Summary:
Considered among the most venerable fourteenth-century poets on record, Geoffrey Chaucer and the Pearl Poet ("Pearl," "Purity," "Patience," and "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight") share in the same literary practices through their incorporation of the dream narrative, satire of nobility, Boethius, and the Golden Section.
Fourteenth century England drew witness to many disruptions in time. The 100 Years War, Peasants Revolt, and Black Death are among the many tumultuous events that provide the context for some of the greatest literary masterpieces ever composed. Geoffrey Chaucer and the Pearl Poet are amid the most venerated poets on record. Is it purely chance, or did this era cultivate finely tuned writing ability through its refined culture? Just as we will never know the name of the Pearl Poet, we can only infer the social and educational mores of the fourteenth century through the caliber of writers it produced. The era uniformly affects the poem content of Chaucer and the Pearl Poet, but the values can be argued by one simple, differing factor. While Chaucer seemed to write to the popularity of his work, the Pearl Poet chose to not inscribe his name on his manuscripts. As Geoffrey Chaucer indefinitely marks his pages in history, the Pearl Poet, mysteriously, saves his literary breath for after he's literally taken his last. With no name and little evidence of its origination, the producer of the poems, Pearl, Purity, Patience, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight will most likely remain anonymous, or commonly known as the "Pearl Poet," for the remainder of history. Whether his work was an offering to God, or whether he chose to leave the poems nameless because of the ill repute of English-written manuscripts, the Pearl Poet's work still ranks him with Chaucer and other literary geniuses. Akin to they're repute, their literary practices are very much alike. Chaucer and the Pearl Poet share in the same literary practices through their incorporation of the dream narrative, satire of nobility, Boethius, and the Golden Section.
Chaucer and the Pearl Poet both chose to incorporate dream-narratives into their collection of poems. Chaucer included this type of narrative in four of his works, Book of the Duchess, Parliament of Fowls, House of Fame, and Troilus and Criseyde, and the Pearl Poet does so in the poem, Pearl. This comparison is probably the most obvious similarity of the two writers because they both incorporate the dream-narrative in the medieval archetypal manner: beginning with a puzzled or trapped narrator and through a dream (quest) finds consolation and freedom. In Pearl, the narrator, a jeweler, has lost his pearl unto the earth. The emphasis of puzzlement and being trapped is highlighted in the second line of the poem, "To clanly clos in golde so clere" and in lines nine through twelve,
Allas! I leste hyr in on erbere;
Þurз gresse to grounde hit fro me yot.10
I dewyne, fordolked of luf-daungere
Of þat pryuy perle withouten spot.
As the jeweler is perplexed on the loss of his pearl, Chaucer's narrator is perplexed with
insomnia in House of Fame and in Book of the Duchess with love sickness. Examples include, "I wol make invocacioun, / With special devocioun, / Unto the god of slepe anoon" (House of Fame, 67-69), and "ydel thought...the insomnia he "have suffred this eight yere" (Book of the Duchess, 4, 37). Chaucer's love sickness in Book of the Duchess uses Ovid's Metamorphosis to tell of Alcyone's loss of her husband.
So whan I saw I might not slepe,44
Til now late, this other night,
Upon my bedde I sat upright
And bad oon reche me a book,
A romaunce, and he hit me took
To rede and dryve the night away;
This representation of misery in Book of the Duchess is intimated in Pearl through the powerful suggestion that the "perle" is the narrator's dead two year-old daughter, "þou lyfed not two зer in oure þede" (483), in which the narrator explains the access to Heaven his daughter rightfully possesses because of her death before the age of reason (Condren). Thus, these poems are deemed elegies, Book of the Duchess written for Blanche of Lancaster, and Pearl for the author's two year-old daughter. As the Pearl's narrator reveals his conscious grief, his dream evolves into a garden, as does the narrator of Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls, though Chaucer's garden and the Pearl's love garden are opposites. Pearl's garden symbolizes the vibrant Garden of Eden while Chaucer's garden serves as the juxtaposition to the lively, dynamic world outside its walls, shown here:
Of which Disdayn and Daunger is the gyde,136
Ther tre shal never fruyt ne leves bere.
This streem yow ledeth to the sorwful were,
Ther as the fish in prison is al drye;
Theschewing is only the remedye.
Despite the difference, these two poets show similar techniques of departure and expansion through different dimensions in each narrator's respective dreams. The transformation from one setting to another is a metaphor in itself of how we, as humans, evolve through humanistic tribulations and temptations. These examples not only show similar characteristics of Chaucer and the Pearl Poet's poems, but also their respect to literary decree, following the archetypal dream narrative as if written protocol.
The Pearl Poet and Chaucer not only share in the same aspiration to create something more meaningful through the depth of language, but to orchestrate the perfect poem through the harmonic, geometric, and arithmetic incorporation of the Golden Section. This technique is similarly shown by both writers. In Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls, which is, undeniably, about the external attraction of others commonly defined as love, a more scrutinized analysis from the reader will expose a deeper meaning of love found in harmony. The emphasis of harmony is embedded in the meter and verse of both Chaucer's and Pearl's work, with Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls showing what the Pearl Poet attempted in the collective arrangement of all four of his poems. Pearl's relation to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Purity to Patience, show in their thematic organization and meter/versification the mathematics in the manuscript defined as the Golden Section. Pearl's three references to Pygmalion, Aristotle, and the Oyster compliment Purity's expansion of numbers ("number, weight, measure"), while Patience synthesizes the Hebraic and Medieval traditions through math. Their arrangements are harmoniously connected through one subtle motif, The Golden Section, as does the arrangement of Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls. With 35 references to harmony in Parliament of Fowls, it is obvious that Chaucer was subtly hinting to the reader the cultivation of mathematics in his poetry. Similarly, the Pearl Poet subtly hints at his divine arrangement through meter and verse of Pearl, and in the shield of Sir Gawain. The arrangement is exactly that of a dodecahedron: 5 stanzas/5 edges; 12 lines to each stanza/12 faces; 20 sections/20 vertices; followed by 3 poems on a 2 dimensional earth/3 two-dimensional and related internal rectangles. All of these examples represent the harmonic proportion of mathematics, which are essential to solidifying the most perfect proportion; the divine proportion. In Parliament of Fowls, Chaucer accomplished the same feat through geometry and arithmetic, which subsequently fulfilled their respected proportions by separating the poem into 3 geometrically sound parts, and combined with the other 3 mathematical proportions, proves his intention to write a perfect poem. Chaucer and the Pearl Poet land themselves in the elite with these arrangements, but, furthermore, highlight their pursuit of more than just literary perfection, but a similar strive to combine all human elements of intellect into a celestial coalescence.
Chaucer and the Pearl Poet show similar methods of composing, and they also share referential content. Both the Pearl Poet and Chaucer clearly show their acquaintance in Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy. In Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls, love is represented thirty five times as the harmony in the Boethian idea of universal reciprocity, and in Book One of Troilus and Criseyde he quotes the Boethian idea of love:
Forthy ensample taketh of this man,
Ye wise, proud, and worthy folkes alle,
To scornen Love, which that so soone can
The freedom of your hertes to him thralle.235
For ever it was and ever it shall befalle
That Love is he that alle thing may binde;
For may no man fordo the Law of Kinde.
The Pearl Poet quytes Chaucer's allusion to Boethius with his use of the dodecahedron in Pearl. The proportions in this poem refer to the debate between self and soul, which is a debate Boethius addressed in The Consolation of Philosophy; if you don't open up to the world, you won't be able to open up to the after life (Condren). Also, the content of Pearl itself illustrates Boethian Philosophy:
My precios perle dotz me gret pyne.330
What seruez tresor bot garez men grete,
When he hit schal efte with tenez tyne?
For dyne of doel of lurez lesse339
Ofte mony mon forgos þe mo.
Þe oзte better þyseluen blesse,
And loue ay God, in wele and wo,
For anger gaynez þe not a cresse.
Maysterful mod and hyзe pryde,401
I hete þe, arn heterly hatred here.
The employment of Boethius in the Pearl Poet's and Chaucer's poems shows striking resemblance in their poetic techniques and reading backgrounds, and offers another closely related literary technique.
Among many comparable methods of composition, satire is one that ran loosely through both poets' pens. The Pearl Poet matched Chaucer's satirical treatment in Parliament of Fowls by including a parody of nobility in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Chaucer, known for his satirical undertones, lived up to his reputation by satirizing nobility through his noble eagles in Parliament of Fowls, while in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight the Pearl Poet focuses his satire on King Arthur, who, as the highest ranking official of the court, is described in this passage as a childish and "a bit boyish at times" (Finch, 86).
He watz so joly of his joyfnes, and sumquat childgered.85
His lif liked hym lyзt; he louied þe lasse
Auþer to longe lye or to longe sitte,
So bisied him his зonge blod and his brayn wylde.
This passage shows the immaturity of the King in the most respected kingdom of the time; clearly a satire on the noble by contrasting the usually refined and wise nobleman with the humanistic side we all have. Similarly, Chaucer satirizes nobility in Parliament of Fowls through the three noble eagles, who are waiting to be picked by the female eagle as her yearly mate. The satire rests in Chaucer's arrogant portrayal of the three eagles, "There mighte men the royal egle finde, / That with his sharpe look perceth the sonne; / And other egles of a lower kinde" (Chaucer, 330-332). This satire relates to the noble classmen who pride themselves as being better than the rest, superciliously placing themselves above those in their company through haughty words or actions, "For no fors is of lakke of thy nature; / Go, lewed be thou, whyl the world may dure!" (Chaucer, 615-616). These examples show Chaucer and the Pearl Poet poking fun at the same class of people with similar technique, skill, and potency, which not only shows their middle class roots, but also they're deep understanding of humanity.
These two poets produce analogous satires again when writing about the Troubadour related romance genre. While Chaucer satirizes all clichés of the Troubadours in Book of the Duchess, the Pearl Poet similarly satirizes the knightly figure of Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Different from their parodies of nobility, Chaucer takes a more subtle approach in this particular mockery. The lamentation of the Black Knight in Book of the Duchess depicts a man in dire grief, but doesn't characterize the grief until the end of the poem. The satire of Troubadour clichés lies in the amount of grief the knight experiences: the Black Knights "heed adoune...with a deedly sorwful soune" (Chaucer, 461,462), and the number of lines assigned to the ambiguous grief: 834 lines (Chaucer, 475-1309). These examples are closely related to the Pearl Poet's rendition of knightly satire in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Gawain, who is a respected knightly figure, is portrayed by the Pearl Poet as a character who satirically bends the limits of the chivalric knight. In a parody of the noble and Arthurian class, Gawain tries to talk himself out of, or around, a situation twice in the poem. The first example includes Gawain's dandy words to King Arthur when taking his place in the Green Knight's challenge:
'Wolde зe, worþilych lorde,' quoþ Wawan to þe kyng,343
'Bid me boзe fro þis benche and stoned by yow þere,
Þat I wythoute vylanye myзt voyde þis table,
And þat my legge lady liked not ille,
I wolde com to your counseyl bifore your cort ryche.
For me þink hit not semly-as hit is soþ knawen-
Þer such an askyng is heuened so hyзe in you sale,
Þaз зe зourself be talenttyf, to take hit to yourseluen
This speech illustrates the overzealousness of Gawain, but mainly shows his lack of exteriority when using words to rescue him in an unpleasant setting like this, as if more concerned with his speech than the challenge. The second comes when Gawain attempts to thwart carnal temptation through speech, instead of confronting the predicament, '"More semly hit were / To aspye wyth my spelle in space quat ho wolde" (Pearl Poet, 1198-1199). His arrogance in thinking he could talk his way around the situation, once again, shows the satire in the Pearl Poet's work. These examples, however a mockery, don't highlight the true satire in the poem, which is demonstrated through tests of knightly virtue throughout the poem. The facts that no one accepted the Green Knight's challenge in the beginning, Gawain's failure to maintain honesty, and worst of all, Gawain's failure to learn from his mistakes after symbolically being nicked in the neck, all serve as satires to the Arthurian-Troubadour genre. The Pearl Poet tests Gawain in many ways and, through lack of virtue, fails to meet the criteria a knight of the Round Table claims to possess, and is awarded the figurative and satirical "lace" of honor. In comparison, Chaucer's dreamer listens to the Black Knight's poem and assumes it's a cliché, though he's really talking about a real event in an unrealistic manner. In Chaucer's Black Knight and in Pearl Poet's knight, Sir Gawain, we see a parallel in satires that both draw undertones of humor to the respective poets work, and draws attention to another similarity in two of the most revered poets of all time.
The similarity of Chaucer's and the Pearl Poet's poetry are a testament to the role context plays on content. As Chaucer opened up his career with mostly dream narratives, the Pearl Poet opened his series of manuscripts with a poem of similar technique. As each poet progressed through their literary journey to produce the perfect poem, they incorporated pieces of their edification and personal growth, including their objective view of humanity through social satire, the familiarity of Boethius, and the incorporation of the Golden Section. Though there is no historical record of formal schooling, Chaucer and the Pearl Poet substantiate their astuteness with intimate references to other written works, mathematics, and seemingly faultless poetry. The arrangement of these elements into their work shows a higher understanding of the power of language. Geoffrey Chaucer and the Pearl Poet exemplify this understanding in their poetry to be more than just an arrangement of words. Their passion extends further than their support of the Boethian philosophy, or the satire of those who violate the morals identified in philosophy, but in devising a tribute to these ideas with their inclusion into the mathematically arranged divine proportion; celestial coalescence.
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