The dream as problem-solving method in Chaucer’s The Book of the Duchess and The Parliament of Fowls [thesis]

Description

In his early love visions Chaucer transformed the traditional allegorical dream poem into an associative structure more closely resembling the pattern of actual dreams. His changes resulted in a new method of poetic problem-solving which, while rooted in the earlier philosophical allegories of Boethius, Alain de Lille, and Jean de Meun, was adapted to expressing the conflicting truths characteristic of late medieval thought. By juxtaposing images associated with previous literary contexts, Chaucer communicated intuitively what his predecessors stated in direct, didactic discourse.My thesis consists of three parts. First, I examine the allegorical visions of four poets preceding Chaucer for their application of the dream convention to philosophical problem-solving. Second, I examine the similarities between actual dreams and the artifice of allegory. I then investigate Chaucer's personal interest in the dream and suggest how appropriation of neglected aspects of its structure led to a development in philosophical poetry. Finally, I examine two of Chaucer's dream poems, the Book of the Duchess and the Parliamant of Fowls to demonstrate his innovation in practice.