Book details
Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 — Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems
Inspect the stored metadata, editorial profile, authors, categories, and local EPUB state.
Stored record
Metadata
- Gutenberg ID
- 43089
- Title
- Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 — Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems
- Language
- en
- Book source
- Project Gutenberg
- Description max 80 words
-
This scholarly volume presents Geoffrey Chaucer's *Romaunt of the Rose* and a collection of minor poems, edited by Rev. Walter W. Skeat. It offers a definitive text based on manuscripts and early editions, featuring extensive introductions that debate authorship, analyze linguistic evidence, and provide critical notes on Chaucer's life and works.
- Summary up to 500 words
-
This volume presents a critical edition of Geoffrey Chaucer's works, focusing on the *Romaunt of the Rose* and a selection of minor poems. The text begins with a detailed biography of Chaucer, tracing his family lineage from East Anglia to London and documenting his career as a civil servant and diplomat. The primary literary focus is the *Romaunt of the Rose*, a translation of a French allegory. The editor, Rev. Walter W. Skeat, rigorously analyzes the poem's fragments using dialect, rhyme, and proportion tests. His research concludes that only the first fragment is likely by Chaucer himself, while subsequent sections were added by later authors such as Jean de Meun. Skeat meticulously documents manuscript variations to provide a reliable text grounded in historical linguistic research. The volume also features a comprehensive section on Chaucer's minor poems, including *Fortune*, *Merciless Beauty*, and *To Rosemounde*. These pieces explore enduring themes of love, the fickleness of fortune, and moral advice. *Fortune* depicts the goddess as a blind, capricious force, while *Merciless Beauty* laments the cruelty of a beloved's physical perfection that excludes pity. *To Rosemounde* expresses the poet's devotion to a lady who offers no favor. Throughout the text, Skeat corrects errors from previous editions and provides extensive notes on manuscript history, early printings, and the attribution of works. The edition aims to restore Chaucer's reputation by distinguishing his genuine contributions from spurious additions, offering readers a clear view of his linguistic style and poetic evolution within the context of medieval literature.
- LLM editorial rating
- 4.2/5
- Download URL
- https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43089.epub.noimages
- Local file path
-
data/epubs/pg43089.epub - Downloaded at
- 2026-07-08 08:11 UTC
People
Authors
- Geoffrey Chaucer
Classification
Categories
- Classics
- Poetry