BOOK OF DUCHESS - SUMMARY

BOOK OF DUCHESS Summary: A poem is a short introduction, in verse, to the matter and meaning of the rest of the poem. Some published editions of the poem do not make a division between The Proem and The Dream. The Proem is lines 1 through 290, and The Dream is lines 291 through 1334, the end of the poem. Ta The Rook of the Duchess, the poet is introduced in the first person. He has difficulty ting to sleep and has not slept, he says, for eight years. He reaches for a copy of a "romaunce" (a word describing the Metamorphoses of the ancient Roman poet Ovid) and reads the tale of King Seys and Queen Alcyone. The king goes across the sea on a ship, and a storm arises and drowns all aboard. Queen Aleyone is anxious at home and awaiting his returThe narrator agrees that this was a lovely lady, but he wonders why the Black Knight is still so upset about a game of chess. Finally, after the full explanation of the lady's worth, the knight, under questioning from the narrator, blurts out that she has died. At last the dreamer understands and agrees that the Black Knight has indeed suffered a great loss. The hunting hom sounds, signaling the end of the hunt. The king's hunting party goes off toward a long castle, and a bell tolls twelve hours, the time allotted to the knight to tell his tale. The dreamer awakens from this fantastic dream with Ovid's Metamorphoses still in his hand. He marvels at the clarity and wonder of the dream, and he decides that it is so good that it should be put into a poem.n, sends to the east and west looking for him. Until she knows the king's fate, she will not eat bread. Distraught, she prays to Juno to send her a dream that would tell her of the fate of Seys. Juno immediately sends Alcyone to sleep, and he sends a messenger to Morpheus, the god of sleep. Morpheus is to go to the Great Sea (the Mediterranean) and enliven the king's drowned body with his own spirit. This reanimated corpse he should send to Alcyone to speak to her and show her he has drowned.

Juno's messenger goes to the dark valley where the gods Morpheus and Eclympastev sleep. He rouses Morpheus, who does Juno's bidding and conveys the dead Seys to speak to h wife Alcyone. In her dream, Aleyone sees Seys at the foot of her bed, and he tells her that he ha died and that she must Tind his body by the sea and bury it. He also tells her not to remain in sorrow too long. He adds that she was his true love in life. With "To lytel while oure blysse lasteth" [too little while our bliss lasts) (1ine 211), he leaves her, echoing a theme of this and other poems in Chaucer's love-poetry ocuvre. Aleyone awakens, and Seys is gone. The narrator now reflects how helpfulEwould be to nave the god of sleep come and give him much-necded rest himself. He describes the olfering he would make to Morpheus and to his goddess, Juno: an claborate bed of doves' down, with striped gold and black satin and linen Grom Reynes. He would give this gift to obtain the swift and deep sleep that Alcyone did when Juno answered her prayer. The narrator then falls asleep on his book and experiences so strange and wonderful a dream that, he says, no one on carth can properly interpret it. Not even the famous Biblical interpreter of dreams, Joseph, who read dreams for Pharaoh (sce Genesis, Book 41), nor Macrobius, the late Roman author who wrote a famous (in Chaucer's day) commentary op Ciccro's Dream of Scipio, would have the skill to read the fantastic dream the narrator had that night. The narrator now begins recounting his dream. He thinks that it is the month of May. He hears a great number of birds singing loudly outside his window. The windows of the chamber in which he lies are stained glass, and they depict the story of the Trojan War. The walls are painted with the text and pictures of the Romaunce of the Rose. Through the window the dreamer hears the sounds of a great many horsemen assembling for a hunt. The dreamer, in his dream, goes to his horse and joins the hunt. He asks one of the huntsmen whose hunt this is and learns that it is the Emperor Octavian's. A young dog, obviously at a loss when the deer give the hunting company the slip approaches the narrator. The narrator follows it down a green and flowery pathway. The dreamer then describes a primeval forest of great trees, overrin with flowers-more flowers, bc thinks than can be in heaven. It is filled with deer and other animals, more than can be counted. There the dreamer meets a knight dressed in black. The knight is sorrowful, and while he sits be is composing a verse (called a complaint) about his sorrow in love. Seu The complaint details how his lady-love, whom he "loved with al my might" (line 478), has been lost. When the knight has finished his song, he sulfers a kind of emotional heart attack and becomes deathly pale. The knight is insensible, though the narrator greets him. Finally the knight is roused and apologizes. The sorrowing knight is courtecous, and the narator endeavors to PE learn more about him. The narrator tries to comfort the knight, but he is inconsolable. In fact, the knight is sorrowful unto death. "For y am sorrow, and sorw ys y" ("For I am sorrow, and sorrow is I," line 597). The knight then begins a tirade against Fortune, who turms her wheel at a whim, making him, a man she has favored before, into a miserable wretch. The knight describes a chess game between himself and Fortune in which Fortune has tricked him and won. The dreamer hears the knight's tale of woe, and he begs the knight to remember the teachings of Socrates. Socrates taught that the philosophical man should be above the vagaries of Fortune. The dreamer tries to talk the knight out of suicide by enumerating the foolish people in history who killed themselves for love and were judged harshly for it. The knight explains that he has lost more than the narrator knows, and he will tell him the story of it if he promises to hearken to it. The narrator gladly agrees. The knight says that he was an idle youth, but dedicated to the service of Love, when he met a golden-haired lady who surpassed all other ladies in beauty and perfection. He describes her modesty, moderation, courtesy toward all, and the general integrity of her character. The sorrowing Black Knight also lists her physical charms from her head downward. The Black Knight and Lady White were married and lived in harmony for some years. The narrator agrees that this was a lovely lady, but he wonders why the Black Knight is still so upset about a game of chess. Finally, after the full explanation of the lady's worth, the knight, under questioning from the narrator, blurts out that she has died. At last the dreamer understands and agrees that the Black Knight has indeed suffered a great loss. The hunting hom sounds, signaling the end of the hunt. The king's hunting party goes off toward a long castle, and a bell tolls twelve hours, the time allotted to the knight to tell his tale. The dreamer awakens from this fantastic dream with Ovid's Metamorphoses still in his hand. He marvels at the clarity and wonder of the dream, and he decides that it is so good that it should be put into a poem.