We're talking about a huge range
of material here, from the deceptively simple "he came all so stille where
his mother was, as aprille dew upon the grass" to the monumental 'Piers
Ploughman', The Battle of the Trees and the Tale of Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight. Somewhere along the line we want to look at The Battle of
Maldon, The cry of the Wayfarer, and such works as the already translated
Judith. Language itself was an adventure in a time and place when a poet
might be writing in any one of a number of dialects, in Norman French,
in Latin or, in English itself. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote more than one language
and style, and his pithy observations and rude stories are great entertainment
now, as they were then.
The era has had enormous influence
on many famous poets and schools of poetry, from the victorian gothic to
the pre-Raphaelites, to modern fantasy writers and magical poets. So much
so that it is difficult now to read the works which survive this period
without some kind of emotional filter. It has been a deep source for people
of imagination and intellect alike. It almost too easy to dismiss
the realities, and the ideals of the time, in favour of whichever wheelbarrow
one is pushing.
This section is going to be very entertaining.
It also has its problems. How far must we translate, how much do we need
to? The answers will vary as we choose each poem.
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