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Dream Visions and Other Poems
Contexts connects the poems to their classical and medieval foundations and includes works by Virgil, Ovid, Cicero, Boethius, Dante, and Boccaccio, among others From the wealth of scholarly work available, the editor has chosen for Criticism six essays that address the poems central themes. Contributors include Charles Muscatine, A. C. Spearing, R. T. Lenaghan, Richard Firth Green, Elaine Tuttle Hansen, and Steven Kruger A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included. "
396 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1368
About the author
Geoffrey Chaucer
1,060 books1,398 followersGeoffrey Chaucer (c.1343 - 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He was the first writer to be buried in what has since come to be called Poets' Corner, in Westminster Abbey. Chaucer also gained fame as a philosopher and astronomer, composing the scientific A Treatise on the Astrolabe for his 10-year-old son, Lewis. He maintained a career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier, diplomat, and member of parliament.
Among Chaucer's many other works are The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women, and Troilus and Criseyde. He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman French and Latin. Chaucer's contemporary Thomas Hoccleve hailed him as "the firste fyndere of our fair langage" (i.e., the first one capable of finding poetic matter in English). Almost two thousand English words are first attested to in Chaucerian manuscripts. As scholar Bruce Holsinger has argued, charting Chaucer's life and work comes with many challenges related to the "difficult disjunction between the written record of his public and private life and the literary corpus he left behind". His recorded works and his life show many personas that are "ironic, mysterious, elusive [or] cagey" in nature, ever-changing with new discoveries.
Among Chaucer's many other works are The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, The Legend of Good Women, and Troilus and Criseyde. He is seen as crucial in legitimising the literary use of Middle English when the dominant literary languages in England were still Anglo-Norman French and Latin. Chaucer's contemporary Thomas Hoccleve hailed him as "the firste fyndere of our fair langage" (i.e., the first one capable of finding poetic matter in English). Almost two thousand English words are first attested to in Chaucerian manuscripts. As scholar Bruce Holsinger has argued, charting Chaucer's life and work comes with many challenges related to the "difficult disjunction between the written record of his public and private life and the literary corpus he left behind". His recorded works and his life show many personas that are "ironic, mysterious, elusive [or] cagey" in nature, ever-changing with new discoveries.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
April 12, 2018
No thank you. Class killed me with this one. Glad we're done.
November 9, 2025
My first experience with Chaucer. I think I need to take a class on his writing in order to better understand him, but the more I read the easier it became. I can see some of the influences he had on Shakespeare and I appreciate the bard a little better now because of him. I plan on eventually reading The Canterbury Tales, if not for a class for my own edification.
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May 16, 2020I was hoping that upon opening this book I'd remember why I bought it. That didn't happen. I think my interest in Chaucer was less about the poetry/literary value and more about the workings of Middle English in practice.
Normally I value lots of gloss and footnotes, as a fan of Shakespeare these are invaluable, but with this, between the gloss, footnotes and "translating" the text as I read it's all a bit too much.
I gave up about halfway through The Book of the Duchess. I read the forwards to the other poems and read the short poems and commentary.
Normally I value lots of gloss and footnotes, as a fan of Shakespeare these are invaluable, but with this, between the gloss, footnotes and "translating" the text as I read it's all a bit too much.
I gave up about halfway through The Book of the Duchess. I read the forwards to the other poems and read the short poems and commentary.
July 26, 2021
Uff, this is hard to comment on. Medieval texts are challenging for me, in his case not for the Middle English but I usually find them rather dry at first. But reading it in class and getting hinted towards the underlying irony and multi-perspective it got really interesting - still challenging though. Glad I had a great professor open for any thoughts and discussion to get a grip on Chaucer and his narrative persona. So a personally surprising rating of 3-4 stars.
March 20, 2019
This is one of those books that you want to turn to whenever you feel down or stuck in a dilemma. It is filled with stories that you can apply to the real world via building connections through them. It bridges the gap between dreams and life experiences. Simply wonderful.
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February 6, 2026This is my first time reading poetry (or anything) in Middle English. It’s much more beautiful and musical than even the best translations. I was surprised how easy it is to pick up. Chaucer is brilliant as always.
February 9, 2026
I had to read this for one of my English classes. I thought that I would hate Chaucer’s writing, and while it was very frustrating at first to read Middle English, once I got the hang of the phonetic spelling and grammar, it was actually very good.
October 2, 2023
it was aight
April 18, 2024
Good considering it’s Chaucer, bad by my regular standards.
January 8, 2025
alexa play fame by irene cara
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June 11, 2025I support this published work that simply exists to make fun of Dante
December 15, 2025
read for chaucer class
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April 8, 2026Loved House of Fame, hated Book of the Duchess. Both provide a beryl glass view into what Chaucer constitutes as the true auctoritee in the world. Great stuff.
April 25, 2010
I really enjoyed The Parliament of Fowls and The Legends of Good Women. The first was very humorous and the second was a nice defense of womanhood against courtly love and exploiting men. My edition also had critical essays and background sources. The sources were interesting and a few of the essays were but some of them really got on my nerves. Over all, I enjoyed reading the Middle English because it's pretty similar to modern English but different enough that it was like reading a foreign language at times--a fun challenge.
October 3, 2011
So some of us don't know much about Chaucer (cringing) and those of us who know only a very little bit think of him as primarily a comic writer. He may well be, but he's also intensely skilled, and can be downright thoughtful and serious when he wants to. Still nothing I'd pick up for pleasure on a Friday night, but worth your while figuring out all the irritating Middle English quirks. ("Hir" means "their," not "her." What the heck, Middle English??)
April 10, 2014
All of Chaucer's dream visions are strange entrances into a medieval and fantastic world. Unfortunately, these works are often forgotten because < u>The Canterbury Tales steals the focus. "The Parliament of Fowls" is a fun dream vision to read around Valentine's Day. In addition to his shorter poems and the visions, this Norton edition includes excerpts from Chaucer's sources which serve to contextualize his allusions.
January 28, 2016
This is Chaucer's B-sides, essentially: unfinished epics, short poetic works and so on. It's all high quality stuff, especially famous poems like "The Parliament of Fowls" and "The House of Fame," but compared to "Canterbury Tales" or "Troilus and Creseyde," it can't hope to measure up, because that's not what this is. Every author has their additional material alongside their great works, and Chaucer was simply paving the way for others from Shakespeare to Stephen King in this regard.
September 27, 2010
Read "The Parliament of Fowls," "Gentilesse," and "Truth." Also read "Scipio's Dream," "Commentary on Scipio's Dream," "The Consolation of Philosophy," and "Romance of the Rose" from the Contexts section. The contexts were more interesting than the dream visions, but I would like to read more of them at some point.
January 22, 2011
I must admit, I didn't understand the point of Dream Visions. This was the last book I read of my undergraduate career, and I must have been beyond tired at this point.
I probably have to reread it to fairly assess this, but it was definitely not as good as Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde.
I probably have to reread it to fairly assess this, but it was definitely not as good as Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde.
November 10, 2008
These stories were great! They are entertaining and thoughtful on the surface level, but offer even more as allegories. What's more, the stories are short which makes it easy to pick them up and put them down whenever you have time.
February 19, 2009
We started off the Canterbury Tales course with the House of Fame and the Book of the Duchess. I enjoyed them both, but I'm more partial to the House of Fame
September 17, 2010
I, for one, don't think The House of Fame is unfinished at all.
January 29, 2013
Really good edition; superceded when I acquired a Riverside.
January 27, 2016
This is nothing that I'll ever revisit (I mean, outside of a paper), but I'm glad that I was required to read it.
August 24, 2016
Can you say boring?! I was reading this for my Eng 363 class and just BLAHHH
October 12, 2016
The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne,
Th'assay so hard, so sharp the conquering,
The dredful joy alwey that slit so yerne
-Parliament of Fowls
[and then I died]
Th'assay so hard, so sharp the conquering,
The dredful joy alwey that slit so yerne
-Parliament of Fowls
[and then I died]
August 20, 2010
I'm a Chaucer nerd. I will not lie. I also love old stories in middle English.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews