Of pivotal signifi cance, however, is the French Roman
de la Rose (Romance of the Rose), of which a partial
English translation has been attributed to Chaucer.
The Book of the Duchess does not feature a conven-
tional guide fi gure. Instead, the poem begins by bring-
ing the narrator’s central dilemma to the forefront—he
is a “melancolye” (l. 23) insomniac whose numbing
sadness and unnatural (“agynes kynde,” l. 26) condi-
tion have brought him to the brink of death. Though
the source/cause for his near-death circumstance is not
named, he conveniently provides his own self-diagno-
sis: “I holde it be a sicknesse / That I have suffred this
eight yeer” (ll. 36–37). He goes so far as to suggest that
“there is phisicien but oon / That may me hele” (ll. 39–
40) but immediately adds “that is don.... Our fi rst
mater is good to kepe” (ll. 40–43). Thus, the Narrator
acknowledges that there is an individual who can heal
him, but he then refuses to name or even describe that
person. Instead, the narrator bids his servant “reche
[him] a book / A romaunce” (ll. 47–48) to read.
This tale is a truncation from Ovid’s Metamorphoses
and recounts the story of King Seys and Queen Alcy-
one: Seys is drowned at sea, and Alcyone, not knowing
what has happened, laments intensely over his disap-
pearance. Alcyone pledges herself to Juno, begging the
goddess to send her a dream in which the fate of Seys
will be revealed to her. Juno sends a messenger to Mor-
pheus, the god of Sleep, who then, as per Juno’s
instructions, “crepe[s] into the body” of the dead king
(l. 144) and speaks to Alcyone through the corpse to
inform her that Seys is dead. Seys/Morpheus advises
Alcyone that though temporal “blysse” is temporary
and fl eeting, holding on to sorrow is not a viable alter-
native. Alcyone’s response, as recorded by the narra-
tor, is telling: “With that hir eyen up she casteth / And
saw noght. ‘Allas!’ quod she for sorwe, / And deyede
within the thridde morwe” (ll. 212–214).
The narrator empathizes with Alcyone, whose sor-
row and unknowingness refl ect his own position at the
beginning of the poem; however, when he recognizes
the chance to tell his audience what she said while in
her state of anguish, he chooses to silence her. Explain-
ing his reasoning for doing so, he submits this excuse,
which becomes all too familiar throughout Chaucer’s
oeuvre: “I may not telle yow now; / Hyt were to longe
for to dwelle” (ll. 216–217). In this instance, the narra-
tor withholds information about a female character in
favor of returning the focus of his narrative back to
himself, saying: “My fi rst matere I wil yow telle, /
Wherfore I have told this thyng / Of Alcione and Seys
the kyng” (ll. 218–220). Though for the next 70 lines,
the narrator explains how “this thyng” has saved his
life. Subsequent readers of this Ovidian episode have
been far less appreciative. Feminist critics have taken
the fi gure of the poet to task for silencing and exploit-
ing Alcyone in his appropriation of a fi ctional female
experience. Alcyone awakens from her dream vision,
sees nothing, and dies; by contrast, the Chaucerian
narrator who reads her story presumably awakens
from his dream, recovers from his sleepless melan-
choly, picks up his pen, and moves on with his life and
career as a poet.
In the next section of the poem, the narrator further
laments his sleeplessness, although still asleep. Lines
291–343 capture the Narrator’s surroundings in the
dream world with acute aural and visual details. It is a
sunny day in May, and the narrator is awakened within
his dream by small birds, only to fi nd himself “in [his]
bed al naked” (l. 293). Signifi cantly, the walls of this
space are decorated with scenes from “the story of
Troye” (l. 326) and painted with “bothe text and glose,
/ Of al the Romaunce of the Rose” (334). Blurring the
boundaries between inside and outside, birdsongs res-
onate throughout the room and “bryghte bemes” (l.
337) of sunlight pour through the windows and onto
the narrator’s bed.
The next section describes the hunt in conventional
garden imagery (ll. 344–443). Hearing “an hunte
blowe” (l. 345), the narrator moves outdoors, mounts
a horse, and rides off into the surrounding forest.
Upon encountering a young man with a hound, he
learns that the hunting party is with the ancient Roman
“emperour Octovyen” (l. 368). Together, the Narrator
and the lad travel until they meet up with the hunters,
who forfeit their sport when their quarry—the “hert”
(l. 381), or male red deer—outsmarts them and disap-
pears. Now on foot, the Narrator walks through the
forest and is approached by a lost “whelp” (l. 389). He
follows the puppy deeper into the woods, traipsing
through the shadows cast by the gigantic trees, until90 BOOK OF THE DUCHESS, THE