Troilus and Criseyde
First published 1483 · English · 309 pages
- Novels
- Myth and legend
A long narrative poem set in Troy during the Greek siege. Troilus, a young prince, falls deeply in love with Criseyde, a widow whose father has gone over to the Greeks. With the help of her uncle Pandarus, the two begin a love affair, but the pressures of war test their devotion. Chaucer draws on Boccaccio and builds a subtle study of love, fortune, trust and human frailty. It is often praised as a forerunner of the psychological novel.
Quotes
The double sorwe of Troilus to tellen, 1 That was the king Priamus sone of Troye,
But the Troyane gestes, as they felle, 145 In Omer, or in Dares, or in Dyte, Who-so that can, may rede hem as they wryte.
For ever it was, and ever it shal bifalle, That Love is he that alle thing may binde; For may no man for-do the lawe of kinde.
O blinde world, O blinde entencioun! How ofte falleth al theffect contraire Of surquidrye and foul presumpcioun; For caught is proud, and caught is debonaire. This Troilus is clomben on the staire, 215 And litel weneth that he moot descenden. But al-day falleth thing that foles ne wenden.