CHAUCER AS A REPRESENTATIVE POET

CHAUCER AS A REPRESENTATIVE POET

A Representative is someone who speaks or does something officially for another person or group of people. According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary 9th Edition:

 “A Representative is a person who is typical of a particular group”

Whereas A Poet is a person who writes poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be a writer of poetry or may perform their art to an audience. According to WILLIAM WORDSWORTH who defines ‘Poet’ in these lines:

“He is a man speaking to men: a man, it is true, endued with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to be common among mankind; a man pleased with his own passions and volitions, and who rejoices more than other men in the spirit of life that is in him; delighting to contemplate similar volitions and passions as manifested in the goings-on of the universe, and habitually impelled to create them where he does not find them.”

GEOFFREY CHAUCER is one of those writers of English Literature who contribute immensely towards uplifting and beautifying the English language in an era which is full of transition, activity, socio-political disorder. He is a true representative of his time and society in that he depicts almost every phase of his society, delineated the men and women in a vivid, admirable and precise manner. He also depicts his social document  in ‘The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales’ with great faithfulness the body and soul of the society of his era

 The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales is a remarkable piece pertaining to social criticism and history. As COMPTON RICKETT observes:

“CHAUCER stands in much the same relation to the life of his time as POPE does to the earlier phases to the Eighteenth century and TENNYSON to the Victorian era.”

Like POPE and TENNYSON, CHAUCER, too, paints the life of his time in his poetry. The social group of thirty pilgrims covers the entire range of fourteen-century English society, leaving only loyalty on the one hand and the lowest life on the other. In the words of DRYDEN who asserts:

“There is God’s plenty.”

CHAUCER lives in an age which was epoch-making in religious, social and political planes. The victories of the English army in the continent make Calais an English colony and the nation prosperous. The disasters, which come after the victories, help in ripening the English mind.

The Renaissance is also known for its humanism because it arouses interest in the human character. According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary 9th Edition Oxford University Press, 2015 which defines humanism as:

“A system of thought that considers that solving human problems with the help of reason is more important than religious beliefs. It emphasizes the fact that the basic nature of humans is good.”

And CAMPTON RICKETT remarks about The Renaissance:

“There was the leaven of the Renaissance, beneath Medievalism.”

The Renaissance emphasizes the individual traits, which distinguish one man from another. CHAUCER imparts individual traits to his characters. They are not mere-types, but also individuals. The Knight stands for heroism and manliness that good knight would always show on the battlefield. But he has been individualized by his prudence, jerkin of fustian and all good horse:

 “Of fustian he wered a gypon /Al bismotered with his habergeon.” ( lines 75-76)

His son, The Squire stands for the type of a merry youth, interested in singing and playing upon the flute. He has also been individualized by his curly hair, his embroidered clothes and his short coat with long sleeves:

“Embrouded was he, as it were a meede........Short was his gowne, with sleves longe and wyde." ( lines 89 and 93)

Another character of The Oxford Clerk is also the type of good scholars, not interested in worldly glory, but in the advancement of knowledge and learning. But CHAUCER’s Oxford Clerk comes as a figure of the individual, by his learning, his hollow-cheeks, grave look and his threadbare cloak. CHAUCER’s lawyer seems typical of our own day when he says:

“Nowher so bisy a man as he ther nas / And yet he semed bisier than he was.” ( lines 323-324)

Thus, the individual characterization in CHAUCER is a Renaissance trait. So it is a modern trait in his poetry.

CHAUCER presents in The Prologue his different characters from the various classes of the English society of the time. Leaving aside the very highest and the very lowest of the English society, his twenty-nine pilgrims represent the whole range of the English nation. The Prologue is thus the picture-gallery of the fourteen century England. CHAUCER's portraits are quite Realistic. It is with great tolerance and sympathy that he has given a vivid and true picture of the English society. As LEGUOIS says:

"CHAUCER........................is truly the social chronicler of England at the end of fourteenth century. What he has given is a direct transcription of daily life, taken in the very act, and in its most familiar aspects."

CHAUCER discards the fantastic world of dream and allegory. He paints his society in a realistic manner and with great artistic detachment. These make his poem a far greater work of art. CHAUCER's age is medieval although new trends come to the surface. He has believed in medieval chivalry which stands for love, heroism and religion. CHAUCER's knight is an example of medieval chivalry. He has been a warrior of fifteen battles, fought in defence of Christian shrines. Being the embodiment of chivalric ideals, CHAUCER's knight observes utmost courtesy:

“To riden out, he loved chivalrie, / Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie.”

He is not only worthy of politeness but also wise indecisiveness. However, one can point out that the spirit of true chivalry breaths its last in the age of CHAUCER. The Knight, in fact, is a representative of an order which was losing its ground. The true representative of the new order is his young son. The Squire, who has as much a taste for revelry as for chivalry. He is a lover and a lusty bachelor:

“So hoote he lovede that by nyghtertale / He slept namoore than dooth a nyghtyngale.”

Thus, The Prologue is a true and comprehensive picture of CHAUCER's age.

As CHAUCER is aware of the weakness of the Churchmen and their love of money, corruption and materialism, so The Prologue gives a vivid picture of the Church. The Monk, the Friar, the Summoner, the Pardoner, and the Prioress are examples of the corrupt clergy. They neglect their duties. First of all, there is a Monk, who cares only for hunting and good cheer. His bald head shines like glass, his bright eyes roll in his head. He rides a sleek brown palfrey and has "many a dainty horse" in his stables. His sleeves are trimmed with fine fur at the wrists; his hood is fastened under his chin with a gold love-not. As a companion figure to the hunting Monk, CHAUCER gives us "Madame Eglantyne," the Prioress. She looks more refined in her manners and religious duties than she actually is. According to BOWDEN:

“She is gentle, demeanour, aristocratic in her worldly outlook on life”

The Friar uses the gift of the gab to knock out money from the people. The Pardoner makes money by selling pardons to the sinners. All these characters, except the poor Parson, show how the Churchman had become depraved. These characters indicate that various drawbacks had crept into the Church.

The physicians represent the medical profession of the fourteenth century. In those times, astronomy or rather astrology is an important element in the training of a medical man. The medieval theory of disease is that they were due to the particular combinations of stars and planets, which affected the human body. So, The Doctor of Medicine makes a pile of money during a great plague.

“And yet he was but esy of dispence, / He kepte that he wan in pestilence.”

In The Prologue and The Canterbury Tales, one does get an accurate picture of English social life in the fourteenth century. The trading and artisan classes gain prominence in this age. The new industries of silk and glass making are becoming quite popular. A class of Merchants acquires prominence as the middle-man between craftsmen and consumers. CHAUCER has given an important place to the Merchant. The Merchant is a typical representative of his class. He always talks about the increase in his income and knows well how to make money in the marketplace.

“Sownynge alwey th’ encrees of hi wynnying……….Wel koude he in eschaunge sheeldws selle.”

The other classes of craftsmen, namely, the Haberdasher, the Carpenter, the Weaver and the Dyer are also fairly prosperous. Their good clothes and equipment show that they are not only respectable in their looks but also economically stable. CHAUCER in The Prologue has given a vivid picture of the commercial classes.

The Prologue is a Cross-Section of the fourteenth-century society which consisted of three main classes- that of the Knights representing medieval chivalry, that of the clergy representing the Church, and that of the workers. In the Prologue, CHAUCER paints a National Portrait Gallery with some of thirty odd characters who, by and large, constitute the society of his time. Except for royalty and the lowest step of the ladder of English society. The Prologue is a complete representation of the ranks and professions of English medieval society with the Church and the State as its principal pillars.

The Prologue has a documentary value because it is possible to reconstruct the life of the fourteenth-century society from it. However, CHAUCER has avoided references to any of the following political and sociological events because he was not writing the history of his periods like the struggle of the House of Lancaster, The Wycliffe Movement, The Democratization of England, The Anglo-French Wars, The Peasant's Revolt, The Rise of English Nationalism and The Black Death

The Clerk of Oxford represents the new intellectual culture. He is an austere scholar who prefers twenty books of ARISTOTLE's philosophy to gay clothes and musical instruments and:

“Of studie took he moost cure and moost heede / Noght a word spak he moore than was neede”

To sum up, one can say that CHAUCER is the perfect exponent of his age and his poetry reflects the fourteenth century. As MATHEW ARNOLD is rightly said that:

“With him is born our real poetry.”

Thus, The Prologue is a comprehensive representation of the fourteenth-century society which consists of three main classes-that of the knights representing medieval chivalry, that of the clergy representing the Church, and that of the workers. These three classes constitute the main social structure and one can reconstruct the life of the fourteenth century through it.

Finally, it must be borne in mind that as a painter of his society CHAUCER acts more as a poet and artist than as a chronicler. His treatment of English men and manners of the fourteenth Century is not as a social reformer but as a tolerant humanist and his attitude of toleration carries more conviction than the denunciation of a moralist.

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