ABSTRACT
In the three poems that follow, The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, and The Parliament of Fowls Geoffrey Chaucer variously exploits the possibilities of a narrator who has to recount what passes his understanding. The skills he deploys are varied; his repertoire ranges from set-piece direct address to skilfully placed ‘aside’, and includes outright mimicry as well as adroitly timed question. He begins The Book of the Duchess by establishing two matters of immediate— but unstated—relevance to his present audience. Chaucer moves to lighten the tone, and with a characteristically medieval freedom the balance swings in a moment to unashamed comedy. The poem will work best for a reader who, like the Dreamer, actually forgets the plain truth he has heard at the start of the dialogue. The range of Chaucer-as-Dreamer is complete.
