The Legend of Good Women

E60237

The Legend of Good Women is a late 14th-century poem by Geoffrey Chaucer that presents a series of narratives about virtuous women from classical and medieval literature, framed by an allegorical prologue.


Statements (50)
Predicate Object
instanceOf Middle English poem
narrative poem
poem
alsoKnownAs Legend of Good Women
author Geoffrey Chaucer
basedOn classical literature
medieval literature
centralTheme courtly love
female constancy in love
literary authority
reputation of women
virtue of women
commissionedBy Alceste
Cupid
containsStoryOf Ariadne
Cleopatra
Dido
Hypermnestra
Hypsipyle
Lucrece
Medea
Philomela
Phyllis
Thisbe
countryOfOrigin England
dateWritten late 14th century
featuresCharacter Alceste
Cupid
the dreamer-narrator
form verse
genre frame narrative
hagiographic narrative
legend collection
hasPart Prologue to The Legend of Good Women
influencedBy Boccaccio
Ovid
language Middle English
literaryMovement medieval literature
literaryPeriod Middle Ages
manuscriptTradition incomplete
meter iambic pentameter
narrativeFrame allegorical prologue
narrativePerspective first-person narrator
relatedWork The Canterbury Tales
Troilus and Criseyde
scholarlyDebate authenticity of prologues
order and completeness of legends
settingOfPrologue dream vision
structure series of legends about women
verseForm rhyme royal

Referenced by (4)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
The Legend of Good Women ("Legend of Good Women")
alsoKnownAs
Ricardian poets
associatedWithWork
The Legend of Good Women ("Prologue to The Legend of Good Women")
hasPart
Geoffrey Chaucer
notableWork

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