ABSTRACT
Small wonder that Geoffrey Chaucer shorter poems are much neglected—a good number even of Chaucerian scholars have probably never read them all, much less studied them. R. K. Root, then, attributes the sad state of Chaucer’s lyrics to a defect in the poet’s genius, while Moore had made it a defect in the tradition. And as tradition shaped Chaucer’s individual talent, so his individual talent transformed forever the tradition itself. Even the “moribund” courtly tradition of fourteenth century France, the first inspiration for Chaucer’s lyrics, is not without flashes of brilliance. A careful look at poems like To Rosemounde and Merclies Beaute will reveal just how much Chaucer was able to revitalize the courtly tradition he inherited from the continent. Chaucer also used tradition to help establish a context. The chapter also provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
