Chaucer's literature was spread across many different spheres of interest throughout his life, often focusing on society and religion. An observer of his own social group, he wrote satirical interpretations of those around him, subverting the traditional writing styles of Beowulf (900 AD-1100 AD), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (14th century) and even Petrarch (1304-1374), into something that was almost akin to social commentary. Chaucer's relationship to the tradition of courtly love is interesting to examine because of its fluctuating nature; his attitude towards courtly love in his earlier writings is very different from the presentation of courtly love in the Canterbury Tales. The woman presented in A Complaint to his Lady is very different from, for example, the woman in The Miller's Tale (who is probably not so much of a courtly love heroine) in that she is very distant and rebuffs his advances, whereas Alison in The Miller's Tale is open to proposals from men to win her affection. Therefore it can be assumed that Chaucer's intentions in writing the poem are ambiguous at best; it is difficult to decide whether Chaucer uses a satirical presentation of courtly love or whether he sincerely adheres to both the concept of courtly love and the chivalric tradition. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The tradition of courtly love is based on five elements, which define the relationship between the two participants. Love was primarily a relationship between aristocratic men and women, and was often adulterous. The relationship would be conducted in secret and would often involve the ritual exchange of gifts. The final determining factor in the affair was the violation of the rigid court marriage, which was often formed only for political and financial reasons. The glorification of this type of extramarital relationship is found in the songs of valiant knights and their beautiful ladies, and led to the spread of this type of relationship in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. The poem itself represents the heroine of prescribed courtly love; however its adherence to the protocol of tradition is variable. The heroine's portrait of traditional courtly love can be found in the Prologue of the Canterbury Tales. In the description of the prioress, we are told that "her nose was elegant, her eyes glass grey"; His mouth was very small, but soft and red, his forehead, certainly, was quite broad…'. This represents her noble features, and her eyes are a metaphor for the way she treats her lover; the heroine of courtly love rarely acknowledged her lover's advances and instead gives only the barest hint of sharing his feelings. The "glassy" nature of the heroine's eyes shows a certain superficiality in the relationship between man and woman; perhaps even a void of character, even a lack of personality in which the heroine becomes a mechanism onto which the man projects his idealistic feelings. A Complaint to his Lady is a poem written by a man directly to a woman he clearly adores, detailing his struggle for her affection and how she is causing him a considerable amount of torment. For example, the line "I am so desperate for all bliss", shows an almost self-pitying lament that continues until the beginning of Part III. The third part of the poem has the narrator confessing that "I cannot but love her best, my sweet fo;" which symbolizes a previously absent sweetness, a sweetness connected to his love for her, which changes the tone of the poem. The poem takes the form of a monologue; while he appears to be talking to his lady, it becomes apparent that she is nothe is there, or at least not responding, and therefore it can be assumed that he is alone. The main element of the poem is the distance and suffering, created by this woman, regardless of her devotion towards her. Chaucer here represents love as a kind of poison, demonstrated by his statement "Thus have I been slain by Love's fierce dart!", and subsequently leaving the protagonist unable to understand his treatment of him; "Love no longer taught me its art." The protagonist's perspective changes as the poem progresses, starting by establishing the circumstances under which he is in love with her, and then moving on to describe the way she treats him. The quote 'The more I love, the more she sells me' represents the paradoxical effect of courtly love; the woman will appear to move away. At the beginning of Part III, the protagonist describes his woman as "Faire Rewtheless"; this is revealing of her mannerisms and "Rewtheless" represents a cold attitude, it is very similar to the prioress' eyes which are described as "glass gray eyes". The fourth section of the poem is the longest and represents the protagonist's efforts to get some sort of response from his woman. He compares his own shortcomings to his "kindness and ease" and almost sarcastically states that he is not worthy of his service. Chaucer states that "Though I am little connyng and unmete, to serve, as I best can, ay thy hynesse", he says that though he is rough and unkempt, he would serve the woman as best he can. This overly exaggerated display of emotion implies that the poem may be satirical; however, since there is no comparative character, or change of theme, one cannot be sure of Chaucer's intention regarding the poem. It is interesting that he refers to the lady as a queen, therefore of higher status than his, reinforcing the idea that she became almost semi-divine, given that it is likely that they belonged to the same social strata. Part of the appeal of courtly love was the extravagance and exaggeration of the action; for women of this period, they would have been repressed for much of their lives, constantly adhering to the rules imposed by the crown, or perhaps by their own family, and this affair was for them a rebellion against normality, almost a liberating experience. In the final stanza of the poem, the protagonist proposes a sort of ultimatum; grant him some sort of mercy, (i.e. respond in some way to his advances), otherwise nothing, nor bliss, nor hope will dwell in his troubled heart. From the modern point of view the poetry becomes repetitive and the concept appears false; however, at the time of writing, this level of extravagance was not uncommon and so, from a historical perspective, the poem is likely to be a good example of typical courtly love poetry, such as that of Petrarch and Boccaccio. The presentation of the heroine in this poem is comparable to other heroines of courtly love in Chaucer's tales, particularly Alison, from Miller's Tale, Pertelote, The Nun's Priests Tale, The Prioress, The Prologue and Criseyde, Troilus and Criseyde. Criseyde is very similar to the Prioress in many ways; however she is assertive in her role as a heroine of courtly love, playing an active role in the poem, demonstrated by Book III, verse 115. She states: "Alas, I would have though, whoever told such stories about me, my darling would not l 'would have done'. keep me false so easily', showing perhaps a more effective and realistic heroine than the woman in A Complaint to his Lady. In contrast, courtly heroes often use hyperbole to attempt to convey the depth of affection they feel towards their women, for example when Chaucer's protagonist says "But I, my life, and my life, to thee I obey" (My life and my death, they obey you). That isessentially states that she has total control over her heart; a fairly typical statement in courtly love poetry; Boccaccio used many similar statements in his novel Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta. The hero of courtly love is often of a noble nature, as demonstrated by Book I, verse 27 of Troilus and Criseyde. The chivalric element of courtly love can be exemplified by earlier literature, such as the description of King Arthur in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written in the 14th century, around the same time as A Complaint to his Lady. The nobility of the court gentleman is described in lines 85-88 of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, when the author describes Arthur himself as "Bot Arthure would not be served till they were served, he was so gay with his joy and his childish sumquat". , His life liked the light, he loved the girl' (Line 85-88). Paraphrased, the above means “But Arthur would not eat until everyone had been served. He was so young and somewhat boyish that he liked the active life." The general sense of courtly love is therefore a noble relationship, outside of convention, between a lady and a gentleman; the woman is typically more distant while the man he ritualistically tries to "woo" her, using any means necessary, and in the case of A Complaint to his Lady, suffers immensely due to the depth of his love for her Lady, the protagonist changes his opinion regarding who is responsible for his affliction; in the first two stanzas he blames himself for becoming so attached, but then, dissatisfied with this, he blames the emotion of love itself for his sadness. Ultimately, however, he comes to the conclusion that it is his own ruthlessness, described as " though you never wanted me, you love me and have always been so trewe", to cause him so much pain. Chaucer here portrays a hero who will greedily fall in love with a woman, but will not be able to control his emotions. This degree of instability, combined with the obvious exaggeration of his feelings, leads us to wonder whether he is a satirical figure, but also whether the nature of this love is genuine and not a simple whim. His status as a hero of courtly love is also questionable, because he is portrayed as an ineffectual character instead of a noble and gallant member of the court. Assuming that there are five main elements of courtly love, several of these should be found in the poem. . The most important element of courtly love in the poem is the aspect of aristocracy, presented by the protagonist's placement in servitude to the woman. On numerous occasions he places himself beneath her, begging her not to "from your dryve service". There is little in the way of ritualism in the poem to suggest that the couple share gifts or indeed any kind of relationship; Chaucer uses language in such a way as to infer that she is barely aware of his existence. This presents the reader with a dilemma especially regarding the purpose of the poem. The secrecy of their relationship is not alluded to anywhere in the poem; this perhaps represents the ambiguity of what has happened between them so far, and perhaps therefore does not follow tradition since the relationship (if it can be defined as such) is not adulterous, as far as we know. To establish this, it may be helpful to examine Chaucer's life and personal situation at this point. In 1368, Chaucer was married to Philippa Roet, a lady-in-waiting to the queen, and was an squire of the house of Edward III. He also had a son, named Thomas, born in 1367. This information is useful in terms of a biographical perspective on the poem. Chaucer was still young at the time of writing A Complaint to his Lady (24 years old) and it is conceivable that the poem was written on a personal basis, detailing some sort ofrelationship that he himself was having at the time. This knowledge is useful, because therefore if the poem is autobiographical, the woman spoken of is obviously not his wife, thus satisfying the extramarital nature of a courtly love relationship as presented in the poem. Without any biographical knowledge, however, there is no mention of any other relationship, which makes the reader question the very essence of "fine love" as we can find very little evidence of it in poetry alone. Some isolated elements of traditional poetry are found, however, it is doubtful whether they culminate in a traditional ritual poetry of courtly love. The structure of the poem is revealing in terms of the intention behind its writing; the changing forms and inconsistency present the reader with an almost unfinished poem, raw enough to justify this statement. There are three main shape changes; parts I and II are written in real rhyme. Part II, however, does not strictly adhere to the concept of real rhyme and contains elements of third rhyme. The third part sees the complete transition from real rhyme to third rhyme; the iambic triplets make the poem more rhythmic than it previously was. After Part III, however, the poem's form changes to decasyllabic verse, with stanzas largely ten lines long, with the exception of stanzas eight and nine, which are nine and eight lines long, respectively. The final part of the poem is the least rigidly formatted and has an irregular rhyme scheme. One of the main rhyme schemes of the final section is AABAABCDDC, however not all verses follow this scheme. This inconsistency is therefore important in ascertaining the literary ability of the writer, almost the level of sophistication that his work had reached by the time he wrote the poem. If one were to only examine the structural cohesion of the poem, then one might conclude that he was still a developing poet. The rhyme scheme of parts I-III is quite regular because it adheres to two poetic forms, royal rhyme and third rhyme. . The use of actual rhyme was a fairly common scheme to use during this period, and was often used in the less sophisticated rhyming poetry of the time. Chaucer's use of third rhyme however allows the reader to understand the influence of the tradition of courtly love on the poem as to use the form, Chaucer would have had to have been exposed to it, in its original format, by his patrons, in a few moments. point during his missions in Europe. In Italy at this point, especially Petrarca and Boccaccio were writing poems strongly focused on the tradition of courtly love, experimenting with the third rhyme; exposure to this may have prompted Chaucer to write A Complaint to his Lady, and seeing the poem as an experiment would have added credibility to the idea that Chaucer was still developing as a poet, and therefore his ideas were still unrefined, explaining thus the importance of poetry. content. It is not known why Chaucer did not choose to end the poem in this way. There was usually no prescribed rhyme scheme used in the courtly love tradition, except the obvious assumption that it had to rhyme. From the composition of the poem it can be assumed that Chaucer's influences were mixed; his travels in Italy influenced his work, as demonstrated by his use of the third rhyme and the protocols he follows when addressing his lady. Another influence of folklore becomes evident through the emotions she claims to feel towards him, and the influence of chivalric tales, as demonstrated by the noble tone of "For neither mercy, nor mercy, nor grace." The structure of this poem compared to later works shows more of an experimental motivation; for example, in TheMiller's Tale the structure is simple; rhyming couplets and a long, extended stanza. This structure therefore adds much more attention to the plot than the complexity of the rhyme. The Canterbury Tales were also intended for the public, to be performed verbally; whether A Complaint to his Lady was intended for public consumption may affect whether the tradition of courtly love actually forms the basis of the poem, because usually poems written for personal courtship would not be shared with the wider public. The lack of aural consideration in the poem creates the impression that the poem should not be performed for the general public, even though the concept of "refined love" was very popular in the folklore of the time. The Canterbury Tales were, however, written to be performed verbally; several paintings by Chauceremain works of his poetry, including "Chaucer in the Court of Edward III". The graphological interpretation of the poem is difficult because, by modern standards, it is fragmented and inconsistent; however, there are some characteristics of poetry that define certain elements. For example, Chaucer often uses commas, which adds to the internal monologue effect he uses, making the reader feel as if we are entering into a conversation with him. This presents a paradox in terms of stylistic quality because the reader feels almost intrusive, whilst at the same time being "spoken to". 'This hevy lif I lede, lo, For your sake', for example, is paradoxical because Chaucer is apparently addressing his lady, and yet appears to address the reader in a simplistic sense due to the use of the second person, personal pronoun of 'You'. There are also several questions used in the poem, which once again engages the reader, making it more accessible to the audience. An example of this is "Allas, what will you make amends for this?" which is kind of a ponderous question. It does not include a specific address, but invites the reader to respond in some way. In terms of linguistic and lexical choices, poetry is much easier to understand than grammar. In general, poetry uses three semantic fields; which evolves around the tradition of courtly love, beauty and other such refinements, one of the ideas based on religion and one of servitude and self-deprecation. These are obviously very broad spectrums. The field of courtly love is the central theme of the poem, as demonstrated by the statement of 'gentilnesse and your debonairtee?' The language used is obviously connected to the dominant theme of the poem. The use of religious imagery is perhaps more interesting; it represents a deeply rooted relationship with the social values ​​of the time and perhaps that element of Christianity certainly present in the tradition of courtly love. The presentation of the woman as a demigod only serves to enhance the enchanting aura that seems to surround the woman in Chaucer's poetry, and due to the depth of the religious focus of the time, this was a very powerful feeling to manipulate within the poem itself. However, the comparison with the divine features of the woman, such as her idealization, as in "Myn hertes lady and hool my lyves queen", with the position of servitude in which she finds herself is bizarre because from a historical point of view, a man has full authority over a woman. In modern literature, the woman is often seen rejecting the idealization of the opposite sex because of love, and instead becomes more internally directed by her own thoughts and emotions. The semantic field of servitude is common to much of the courtly love poetry experienced; Petrarch, for example, regularly wrote so that the roles of man and woman were reversed; servitude has moved from the role of women to that of men, thus subverting tradition and.