In the Parliament of the Fowls, we are introduced to a rather intriguing narrator; one that has yet to experience what love has to offer and who is in turn eager to learn from it by looking for wisdom in his readings. Clearly, the narrator is yet inexperienced in the craft of love as he himself admits to have learn about it only from his study:
For although I know not Love indeed
Nor know how he pays his folk their hire,
Yet full oft it happens in books I read
Of his miracles and his cruel ire.
There I read he will be lord and sire;
I dare only say, his strokes being sore,
‘God save such a lord!’ I’ll say no more.
(Chaucer 8-12)
Because of this, he opts to read Cicero’s Somnium Scipionis; a tale which describes the experience of Scipio as he encounters his grandfather and subsequent guide, Africanus. However, the relationship between the ancient tale and that of our narrator’s …show more content…
Nevertheless, one of the topics discussed in the poem is undoubtedly in regards to the topic of love. The first connotation to this is the opposing phrases seen at the gates of the garden, in which both sides of love are introduced. Love, on one side can bring joy and happiness, yet it might also be the responsible for sorrow and anguish. The love represented by anguish is of the second kind, while that of Nature alludes more to the first. And while the love advocated is not to be seen as flawless, it presents itself as more legitimate than that that of Venus. By allowing for freewill to be practiced in the debate, Nature is allowing for its subjects to have power over their fate and happiness. Thus, the poem deals with several complicated philosophical themes, in which of them is represented by the several faces of love and the implications they allude to. Chaucer’s extended wisdom is once again put to well use while the reader is intrigued by his
For although I know not Love indeed
Nor know how he pays his folk their hire,
Yet full oft it happens in books I read
Of his miracles and his cruel ire.
There I read he will be lord and sire;
I dare only say, his strokes being sore,
‘God save such a lord!’ I’ll say no more.
(Chaucer 8-12)
Because of this, he opts to read Cicero’s Somnium Scipionis; a tale which describes the experience of Scipio as he encounters his grandfather and subsequent guide, Africanus. However, the relationship between the ancient tale and that of our narrator’s …show more content…
Nevertheless, one of the topics discussed in the poem is undoubtedly in regards to the topic of love. The first connotation to this is the opposing phrases seen at the gates of the garden, in which both sides of love are introduced. Love, on one side can bring joy and happiness, yet it might also be the responsible for sorrow and anguish. The love represented by anguish is of the second kind, while that of Nature alludes more to the first. And while the love advocated is not to be seen as flawless, it presents itself as more legitimate than that that of Venus. By allowing for freewill to be practiced in the debate, Nature is allowing for its subjects to have power over their fate and happiness. Thus, the poem deals with several complicated philosophical themes, in which of them is represented by the several faces of love and the implications they allude to. Chaucer’s extended wisdom is once again put to well use while the reader is intrigued by his