The Book of Duchess

The Book of Duchess

The Book of Duchess, also known as ‘The Dreame of Chaucer or The Deth of Blaunche’ is the first major long poem published by Geoffrey Chaucer. It is an elegy written on the death of Duchess Blanche of Lancaster, first wife of John of Gaunt, who was the fourth son of King Edward III. John of Gaunt was a patron and at some point , a brother-in-law to Chaucer. The Duchess Blanche died of plague on September 12^th 1368. The poem was composed sometime between 1368 and 1372 and it is generally considered to be flattering to both the Duke and Duchess. It is written in French Octosyllabic Couplet, which has eight syllables in a line, adapted from the French by Chaucer. It has the echoes of the French poems ‘Judgement dou Roy De Behaingne and Judgement dou Roy de Navarre’ by Guillaume de Machaut. It is a poem of the dream-vision genre which has 1334 lines.

The most obvious clue to this is the name of the deceased woman of the poem, which is ‘Lady White’ as the name ‘Blanche’ means white. The evidence include handwritten notes from Elizabethan antiquary John Stowe indicating that the poem was written at John of Gaunt’s request. These are references to a ‘long castel’, suggesting the house of Lancaster and a ‘ryche hil’ as John of Gaunt was earl of Richmond and the narrator swears by St. John, which is John of Gaunt’s saint’s name.The poem begins with the a sleepless poet who lies in bed reading a book. The poet reads a story about Ceyx and Alcyone and wanders around in his thoughts. Suddenly the poet falls asleep and dreams a wonderful story. He dreams that he wakes up in a beautiful chamber by the sound of hunters and hunting dogs. The poet follows a small hunting dog into the forest and finds a knight dressed in black who mourns about losing a game of chess. The poet asks the knight some questions and realizes at the end of the poem that the knight was talking symbolically instead of literally. The black knight has lost his love and lady. The poet awakes and decides that this wonderful dream should be preserved in rhyme.