The Book of the Duchess
E58885
The Book of the Duchess is a Middle English dream-vision poem by Geoffrey Chaucer that elegizes the death of Blanche of Lancaster and is considered one of his earliest major works.
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Middle English poem
→
dream vision → elegy → |
| alternativeTitle |
The Deth of Blaunche the Duchesse
→
|
| approximateCompositionDate |
circa 1368
→
|
| associatedWith |
John of Gaunt
→
|
| author |
Geoffrey Chaucer
→
|
| commemorates |
Blanche of Lancaster
→
|
| containsAllusionTo |
Ovid's Metamorphoses
→
the story of Ceyx and Alcyone → |
| countryOfOrigin |
England
→
|
| dateWritten |
late 1360s
→
|
| dedicatedTo |
Blanche of Lancaster
→
|
| featuresCharacterType |
allegorical figures
→
courtly knight → |
| form |
first-person narrative
→
|
| genre |
dream vision poetry
→
elegiac poetry → |
| honors |
Blanche of Lancaster
→
|
| influencedBy |
French courtly poetry
→
Ovidian narrative → |
| isConsidered |
one of Chaucer's earliest major works
→
|
| isEarlyWorkOf |
Geoffrey Chaucer
→
|
| language |
Middle English
→
|
| literaryForm |
poem
→
|
| literaryMovement |
medieval English literature
→
|
| literaryPeriod |
Middle English period
→
|
| literarySignificance |
early example of Chaucerian dream vision
→
important for study of Chaucer's poetic development → |
| mainCharacter |
the Black Knight
→
the dreamer-narrator → |
| manuscriptTradition |
survives in a small number of medieval manuscripts
→
|
| meter |
octosyllabic couplets
→
|
| narrativeFrame |
dream vision
→
|
| occasion |
death of Blanche of Lancaster
→
|
| openingDevice |
insomnia of the narrator
→
|
| placeInChaucerCanon |
early major poem
→
|
| setting |
a dream-forest
→
|
| studiedIn |
medieval English literature courses
→
|
| subject |
consolation
→
death of Blanche of Lancaster → grief → mourning → |
| theme |
courtly love
→
loss → memory → the limits of language → |
| title |
The Book of the Duchess
→
|
Referenced by (2)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Geoffrey Chaucer
→
|
notableWork |
|
The Book of the Duchess
→
|
title |