Books in [Everyman's university library] series

If William Shakespeare had never written a single play, if his reputation rested entirely upon the substantial and sterling body of nondramatic verse he left behind, he would still hold the position he does in the hierarchy of world literature. The strikingly modern sonnets–intimate, baroque, and expansive at once; the invigorating narratives drawn from classical subjects; and the flawless lyricism represented by a poem like “The Phoenix and the Turtle”–permanently deepen our understanding of the multiplicity and extravagant energy of our greatest poet. ISBN-13: 9780679417415 Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Publication date: 12/28/1992 Series: Everyman's Library Pages: 312 Sales rank: 526,095 Product dimensions: 5.17 (w) x 8.29 (h) x 0.92 (d)

The career of Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343-1400) developed from a period of French influence in the late 1630s, through the 'middle period' of both French and Italian influences. Troilus and Criseyde (c.1385) is from the most important mature Italian-influenced work. Troilus and Criseyde is Chaucer's longest complete poem. The story is taken from Boccaccio's Il Filostrato. In the midst of the Trojan war, and on opposing sides, Troilus falls in love with Criseyde, aided by Criseyde's uncle Pandarus, to tragic consequence. Chaucer deepens the sense of seriousness by showing Criseyde's deliberations, and by calling into question the lovers' freedom of action. Trust not in unstable fortune, the narrator seems to be saying, but in God.

Excerpt: ...me, that coude leest deserve Of hem that nombred been un-to thy grace, Hast holpen, ther I lykly was to sterve, 1270 And me bistowed in so heygh a place That thilke boundes may no blisse pace, I can no more, but laude and reverence Be to thy bounte and thyn excellence!' And therwith-al Criseyde anoon he kiste, 1275 Of which, certeyn, she felte no disese, And thus seyde he, Now wolde god I wiste, Myn herte swete, how I yow mighte plese! What man,' quod he, was ever thus at ese As I, on whiche the faireste and the beste 1280 That ever I say, deyneth hir herte reste. Here may men seen that mercy passeth right; The experience of that is felt in me, That am unworthy to so swete a wight. But herte myn, of your benignitee, 1285 So thenketh, though that I unworthy be, Yet mot I nede amenden in som wyse, Right thourgh the vertu of your heyghe servyse. And for the love of god, my lady dere, Sin god hath wrought me for I shal yow serve, 1290 As thus I mene, that ye wol be my stere, To do me live, if that yow liste, or sterve, So techeth me how that I may deserve Your thank, so that I, thurgh myn ignoraunce, Ne do no-thing that yow be displesaunce. 1295 For certes, fresshe wommanliche wyf, This dar I seye, that trouthe and diligence, That shal ye finden in me al my lyf, Ne wol not, certeyn, breken your defence; And if I do, present or in absence, 1300 For love of god, lat slee me with the dede, If that it lyke un-to your womanhede.' Y-wis,' quod she, myn owne hertes list, My ground of ese, and al myn herte dere, Graunt mercy, for on that is al my trist; 1305 But late us falle awey fro this matere; For it suffyseth, this that seyd is here. And at o word, with-outen repentaunce, Wel-come, my knight, my pees, my suffisaunce!' Of hir delyt, or Ioyes oon the leste 1310 Were impossible to my wit to seye; But iuggeth, ye that han ben at the feste, Of swich gladnesse, if that hem liste pleye! I can no more, but thus thise ilke tweye That night, be-twixen dreed and...

The love of a rustic Romeo for a femme fatale of the fields; the motley village band which acts a raucous chorus to their romance; the skylarking boys who dam a subterranean stream, and manipulate the destiny of a community. Hardy has pierced irrationalities of existence and the blind perversity of human nature, sketching his vision here through quirks of character and absurd ironies of fortune.