmisión) para justificar, adoctrinar, enseñar a la nobleza real “naturalizando” lo social.
Por fin en el último cuento, “la leyenda de las buenas mujeres” Chaucer hace un canto de alabanza a la flor de la margarita cuando el Dios del Amor y su consorte se le aparecen para condenarlo. Este, le recrimina su oposición, en otros libros suyos, al amor y la pérdida de fieles a este. La esposa del Dios le defiende y castiga a escribir hasta el fin de sus días sobre la leyenda de las buenas mujeres, leyendas antiguas y trágicas que narran de reinas, princesas o mujeres cotidianas que se entregaron totalmente al amor de sus parejas pero -en la mayoría de los casos- estos les abandonaron o engañaron dejándolas en una enorme y terrible pena. Mitos antiguos, probablemente de tradición oral; Chaucer nos hace una antología y resumen uno a uno de ellos como pedagogía educativa para los hombres infieles, engañosos e impostores y alabanza a la tragedia de estas mujeres reforzando la idea de la fidelidad monógama, del ostracismo social hacia la mujer en cuanto un hombre le abandona (pues ellas no podían tener más de una pareja mientras en ellos no había tal condena social), la entrega, la sumisión, etcétera.
En el cuento de “El libro de la duquesa” vemos esta técnica literaria de la visión del sueño cuando Chaucer después de narrarnos que sufre de una insomnia casi mortal, lee una leyenda antigua sobre los dioses del sueño que se ofrece como última esperanza. Al hacer una promesa de sacrificio a ellos, finalmente se hunde profundamente dormido (dando a entender que los dioses antiguos aun están e influyen sobre ellos) y despierta a una cacería de la realeza en la cual, después de atravesar un bosque idílico mágico, casi de formato Disney, se encuentra con el duque el cual le narra y canta la pérdida de su amada con una forma descriptiva poética desbordada, trágica y pasional.
En la “Casa de la Fama” uno de sus cuentos más imaginativos, de nuevo nos introduce a esta visión del sueño (la cual con claridad tiene una relevancia y signo divinos mayores pues le inspiran a escribir y contarnos este maravilloso cuento y de paso a divinizarlo a él como escritor) el Dios Jupiter le agradece sus servicios como escritor y le ofrece una visita a esta Casa que es un recinto magnético del sonido (pues gracias a un argumento no mágico sino racional nos explican cómo es que todos los sonidos internos, externos, suaves o estridentes pueden llegar ahí) y a través del águila real de Jupiter es conducido a esta casa donde también la Diosa de la Fama habita y recompensa (y nos da su visión moral sobre la fama de paso) a cualquier persona que le merezca. Es uno de sus cuentos más maravillosos, de espacios de materiales preciosos, dimensiones desproporciónales, y arquitecturas imposibles.
En el parlamento de las aves, nos introduce a una nueva visión que es el animal fantástico, en este caso un congreso de aves de cada especie, que según su rango y jerarquía natural (aunque claro está relacionado con las virtudes de la época) se reúne alrededor de la Diosa Naturaleza para decidir el destino conyugal de su ave real. La discusión y defensa de estas aves a favor o en contra del casamiento del ave es a veces cómico, absurdo, y cursi. Pero puede que sea (esto es una intuición propia) una representación o metáfora de cómo la corte medieval inglesa decidía, discutía, sobre quién sería el candidato idóneo para una princesa o dama real. Y claro está, si esto sucede, aunque sea en el plano etéreo celestial e invisible de las decisiones divinas, pues tiene como tanto en la tierra como en el cielo, replicarse en las representantes “legítimos” de lo celestial que es la nobleza real. Eso convertiría a Chaucer en un medio (y las visiones del sueño en el canal de transmisión) para justificar, adoctrinar, enseñar a la nobleza real “naturalizando” lo social.
Por fin en el último cuento, “la leyenda de las buenas mujeres” Chaucer hace un canto de alabanza a la flor de la margarita cuando el Dios del Amor y su consorte se le aparecen para condenarlo. Este, le recrimina su oposición, en otros libros suyos, al amor y la pérdida de fieles a este. La esposa del Dios le defiende y castiga a escribir hasta el fin de sus días sobre la leyenda de las buenas mujeres, leyendas antiguas y trágicas que narran de reinas, princesas o mujeres cotidianas que se entregaron totalmente al amor de sus parejas pero -en la mayoría de los casos- estos les abandonaron o engañaron dejándolas en una enorme y terrible pena. Mitos antiguos, probablemente de tradición oral; Chaucer nos hace una antología y resumen uno a uno de ellos como pedagogía educativa para los hombres infieles, engañosos e impostores y alabanza a la tragedia de estas mujeres reforzando la idea de la fidelidad monógama, del ostracismo social hacia la mujer en cuanto un hombre le abandona (pues ellas no podían tener más de una pareja mientras en ellos no había tal condena social), la entrega, la sumisión, etcétera.
August 15, 2020
Charming and insightful. Chaucer gets it — love is complex.
Bonus: Depending on your stance on Valentine's Day as we celebrate it, now you know whom to thank or blame for bringing love into the mix!
Bonus: Depending on your stance on Valentine's Day as we celebrate it, now you know whom to thank or blame for bringing love into the mix!
March 25, 2024
The one star short is probably a review of myself rather than the poem, but I really didn’t understand this. Parts of it made sense, but I just didn’t understand the frame.
October 28, 2024
i’m so excited for my chaucer binge. tysm tori for the ancient biblio volume!!
January 15, 2025
this was really funny. the girls (birds) are fighting!!! I loved when the falcon called the duck a peasant and said his argument had come out of a dunghill
September 21, 2024
it would have been 5 stars if it weren’t for the “and then i woke up” at the end.
December 1, 2023
De instrumentos de cuerda en armonía
oí tocar con dulzura tan encantadora,
que Dios, que es creador y señor de todo,
nunca oyó nada mejor, según colijo;
enseguida un viento, no podía ser algo más débil,
produjo en las hojas verdes un ruido suave
de acuerdo con el canto de los pájaros en lo alto.
El aire de este lugar era tan templado
que nunca había molestia de calor o frío;
también crecían todas las especias y hierbas curativas
y nadie allí enfermaba o envejecía;
sin embargo había alegría mil veces más
que lo que el hombre puede decir; y no anochecía nunca
sino que siempre era día claro a la vista de cualquiera.
Bajo un árbol junto a una fuente, digo,
nuestro señor Cupido forja y afila sus flechas;
y a sus pies estaba listo su arco
y su hija templaba todo el tiempo
las puntas en la fuente, y con su destreza
las acomodaba después para que sirvieran
algunas pera matar y otras para herir y cortar
Y cuando acabaron su canción, con los gritos
que hacen las aves al irse volando,
me desperté y tomé otros libros
para leer, y todavía leo siempre;
espero, en verdad, leyendo así algún día
encontrar una cosa que me lleve
a mejor fin; por eso no quiero dejar de leer
🤍
oí tocar con dulzura tan encantadora,
que Dios, que es creador y señor de todo,
nunca oyó nada mejor, según colijo;
enseguida un viento, no podía ser algo más débil,
produjo en las hojas verdes un ruido suave
de acuerdo con el canto de los pájaros en lo alto.
El aire de este lugar era tan templado
que nunca había molestia de calor o frío;
también crecían todas las especias y hierbas curativas
y nadie allí enfermaba o envejecía;
sin embargo había alegría mil veces más
que lo que el hombre puede decir; y no anochecía nunca
sino que siempre era día claro a la vista de cualquiera.
Bajo un árbol junto a una fuente, digo,
nuestro señor Cupido forja y afila sus flechas;
y a sus pies estaba listo su arco
y su hija templaba todo el tiempo
las puntas en la fuente, y con su destreza
las acomodaba después para que sirvieran
algunas pera matar y otras para herir y cortar
Y cuando acabaron su canción, con los gritos
que hacen las aves al irse volando,
me desperté y tomé otros libros
para leer, y todavía leo siempre;
espero, en verdad, leyendo así algún día
encontrar una cosa que me lleve
a mejor fin; por eso no quiero dejar de leer
🤍
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 8, 2007
This is a facing page translation, with the Middle English on the left and modern on the right. Chaucer's English is some of the most beautiful, and he was a skilled poet. Unfortunately, I think Richmond takes extreme liberty with too many passages: for instance, he reads the lines "Many a servaunt have ye put out of grace..../ For wel I wot, whyl ye have lyves space, / Ye can not love ful haf yeer in a place" as "Many a suitor you've dismissed, God knows..../ For, madame, the plain truth about you shows / You could not love a fortnight if you chose." That's not translation (can a language be translated into itself, anyway?) it's just paraphrase bordering on invention. Where does that "God knows" come from? These are great poems, and my frustrations to some are small and petty. I hope that too many people won't simply ignore the Middle English and focus on the translation. This would be a loss. There are some great Middle English dictionaries available on-line to help anyone willing to put forth the effort.
December 13, 2013
When I studied medieval literature at university, the Parliament of Fowls was one of my favourites. It is utterly charming, and much shorter than many of the texts we studied, so it stuck in my mind as a perfect little gem.
Simon Webb has kept all the beauty and charm of the original while producing an accurate and very readable translation. There is a useful glossary at the end, and an interesting foreword considering the poem's association with St Valentine.
Simon Webb has kept all the beauty and charm of the original while producing an accurate and very readable translation. There is a useful glossary at the end, and an interesting foreword considering the poem's association with St Valentine.
read-elsewhere
May 11, 2016
October 11, 2016
Slightly more fun but still a fucking nuisance to read.
January 12, 2025
Loved the part where the goose, cuckoo and the duck went: "Kek, kek!" "Kukkowe!" "Quek, quek!" in the midst of the discussion.
February 14, 2019
I am reviewing here the single poem The Parliament of Fowles/ Foules/ Birds. This poem is credited with turning St. Valentine's Day into a celebration of courtly love, and at 693 lines can be read in one sitting. The tradition hangs on both the impact of Chaucer, but also on the several mentions of St. Valentine's day, beginning with this stanza:
"For this was on Saint Valentine’s day,
When every fowl comes there his mate to take,
Of every species that men know, I say,
And then so huge a crowd did they make,
That earth and sea, and tree, and every lake
Was so full, that there was scarcely space
For me to stand, so full was all the place."
What I like about this poem is that features Chaucer the book lover expounding on the complexities of love, and to some extent mocking general foolishness on the subject. He begins with thoughts of immortality arising from reading The Dream of Scipio by Cicero. While his theology draws from Greco-Roman mythology, his descriptions of paradise are lush. The main conflict of the poem comes down to a debate about which of 3 suitors shall secure the nobel eagle that is Nature's treasured bird, and how to make the choice in enough time for the lesser birds to pair up before Valentine's Day expires.
Reading Chaucer in middle English is a commitment, one for which I find I don't have the time or headspace, though I know some enjoy it immensely. I recommend reading it aloud or at the least voicing it in your mind. Doing so helps the reader to appreciate the rhythm of the lines, and also aides in understanding. To give you more exposure to the work, and encourage you of it's accessibility through a modern translation, here are the passages about reading that I particularly enjoy.
"To read on did grant me such delight,
That the day seemed brief till it was night."
Which of us bookworms hasn't experienced the following, only to drop off as Chaucer to dream of that which captured us in late night reading?
"The day began to fail, and the dark night
That relieves all creatures of their business
Bereft me of my book for lack of light,
And to my bed I began me to address
Filled full of thought and anxious heaviness,
For I yet had the thing that I wished not,
And the thing that I wished I had not got."
I also love this description of the heart broken:
"For you for love have lost your taste, I guess,
As a sick man has for sweet or bitterness."
And the final lines pertain to his resumption of reading, both the passion for it, and the feared vanity of it:
"I woke, and other books to read upon
I then took up, and still I read always;
I hope in truth to read something someday
Such that I dream what brings me better fare,
And thus my time from reading I’ll not spare."
You can read the entire poem in a A.S. Kline's modern translation here
https://www.poetryintranslation.com/P...
PS. As a fan of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series, I couldn't help but notice,
"The crane, the giant with his trumpet-sound;
The thief, the chough; the chattering magpie;
The mocking jay; the heron there is found;
The lapwing false, to foil the searching eye;
The starling that betrays secrets on high;
The tame robin; and the cowardly kite;
The rooster, clock to hamlets at first light:"
"For this was on Saint Valentine’s day,
When every fowl comes there his mate to take,
Of every species that men know, I say,
And then so huge a crowd did they make,
That earth and sea, and tree, and every lake
Was so full, that there was scarcely space
For me to stand, so full was all the place."
What I like about this poem is that features Chaucer the book lover expounding on the complexities of love, and to some extent mocking general foolishness on the subject. He begins with thoughts of immortality arising from reading The Dream of Scipio by Cicero. While his theology draws from Greco-Roman mythology, his descriptions of paradise are lush. The main conflict of the poem comes down to a debate about which of 3 suitors shall secure the nobel eagle that is Nature's treasured bird, and how to make the choice in enough time for the lesser birds to pair up before Valentine's Day expires.
Reading Chaucer in middle English is a commitment, one for which I find I don't have the time or headspace, though I know some enjoy it immensely. I recommend reading it aloud or at the least voicing it in your mind. Doing so helps the reader to appreciate the rhythm of the lines, and also aides in understanding. To give you more exposure to the work, and encourage you of it's accessibility through a modern translation, here are the passages about reading that I particularly enjoy.
"To read on did grant me such delight,
That the day seemed brief till it was night."
Which of us bookworms hasn't experienced the following, only to drop off as Chaucer to dream of that which captured us in late night reading?
"The day began to fail, and the dark night
That relieves all creatures of their business
Bereft me of my book for lack of light,
And to my bed I began me to address
Filled full of thought and anxious heaviness,
For I yet had the thing that I wished not,
And the thing that I wished I had not got."
I also love this description of the heart broken:
"For you for love have lost your taste, I guess,
As a sick man has for sweet or bitterness."
And the final lines pertain to his resumption of reading, both the passion for it, and the feared vanity of it:
"I woke, and other books to read upon
I then took up, and still I read always;
I hope in truth to read something someday
Such that I dream what brings me better fare,
And thus my time from reading I’ll not spare."
You can read the entire poem in a A.S. Kline's modern translation here
https://www.poetryintranslation.com/P...
PS. As a fan of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series, I couldn't help but notice,
"The crane, the giant with his trumpet-sound;
The thief, the chough; the chattering magpie;
The mocking jay; the heron there is found;
The lapwing false, to foil the searching eye;
The starling that betrays secrets on high;
The tame robin; and the cowardly kite;
The rooster, clock to hamlets at first light:"
February 14, 2021
Boy oh boy. Where to even begin. This was a wild ride, all 17 pages of it.
Well, firstly, this probably deserves four stars. The first nine pages consist of the narrator philosophizing about the nature of the afterlife and then subsequently entering some erotic fever dream. Which was not the most fascinating of reads.
But then. But then.
The birds appeared. Or briddes, I should say. Foules smale and foules of ravine. (Side note: bees are just smale foules and that fact alone earned this a solid three stars.) Basically some of the royal eagles are fighting over this one female eagle, because Nature (one of Chaucer's copious personifications) said it was time for them to choose their mates (chese hir makes). And it is all very "You owe me love because I have done xyz," and Not Very Fun.
But then. We meet. The foules smale. There are the water foules. The seed foules. The worm foules. Personally, I feel bad for the cuckoo because Chaucer cannot even remember that they exist without feeling the urge to insult them. But I digress. Because the real subject of this review is The Goos. And probably The Doke. (The Doke is amazing simply because he goes "Quek, quek," and then abruptly bursts into coherent speech, in which he accuses another bird of queking.)
But The Goos. The Goos, inexplicably female in a cohort of testosterone-fueled birds (god what has my life devolved to that I have written that phrase), advocates for moving on if your affections are unrequited. Which is the first reasonable thing any of the briddes have said. She is the representative of the water foules, and deserves more respect than she receives.
Then there is the the turtledove, also female, who blushingly says that a lover should remain devoted even if there is no hope of return.
"For thogh she deyed, I wolde non other make,
I wol ben hires, til that the deeth me take."
So basically. After reading this delightful piece of literature. I had come to two conclusions. Firstly, the goos and the doke are simply excellent beings. And secondly, the turtledove is very gay and therefore (*sobs* unsurprisingly) used to unrequited love.
I am sure that there is not a single medieval scholar who would agree with my interpretation, but I really don't care. The turtledove is gay.
Well, firstly, this probably deserves four stars. The first nine pages consist of the narrator philosophizing about the nature of the afterlife and then subsequently entering some erotic fever dream. Which was not the most fascinating of reads.
But then. But then.
The birds appeared. Or briddes, I should say. Foules smale and foules of ravine. (Side note: bees are just smale foules and that fact alone earned this a solid three stars.) Basically some of the royal eagles are fighting over this one female eagle, because Nature (one of Chaucer's copious personifications) said it was time for them to choose their mates (chese hir makes). And it is all very "You owe me love because I have done xyz," and Not Very Fun.
But then. We meet. The foules smale. There are the water foules. The seed foules. The worm foules. Personally, I feel bad for the cuckoo because Chaucer cannot even remember that they exist without feeling the urge to insult them. But I digress. Because the real subject of this review is The Goos. And probably The Doke. (The Doke is amazing simply because he goes "Quek, quek," and then abruptly bursts into coherent speech, in which he accuses another bird of queking.)
But The Goos. The Goos, inexplicably female in a cohort of testosterone-fueled birds (god what has my life devolved to that I have written that phrase), advocates for moving on if your affections are unrequited. Which is the first reasonable thing any of the briddes have said. She is the representative of the water foules, and deserves more respect than she receives.
Then there is the the turtledove, also female, who blushingly says that a lover should remain devoted even if there is no hope of return.
"For thogh she deyed, I wolde non other make,
I wol ben hires, til that the deeth me take."
So basically. After reading this delightful piece of literature. I had come to two conclusions. Firstly, the goos and the doke are simply excellent beings. And secondly, the turtledove is very gay and therefore (*sobs* unsurprisingly) used to unrequited love.
I am sure that there is not a single medieval scholar who would agree with my interpretation, but I really don't care. The turtledove is gay.
November 27, 2023
A nice, short and sweet little book. The main poem, the eponymous PoB deserves to be better known, and the format of having Chaucerian text opposite a modern English translation makes it wonderfully accessible. There is some humour and social commentary in how each bird in turn speaks and acts on the subject of love, as all the birds gather on St Valentine's day, under the saint's own auspices. There to choose their partners.
The remaining short poems in this collection vary. The complaints to his scrivenour and to his purse are characterful, and so are the proverbial pair.
The more elaborate complaints regarding courtly love seemed, to this reader, less original and more conventional (life is woe, the lady is aloof and indifferent to the poets sorrows etc etc) and were not so obviously engaging.
Chaucer is like Shakespeare- it really helps to read him aloud, to get a sense of the meter but also of the meaning of words. Often the older spelling makes the word look like another one. It's only when reading them out (and glancing at the translation opposite) that you see Chaucer's cleverness more fully.
Anyway, an enjoyable and attractive little read.
The remaining short poems in this collection vary. The complaints to his scrivenour and to his purse are characterful, and so are the proverbial pair.
The more elaborate complaints regarding courtly love seemed, to this reader, less original and more conventional (life is woe, the lady is aloof and indifferent to the poets sorrows etc etc) and were not so obviously engaging.
Chaucer is like Shakespeare- it really helps to read him aloud, to get a sense of the meter but also of the meaning of words. Often the older spelling makes the word look like another one. It's only when reading them out (and glancing at the translation opposite) that you see Chaucer's cleverness more fully.
Anyway, an enjoyable and attractive little read.
December 5, 2023
I have to admit that the poetry did not thrill me here. I could see that it was well done, but it didn't really appeal - the more romantic of the poems, often titled as "Complaints" were honestly rather whiny. And yes, I get it's the whole courtly love thing, but still: whiny.
What I did enjoy here was the language. This particular edition combines both the original Middle English, alongside a modern English translation. Now, I've never studied Middle English and prior to this would not know it if it fell on me, so I was surprised and interested to find that I could mostly follow along. Not well, and I often had to read the original out loud to try and bypass the spelling in order to get to the meaning, but even so. It took a while, and some lines I simply could not puzzle out before resorting to the translation (I read the Middle version of each poem before the modern), but the attempt was entertaining if the poetry was often not so much.
I do like puzzles! And there was one short poem where Chaucer wished mange upon a scribe who was inaccurate in his work, so that was amusing.
What I did enjoy here was the language. This particular edition combines both the original Middle English, alongside a modern English translation. Now, I've never studied Middle English and prior to this would not know it if it fell on me, so I was surprised and interested to find that I could mostly follow along. Not well, and I often had to read the original out loud to try and bypass the spelling in order to get to the meaning, but even so. It took a while, and some lines I simply could not puzzle out before resorting to the translation (I read the Middle version of each poem before the modern), but the attempt was entertaining if the poetry was often not so much.
I do like puzzles! And there was one short poem where Chaucer wished mange upon a scribe who was inaccurate in his work, so that was amusing.
February 20, 2024
As it's been a while since I've read anything in Middle English, this was a good reference to have alongside my copy of Chaucer's Dream Visions.
(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...)
Simon Webb does a decent job at keeping the majority of the original meaning whilst sticking to rhyme royal, but I would recommend trying to read the original ME wherever possible. Ideally, I would have liked a copy that included both - the original transcriptions on one side and Webb's translation on the other. This would allow for a deeper analysis of language and terms in the introduction or appendixes.
But, as it currently stands, this is a good introduction to Chaucer's poem. An ideal reference for anyone reading the original, and a quick study for anyone new to the work.
(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...)
Simon Webb does a decent job at keeping the majority of the original meaning whilst sticking to rhyme royal, but I would recommend trying to read the original ME wherever possible. Ideally, I would have liked a copy that included both - the original transcriptions on one side and Webb's translation on the other. This would allow for a deeper analysis of language and terms in the introduction or appendixes.
But, as it currently stands, this is a good introduction to Chaucer's poem. An ideal reference for anyone reading the original, and a quick study for anyone new to the work.
February 14, 2022
A tremendously beautiful allegory written in the form of a dream vision. It has only 699 lines but it is packed with symbols and layers of metaphorical meaning. Chaucer's poem is also one of the first references to St. Valentine's Day.
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