Chaucers Wordes unto Adam, His Owne Scriveyn - Geoffrey Chaucer

Advantages: A true classic of the English language
Disadvantages: In Middle English without translation, it can be difficult to read

...In Chaucer's work, 'The Canterbury Tales', perhaps the greatest of English literary works from the period of the language known as Middle English, there is one particular piece that have always stood out for me. 'A Clerk ther was of Oxenford also,' This is perhaps my favourite character, as when I first read it, it seemed to epitomise what I hoped for in my own life. 'That unto logik hadde longe y-go. .... For him was lever have at his beddes heed Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed, Of Aristotle and his philosophye, Than robes riche, of fithele, or gay sautrye, But al be that he was a philosophre, Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre, But al that he mighte of his freendes hente, On bokes and on lerninge he it spente, and bisily gan for the soules preye Of hem that yaf him wherwith to scoleye. .... ...gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly... Read review

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Advantages: English literature at its finest
Disadvantages: None

...to his own life were plain to see but in this tale the confessional aspects of the entire cycle come to their fulfilment. The tale shows poetic brilliance, comedy and wit, but these mask mind-numbing complexity. Chaucer hides his sources but I would claim that the Decameron (by Giovanni Boccaccio) is one of these. Chaucer explores the concept of nihilism in this tale and his use of allegory is possibly unsurpassed in its eloquence. I assume the merchant to be a usurer, one who charges extortionate interest on loans as Chaucer himself did. Usury is contrary to the beliefs of the time especially with reference to Thomas Aquinas who himself cites Aristotle in his belief that interest charging is immoral. The protagonist in this tale is January, perhaps the month of Chaucer’s birth, and he mirrors Dante’s Master Adam in that he is a narcissist... Read review

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Advantages: Chaucer's Greatest Work
Disadvantages: Problems with reading Middle English

...have offered modern versions of Chaucer, of whom the best known is Coghill. These modernisations give you the story, and that is all. They bear little resemblance to the original, and in my view are virtually useless. This applies, too, to the modernisations of Shakespeare which used to abound. There are fewer of these now, and I wish people would leave Chaucer alone. He is quite big enough to stand on his own. Here is just one example of Coghill’s entirely inappropriate ‘translations’. Criseyde is being told to stop weeping, as seeing her doing so could drive her lover mad with anxiety. ‘Arys up hastely, That he yow nat biwopen thus ne finde, But ye wol have him wood out of his minde !' This is rendered : ‘You must not let him find you blubbered red, Unless you wish to send him off his head !’ This is grotesquely bad... Read review

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