Chaucer and the Poems of “Ch” in University of Pennsylvania MS French 15 by James I. Wimsatt

Abstract

STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER development of unified approaches-that is the book's greatest strength. There is no historical Truth, no folkloric Truth, no archae­ ological Truth, just truth. Schmitt follows his paths wherever they lead him by whatever route. BRUCE A. ROSENBERG Brown University JAMES I. WIMSATI, Chaucer andthePoemsof"Ch" in University of Pennsylvania MS French 15. Chaucer Studies ix. Cam­ bridge: D. S. Brewer; Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1982. Pp. 136. $47.50. Chaucer's early poetry shows so close an acquaintance with French poetry, and his early court milieu so clearly preferred French liter­ ature to English, that it seems almost certain that Chaucer tried his hand at lyrics in French before moving into English for such an accomplishedearlyproduct as TheBook oftheDuchess. "Where are all his earlier poetic exercises that paved the way for that mature product?" asks Rossell Hope Robbins, who concludes that we should "start looking for texts of anonymous French poems of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries," if not to discover Chaucer's own work then at least to get a better idea of what his youthful poetry would have been like (ChauR 13 [1978-79]:93). James I. Wimsatt's book answers this call, by selecting and com­ menting on a group of works from "by far the most interesting extant anthology offourteenth century French lyrics" (p. 78). From this anthology, University of Pennsylvania MS French 15 (Penn), Wimsatt edits twenty-five ballades, chants royaux, and a rondeau, with the purpose ofillustrating the kind of French poetry Chaucer might have written, the connections linking him to certain French poets, and those poets'interrelationships.Wimsatt's balanc­ ing of general information and detail will make this a valuable source for Chaucerians. The list of incipits, verse forms, authors, manuscripts, and editions for all ofPenn's 310 poems is impressive in scope, as is Wimsatt's knowledge ofFrench verse forms and their 226 REVIEWS evolution. But most intriguing is the manuscript's notation "Ch" before fifteen of the lyrics, an abbreviation which could plausibly stand for "Chaucer." None of the other poems carries indication of authorship, though Wimsatt identifies 107by Guillaume de Ma­ chaut, 27by Oton de Granson, several probably by Eustache Des­ champs, and a few by other poets who can be connected to Chaucer. The fifteen "Ch" poems are here edited with facing-page transla­ tions.In comparison to Chaucer's English work, the work of "Ch" is formal and not very inventive; the Roman de la Rose dominates poetic imagination powerfully in these lyrics. Wimsatt's argument that one of the fifteen lyrics(Ch XI) is not really by "Ch" weakens the possible connection between "Ch" and Chaucer, since this work shares procedure and detail with Chaucer's ballade from The Leg­ end ofGood Women. In both, anaphoric presentation of models of beauty and goodness ends in praise of the special lady "that al this may disteyne"(cf. "Qui n'a de tout pareille ne seconde," "Who has among all no equal or second" [Ch XI. 11]). The two poems share Esther, Helen, Polixena, and Hypsipyle in their lists of surpassed models. Does Wimsatt's desire to exclude Ch XI from the "Ch canon" influence him to omit the ballade from TheLegend ofGood Women from his list of parallels to Chaucer's works(p. 5)? Wimsatt's translations stay close to the originals, with some helpful adjustments to loose syntax(e.g., "when" for "et," Ch III.3; "whoever" for "qui"I "on," Ch XV.1-2). A more figurative transla­ tion for Ch VII would bring out the wealth-and-poverty imagery that develops this ballade's central conceit, that the lover will be able to reach his imprisoned lady only if like Jupiter he can be turned to a shower of gold. Otherwise the lover will languish, "mendis!Des drois d'Amours, en angoisseux tourment./Mes biens seront divers gemissement..."("deprived/Of the rights of Love, in anguished torment;/My pleasures will be varied sighs ..." [Ch VII.2 5-27]). Here mendis could suitably be translated "beggared" or "impoverished" and biens given the double meaning "goods" in English that it has in French. This...