Geoffrey Chaucer
English · 14th century
English poet of the late medieval period, author of The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde. Troilus and Criseyde (1380s) is the major Middle English treatment of the Trojan-War lovers narrative and the canonical courtly-love source for the story.
Connection to Taylor Swift
Author of Troilus and Criseyde, the more famous courtly-love treatment of the Troilus and Cressida narrative invoked in Enchanted's love-at-first-sight cluster. Replaces the default Shakespeare attribution as the closer fit for the fairytale-register Uncle Jerry frames around the song.
Notable Works
- The Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde
Appears in the Archive
Context within the Archive
Troilus and Cressida
Angela & Uncle Jerry include Troilus and Cressida in the love-at-first-sight list, noting the first time Troilus sees Cressida they are instantly in love.
The House of Fame
Angela & Uncle Jerry discuss Chaucer's The House of Fame as one of the great literary works about the nature of fame, alongside the song's own treatment of celebrity's fleetingness. Uncle Jerry names it near the end of the episode as a thematic parallel.
The Miller's Tale
“Mine play out like fools in a fable”
Uncle Jerry names Chaucer's Miller's Tale as another possible fable featuring a fool, 'the poor old Miller is pretty foolish.' He uses it alongside Gimpel the Fool to illustrate the pattern that fools in fables never come to any good.