Book of the Duchess (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Geoffrey Chaucer
- First Published: 1370
- Type of Work: Poetry
- Type of Plot: Allegory
- Time of Work: Indeterminate
- Setting: Idealized dream landscape
- Principal Characters: Dreamer, Black Knight, White
- Genres: Poetry, Allegory, Dream vision
- Subjects: Love or romance, Europe or Europeans, Poetry or poets, Dreams, England or English people, Death or dying, Kings, queens, or royalty, Allegory, Middle Ages, Knights or knighthood, Nobility, Fourteenth century
- Locales: Dreamscape
The Story:
The Dreamer of the poem was lamenting his terrible loss, a loss which only one physician might heal. He had lost his beloved lady, either through rejection or through death. In either case, the Dreamer was unable to sleep, fearful that death might come upon him. There seemed to be no hope for him.
He decided to pass a lonely night by reading in a collection of tales, and there he found the story of King Ceyx and Queen Alcyone. When Ceyx sailed away, his wife waited patiently yet eagerly for his return, but she was unaware that his ship was caught in a storm...
[The entire page is 2487 words long]
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