133:"good, fair White". The poet, still not understanding the metaphorical chess game, asks the black knight to finish the story and explain what was lost. The knight tells the story of his fumbling declaration of love and the long time it took for the love to be reciprocated and that they were in perfect harmony for many years. Still the narrator does not understand, and asks the whereabouts of White. The knight finally blurts out that White is dead. The poet realises what has occurred as the hunt ends and the poet awakes with his book still in hand. He reflects on the dream and decides that his dream is so wonderful that it should be set into rhyme.
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125:. The dogs are released and the hunt begins, leaving behind the poet and a small dog that the poet follows into the forest. The poet stumbles upon a clearing and finds a knight dressed in black composing a song for the death of his lady. The poet asks the knight the nature of his grief. The knight replies that he had played a game of chess with
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The knight begins the story of his life, reporting that for his entire life he had served Love, but that he had waited to set his heart on a woman for many years until he met one lady who surpassed all others. The knight speaks of her surpassing beauty and temperament and reveals that her name was
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indicating that the poem was written at John of Gaunt's request. There are repeated instances of the word "White", which is almost certainly a play on "Blanche". In addition, at the end of the poem there are references to a "long castel", suggesting the house of
Lancaster (line 1,318) and a "ryche
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The poet stops relaying the story of Ceyx and
Alcyone and reflects that he wished that he had a god such as Juno or Morpheus so that he could sleep like Alcyone. He then describes the lavish bed he would gift to Morpheus should the god discover his location. Lost in the book and his thoughts, the
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The messenger finds
Morpheus and relays Juno's orders. Morpheus finds the drowned Ceyx and bears him to Alcyone three hours before dawn. The deceased Ceyx instructs Alcyone to bury him and to cease her sorrow, and when Alcyone opens her eyes Ceyx has gone.
65:. Based on the themes and title of the poem, most sources put the date of composition after 12 September 1368 (when Blanche of Lancaster died) and before 1372, with many recent studies privileging a date as early as the end of 1368.
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At the beginning of the poem, the sleepless poet, who has suffered from an unexplained sickness for eight years (line 37), lies in his bed, reading a book. A collection of old stories, the book tells the story of
838:
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Watson, Robert A. "Dialogue and
Invention in the Book of the Duchess (philosophical interpretation of Geoffrey Chaucer's work) (Critical Essay)." Modern Philology 98.4 (May 2001): 543.
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poet suddenly falls asleep with the book in his hands. He states that his dream is so full of wonder that no man may interpret it correctly. He begins to relay his dream.
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Vickery, Gwen M. "'The Book of the
Duchess': the date of composition related to theme of impracticality." Essays in Literature 22.n2 (Fall 1995): 161(9).
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hil" as John of Gaunt was earl of
Richmond (mond=hill) (line 1,319) and the narrator swears by St. John, which is the name of John of Gaunt's saint.
843:
293:
Foster, Michael. "On Dating the
Duchess: The Personal and Social Context of Book of the Duchess." Review of English Studies 59 (Fall 2008): 185–196.
129:, and lost his queen and was checkmated. The poet takes the message literally and begs the black knight not to become upset over a game of chess.
98:. The story tells of how Ceyx lost his life at sea, and how Alcyone, his wife, mourned his absence. Unsure of his fate, she prays to the goddess
37:'s first own work, which was written probably between 1368 and 1372; published 1532 in the first collected edition of Chaucer's works, edited by
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The poet dreams that he wakes in a chamber with windows of stained glass depictions of the tale of Troy and walls painted with the story of
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Meecham-Jones, Simon (2018). "Blanche, Two
Chaucers and the Stanley Family: Rethinking the Reception of The Book of the Duchess".
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The
Riverside Chaucer. Gen. Ed. Larry D. Benson. Oxford: University of Oxford Press. 3rd ed. 1987. Explanatory note p. 976.
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Overwhelming (if disputed) evidence suggests that
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This article disputes the idea that the poem was commemorating the death of Blanche of Lancaster.
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This article disputes the idea that the poem was commemorating the death of Blanche of Lancaster.
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Book of the Duchess: Geoffrey Chaucer, Fourteenth Century Middle English Verse
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This link contains Susan Yager's reading of the first 43 lines of the poem.
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Dream Visions and Other Poems: Authoritative Texts, Contexts, Criticism
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Davis, Norman, et al. A Chaucer Glossary. New York: Oxford, 1979.
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Chaucer's influence on fifteenth-century Scottish literature
268:. Durham, England: Durham and St. Andrews Medieval Texts.
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to send her a dream vision. Juno sends a messenger to
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to bring the body of Ceyx with a message to Alcyone.
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191:(London: Oxford University Press, 1937), pp. 83–96.
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844:Influence of Italian humanism on Chaucer
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184:The complete works of Geoffrey Chaucer
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947:Depictions of Augustus in literature
349:Excerpt from Chaucer and His Poetry
264:Chaucer, G., Phillips, H. (1982).
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685:The Complaint of the Black Knight
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370:Useful sources for the study of
360:Te Deum? by Zacharias P. Thundy
255:, 1910. Accessed 11 March 2008.
212:The Dream Poems and Other Works
160:', ed. by Colin Wilcockson, in
678:The Cuckoo and the Nightingale
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692:The equatorie of the planetis
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249:The Life of Geoffrey Chaucer
653:A Treatise on the Astrolabe
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917:Poetry by Geoffrey Chaucer
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625:The Parliament of Fowls
604:The Book of the Duchess
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