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Chaucer

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Haider Mehboob
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12 views2 pages

Chaucer

Uploaded by

Haider Mehboob
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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NAME: AYESHA IFTIKHAR 47 (SS-1)

Topic: Chaucer prologue/ preface to the legend of good women

Chaucer is considered as one of the greatest English poets, author of books such as parliament of fouls,
Canterbury tales. Preface to the legend of good women is one of the best poems which is in the form of
dream vision. It consists of one prologue & nine stories of virtuous women of history. This is the 1st
significant work written in iambic pentameter, heroic couplet in 14th century. The prologue to the book cites
the reason behind Chaucer collection of stories about good women drawn from classical mythology who
were unfaithful in love. The legend to good women is a poem that take form of dream vision Chaucer
expresses his delight at the arrival of spring, describing his roaming through the meadows on spring day
after his walk-in fields he which God of love, Cupid accuses Chaucer of defaming women by writing works,
which are critical of romantic love & women. Cupid is accompanied by mysterious princess Alceste, who
recommended Chaucer to make amends for what he has written so far, and he asked to write a book about
women, proving them loving & faithful. Cupid rebukes Chaucer for presenting women unfaithful in the
poems Troilus & Criseyde, the Roman De La rose poems argue that women are faithful until point of death,
but men are fickle lovers inspired by selfish desire like honor & wealth, the stories include the legend of
Cleopatra, Thisbe, Dido, Hypsipyle, Medea, Lucrece, Ariadne, Philomela, Phyllis and Hypermanestra. The
legend of Cleopatra, in this Mark Anthony, Roman general & Cleopatra Egyptian queen fell in love. The
legend of Thisbe & her loves Pyramus, they talked through crack in a wall often. One day they decided to
meet under a tree. Thisbe was waiting for her lover; a loin comes toward her & she ran away from him. At
that time Pyramus come there and he think that she should be waiting for him and something bad had
happened to her. Then he takes his own knife and stab himself then Thisbe come there and saw the love of
her life and stab herself. The legend of good women has two prologues. Critics have long puzzled over why
Chaucer revised his earliest prologue to legend of good women. Various explanations have been proposed,
some of which have generally dismissed, some of which have been generally accepted as right as far as
they go.

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