Dr. Michael Delahoyde
Washington State University

The original manuscript, "O," is lost; the scribal copy of "O" is lost. We have only three manuscripts and all have gaps -- lines missing:

Fairfax
Bodley
Pepys -- (Samuel, to Magdalene College, Cambridge)

Caxton's Edition -- with add-on ending (in the Textual Notes, p. 1142).
Thynne's Edition -- saw Caxton, adds conclusion.

Chaucer journeyed to Italy in 1372 and in 1378. On this latter trip, contact with Boccaccio was probable, but is influence on The House of Fame is slight. Dante is an influence, and Lydgate called this work "Dante in Englyssh." (There are three books, the eagle serves as a guide, etc.)

In the Retraction, Chaucer calls this the book "of Fame." There's no single source but lots of influences: Ovid, Virgil's Aeneid, etc.

The verse is octasyllabic couplets still, so it's probably still early.

Structurally poor, badly planned: Book I (Dido) is too long, other Book I love stories could be omitted, description of walls in Book III too long.

Stylistically it looks hastily written -- the rhymes seem hasty.

Is it an occasional poem, written quickly under pressure so that the poet sacrificed organization, plotting, and succinctness?

The poem does receive acclaim for its dialogue, especially successful colloquialism, and the characters.

It's the most enigmatic of the Minor Poems. Even if it was an occasional poem, it should still stand on its own like The Book of the Duchess. Does it?

• Allegory of his own life.
  [Sandras, Etudes G.C., 1800s]
  The poem is more autobiographical than other works.
  The eagle is philosophy? [ten Brink].
  Does Chaucer write allegory?
  Understanding of his own poetics (a subject back in vogue); the problems of being a writer?
• Allegorical love vision.
  [Wally Sypherd, Studies Chaucer's HF, 1913]
• Prologue to a collection of love stories.
  [J.M. Manly, G.L. Kittredge, Annual Papers, 1913]
  But in Book III, "this lytel laste bok."
• Occasional poem.
  [Imelman, Englische Studien 45 (1912)]
  The poem stopped because the news didn't occur?
  An Anne of Bohemia engagement present? (1381 seems late though, and a likely engagement present in which Dido is a fool to trust a man?)
  Attack on John of Gaunt appearing publicly with Katherine of Swynford in 1378? [Ridel, JEGP 27 --a "stupid theory" (TG)].
  An occasional poem but doesn;t have any occasion, or not the good news anticipated. [Bronson, who is anti-persona].

Book I: Sight.
Book II: From sight to sound.
Book III: Sound.

or

Book I: Authority -- the book, story.
Book II: Experience -- his own, involvement.
Book III: Personal view finally -- in the middle of a crowd or birds, experience himself without guide.

Similar patterns in BD, PF?

BOOK I

Proem:

Line 2 begins a digression to line 58! The concern is with Dream Science (a pseudo-science) and Macrobius' Commentary on the Dream of Scipio (by Cicero).

• Somnium -- enigmatic, obscure, needs interpretation (so most relevant for literature:: dream visions, allegory).
• Visio -- prophetic, comes true.
• Oraculum -- authoritative; an authority figure advises and reveals (like Marley's ghost).
• Insomnium -- a nightmare from mental or physical distress (so not to worry; induced by anxieties and drink).
• Phantasm (or Visum) -- an apparition between wake and sleep; the "first cloud of sleep."

More recent terminology (from Michael Shermer, Why People Believe Weird Things, NY: W.H. Freeman & Co., 1997 -- the section on rare mental states) includes a distinction between "hypnogogic hallucinations" soon after falling alseep and "hypnopompic hallucinations" just before waking up (96).

Occasional? Astronomical? It's set in the opposite of the love tradition, in December instead of May (and we get a desert instead of a garden). Corresponds with his trip to Italy? 1372? That's earlier than the standard dating, but November 12th he was commissioned to go on "the King's business" and bureaucracy was notoriously slow so December 1st he received money for this, probably expenses, and then needed a few days outfitting?

To Morpheus (unnamed).
To God Himself -- interpretation issue up front.
To Croesus -- Romance of the Rose (6489ff) within the speech of Reason about Fortune and interpreting things allegorically. Croesus on the Wheel of Fortune believes dream of gods serving him and takes it literally (misinterprets) because of his pride; his daughter warns him, reading figuratively: he'll be hung in rain and sun. The King scolds her for "glossing" -- he'll follow the "letter" of the dream.

Temple of Glass -- Venus instrumental.

Aeneid -- sees story of Trojan War. (In Virgil, Aeneas sees the story of the Trojan War engraved on the walls of Carthage. He's just been there, sees it engraved, then goes in to tell it. Transmission of history into present.)

In Virgil, Aeneas is not exactly a cad; he has to go found Rome. The poet is interpreting and reacting, not just recounting, for a change. Mistransmitting? Dependant on audience awareness of it. Showing selective reading? People who read stories get out of them what they want: misconstruing, misquoting, etc.

Invites us to look at originals: Virgil, Ovid, Boethius (978).
This is all about distortion in transmission?

BOOK II

Proem

Dream:

The Eagle -- Jupiter's bird, God's bird, imperial; suggests grace, heavenly assistance. Pompous, learned, logical, prolix. Autocratic but kindly, a gentle giant finally, with a personality like a Canterbury Tale pilgrim.

The physicality of the flight undercuts the spiritual implications. A grotesque of two creatures, flight up, pull down.

The physics of sound -- contemporary. = of language? Instead of a unification higher, multiplication.

Interest in duality (1078). Spoken / temporal; written-textual / eternal. Red and black -- suggests some words more important. But in poem, no difference, all jumbled.

BOOK III

Invocation

Dream:

Knowledge in the Middle Ages: "science" = of nature; "wisdom" = of nature and God, so higher knowledge.

Chaucer persona the scientific type: geological curiosity, thermodynamics of shade and heat.

Occupatio -- calls attention to role as poet (1299ff, 1341ff). "Multiplies" things not told.

Recurring rhymes: soun/multiplicacioun, name/fame/game.

Where are we to establish authority? Old tales? Dreams? Natural science?
Finally chaos. A modernistic work: post-structural. [See Robert M. Jordan, "Lost in the Funhouse of Fame: Chaucer and Postmodernism." Chaucer Review 18.2 (1983): 100-115.]

Is the poem unfinished? What is Chaucer's intention?

Evidence: "lytel laste bok," so how much longer? Is already longer.
Under what circumstances would it be broken off? (Chaucer was called away for a tunafish sandwich and never returned? He gave up when he could have ended this quickly?)

No closure structurally -- the dream vision doesn't end so it can't be done (?!).
But does the dreamer have a life outside the dream to get back to, as in The Book of the Duchess where some progress is implicit?

Fools, eel-stompers, clamor for authoritative word to come from on high.
But no easy answer from authority forthcoming.
No dictated authorized meaning (to subsequently distort through transmission).