English Poetry - General & Miscellaneous - Literary Criticism, Italian Poetry - Literary Criticism, Medieval European Literature - Literary Criticism, General & Miscellaneous Italian Fiction & Prose Literature - Literary Criticism, English Poetry - Mediev

Chaucer and Petrarch

Name: Chaucer and Petrarch
Author: Rossiter, William T.
ISBN: 9781843842156

by Rossiter, William T.

Available on Bookshop Write a review

Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.

Overview

Chaucer Introduced Petrarch's work into England in the late fourteenth century but there has up to now been no sustained examination of Petrarch's influence on his work. This first book-length study of Chaucer's reading and translation of Petrarch examines his translations of Petrarch's Latin prose and Italian poetry in the context of his experience of Italy through his travels there in the 1370s, his interaction with Italians in London, and his reading of the other two great Italian medieval poets, Boccaccio and Dante.

Chaucer's engagement with early Italian humanism and the nature of translation in the fourteenth century are also considered, with an examination of Chaucer's pronouncements upon translation and literary production. Chaucer's adaptations of Petrarch's Latin tale of Griselda and the sonnet 'S'amor non è, as the Clerk's Tale and the 'Canticus Troili' from Troilus and Criseyde respectively, illustrate his various translation strategies. Furthermore, Chaucer's references to Petrarch in his prologue to the Clerk's Tale and in the Monk's Tale provide a means of gauging the intellectual relationship between two of the most important poets of the time.

Synopsis

First full study of Chaucer's readings and translations of Petrarch suggests a far greater influence than has hitherto been accepted.Despite the fact that Chaucer introduced Petrarch's work into England in the late fourteenth century, Petrarch's influence has been very little studied. This book, the first full-length study of Chaucer's reading and translation of Petrarch, examines Chaucer's translations of Petrarch's Latin prose and Italian poetry against the backdrop of his experience of Italy, gained through his travels there in the 1370s, his interaction with Italians in London, andhis reading of the other two great Italian medieval poets, Boccaccio and Dante. The book also considers Chaucer's engagement with early Italian humanism and the nature of translation in the fourteenth century, including a preliminary examination of adaptations of Chaucer's pronouncements upon translation and literary production. Chaucer's adaptations of Petrarch's Latin tale of Griselda and the sonnet "S'amor non è", as the Clerk's Tale and the "Canticus Troili" from Troilus and Criseyde respectively, illustrate his various translative strategies. Furthermore, Chaucer's references to Petrarch in his prologue to the Clerk's Tale and in the Monk's Tale provide a means of gauging the intellectual relationship between two of the most important poets of the time. WILLIAM T. ROSSITER is Senior Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern Literature, University of East Anglia.