The Interplay between the Secular and the Sacred in The Canterbury Tales and Old English Poetry

Abstract

The writings of Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) are greatly influenced by former literary works, especially those by the Roman poets Boethius, Ovid and Cicero. His poetry treats contemporary themes within a framework that draws upon plots and subjects from preceding literature. However, Chaucer's later work The Canterbury Tales (1387-1400) tackles subjects and employs characters that reflect the spirit of England's Middle Ages. The General Prologue, among other tales that form Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, treats the themes of the age through a context that creates an amalgamation of the mundane and the divine. The work deals with both religious and secular questions. A similar amalgamation is also evident in major earlier Old English poems as Beowulf (ca. 700-1000), The Dream of the Rood (ca. 700-9000), The Battle of Maldon (ca. 991), The Wanderer (ca. 597) and The Seafarer (ca. 900). This paper aims to examine the impact of employing secular and sacred aspects on English Medieval literature, particularly Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales and the major Old English poems.

Keywords: The Canterbury Tales, Beowulf, Old English Poetry, Medieval Poetry