ABSTRACT
The French allegorical poem, Le Romaunt de la Rose begun by Guillaume de Lorris in 1237 and continued by Jean de Meun in around 1280 was arguably the single text most influential on Chaucer. It was widely known in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and thus provided not only a pattern for style and poetic matter, but also a rich source of allusion. The earlier section of the text encapsulates the love vision genre, indeed Guillaume de Lorris is credited with having written the definitive love vision in his Roman and Chaucer was clearly impressed by it enough to not only translate it but also to use and adapt the form in his own dream poems. We know that Chaucer translated it, as he refers to his version in the Prologue to The Legend of Good Women where the god of Love accuses him of having translated it into plain English (Legend, F: 327-31; G: 253-7), we are less certain that we still have his translation. Certainly not all of it has survived, assuming he did indeed translate both de Lorris’ section and de Meun’s. Of the three fragments of Middle English versions which have survived two are certainly not by Chaucer, despite having been attributed to him at various stages. The other, ‘Fragment A’, consists of about 1705 lines, translating the beginning of de Lorris’ text, but breaks off mid-sentence. The Riverside Chaucer prints all three
fragments, but as only the first is agreed to be possibly by Chaucer, that is only one to receive attention here. However, it is clear from other texts that Chaucer was well acquainted with both parts of the poem, as he draws on elements from de Meun’s section as well as de Lorris’. Study of this translation thus provides not only an idea of the kinds of writing that influenced Chaucer and an introduction to his habit of close translation as a method of absorbing texts, but also offers a good basic knowledge of dream poetry. From this it is possible to see how Chaucer went on to develop the form in his own dream poems before moving into other forms to explore narrative techniques. He never fully abandoned dream poetry; elements of it can be seen even in his latest works as he drew on theories of the significance (or otherwise) of dreams either to provide an excuse for later action (as happens in Troilus, II: 925-31; V: 1233-41, 1442-1540 and the Prologue to The Legend of Good Women [81, 100]) or for more simple comic effect as in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale [141].
