The foul-mouthed Miller and the prim Prioress
Country Life UK|January 03, 2024
The pre-eminent poet of the English language, celebrated for his trailblazing literary wizardry, Chaucer's time 'is, and has always been, here and now', finds Matthew Dennison
Matthew Dennison
The foul-mouthed Miller and the prim Prioress

THAT Geoffrey Chaucer's 'drasty rhyming is nat worth a toord' (his 'dirty rhyming isn't worth a turd'), the Host's pungent dismissal in Chaucer's best-known, but incomplete poem The Canterbury Tales, is a verdict that, with good reason, posterity has ignored. More than six centuries after his death in 1400, Chaucer remains the best-loved and most-read surviving voice of medieval England. His claim to be a 'grete philosopher', profound in his understanding of human nature, is as persuasive now as when first articulated by 15th-century printer William Caxton. He has consistently been celebrated for his trailblazing literary wizardry, assimilating and reinventing diverse storytelling traditions: the writer, Caxton marvelled, who outstripped all others and 'enbelysshed, ornated, and made faire our englisshe', supplementing the language with words borrowed from Latin and French. Within a dozen years of his death, Chaucer was hailed as the first discoverer of English and the pre-eminent poet of our native tongue: 'The first fyndere of our faire langage.'

According to the narrator of The Manciple's Tale, a word is spoken or written and forth it goth'. Now, a new exhibition at Oxford's Bodleian Library charts Chaucer's life and 600 years of readers' responses to his work. Exhibits range from the oldest surviving Chaucer manuscript, the Hengwrt Chaucer of about 1400, to recent Chaucer-inspired writing by Windrush-generation poets. Clearly, the great man's words continue to go forth, crackling with life, to resonate forcefully with new generations. Described by fellow poet John Dryden in 1700 as 'the Father of English Poetry' (and, on account of his bawdy humour, as a rough diamond'), Chaucer emerges from the current exhibition as a towering figure, inspiring writers from Edmund Spenser to Zadie Smith, alongside calligraphers, illustrators, amateur and professional artists, film-makers and even puppeteers.

Esta historia es de la edición January 03, 2024 de Country Life UK.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

Esta historia es de la edición January 03, 2024 de Country Life UK.

Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.

MÁS HISTORIAS DE COUNTRY LIFE UKVer todo
Tales as old as time
Country Life UK

Tales as old as time

By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth

time-read
2 minutos  |
November 13, 2024
Do the active farmer test
Country Life UK

Do the active farmer test

Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 13, 2024
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Country Life UK

Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin

Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts

time-read
2 minutos  |
November 13, 2024
SOS: save our wild salmon
Country Life UK

SOS: save our wild salmon

Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 13, 2024
Into the deep
Country Life UK

Into the deep

Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel

time-read
4 minutos  |
November 13, 2024
It's alive!
Country Life UK

It's alive!

Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters

time-read
4 minutos  |
November 13, 2024
There's orange gold in them thar fields
Country Life UK

There's orange gold in them thar fields

A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 13, 2024
True blues
Country Life UK

True blues

I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 13, 2024
Oh so hip
Country Life UK

Oh so hip

Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland

time-read
4 minutos  |
November 13, 2024
A best kept secret
Country Life UK

A best kept secret

Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning

time-read
3 minutos  |
November 13, 2024