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Review
"This, then, is a monumental edition xxx; enormously to be admired."
Times Higher Education Supplement
"xxx; a truly major achievement, and a milestone in Chaucer studies."
English Studies
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.Product Description
`Now listen with good will, as I go straight to my subject matter, in which you may hear the double sorrows of Troilus in his love for Criseyde, and how she forsook him before she died' Like Romeo and Juliet, or Tristan and Iseult, the names of Troilus and Criseyde will always be united: a pair of lovers whose names are inseparable from passion and tragedy. Troilus and Criseyde is Chaucer's masterpiece and was prized for centuries as his supreme achievement. The story of how Troilus and Criseyde discover love and how she abandons him for Diomede after her departure from Troy is dramatically presented in all its comedy and tragic pathos. With its deep humanity and penetrating insight, Troilus and Criseyde is now recognized as one of the finest narrative poems in the English language. This is a new translation into contemporary English of Chaucer's greatest single poem which can be read alongside the Middle English original, or as an accurate and readable version in its own right.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Windeatt's edition is a masterful bringing-together of both the variant manuscripts and the sources of Chaucer's wonderful long poem 'Troilus and Criseyde'. The text is presented on the left-hand page, along with the corresponding passages from Boccaccio's 'Il Filostrato' in a second column. The right-hand page provides detailed textual notes and variant readings, as well as noting other minor sources. All sources are given in the original language, but are well-referenced and therefore easy to find in an English edition. This is not a reading edition, but rather a reference work to which any student of the poem would continually turn for a deeper understanding of Chaucer's manipulation of his sources. Well worth the expense if you have to study the work in depth. Combine this book with Windeatt's 'Oxford Guides to Chaucer' volume on 'Troilus and Criseyde' and you would have a detailed and wide-ranging body of reference and critical work on the poem.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Geoffrey Chaucer's fresh, but, sometimes very sentimental text tells the story of the brave knight, Troilus, a `slave of love', Criseyde, a realistic widow, and their go-between, the intriguer and opportunist, Pandarus.
For the idealist, Troilus 'Next to the foulest nettle, tick and rough, / Rises the rose in sweetness, smooth and soft.'
For the realist, Criseyde 'Am I to love and put myself in danger? / Am I to lose my darling liberty? / She who loves none has little cause for tears. / Husbands are always full of jealousy' / And men are too untrue /Or masterful, or hunting novelty.'
The sly intriguer Pandarus brings them together: 'Just as with dice chance governs every throw / So too with love, its pleasures come and go.'
However, the love between Troilus and Criseyde cannot blossom for political reasons. The realist betrays the idealist.
For Troilus (Chaucer), the fundamental question is: 'Since all that comes, comes by necessity / Thus to be lost is but my destiny.'
Was his fate ruled by predestination or was there only foreknowledge by God? 'To prone predestination, yet again others affirm we have free choice. To question which is cause of which, / and see Whether the fact of God's foreknowledge is / the certain cause of the necessity.'
Chaucer's answer is `determinism': 'And this is quite sufficient anyway To prove free choice in us a mere pretence.'
However, the priests are not his favorites: 'The temple priests incline to tell you this / That dreams are sent as Heaven's revelations; / They also tell you, and with emphasis / They're diabolic hallucinations.'
For Chaucer, 'Think this world is but a fair / passing as soon as flower-scent in air.'
This poem is not as strong as the Canterbury Tales, but it is a must read for all lovers of world literature.
For the idealist, Troilus 'Next to the foulest nettle, tick and rough, / Rises the rose in sweetness, smooth and soft.'
For the realist, Criseyde 'Am I to love and put myself in danger? / Am I to lose my darling liberty? / She who loves none has little cause for tears. / Husbands are always full of jealousy' / And men are too untrue /Or masterful, or hunting novelty.'
The sly intriguer Pandarus brings them together: 'Just as with dice chance governs every throw / So too with love, its pleasures come and go.'
However, the love between Troilus and Criseyde cannot blossom for political reasons. The realist betrays the idealist.
For Troilus (Chaucer), the fundamental question is: 'Since all that comes, comes by necessity / Thus to be lost is but my destiny.'
Was his fate ruled by predestination or was there only foreknowledge by God? 'To prone predestination, yet again others affirm we have free choice. To question which is cause of which, / and see Whether the fact of God's foreknowledge is / the certain cause of the necessity.'
Chaucer's answer is `determinism': 'And this is quite sufficient anyway To prove free choice in us a mere pretence.'
However, the priests are not his favorites: 'The temple priests incline to tell you this / That dreams are sent as Heaven's revelations; / They also tell you, and with emphasis / They're diabolic hallucinations.'
For Chaucer, 'Think this world is but a fair / passing as soon as flower-scent in air.'
This poem is not as strong as the Canterbury Tales, but it is a must read for all lovers of world literature.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Set during the Trojan war, Chaucer's great narrative poem in seven-line stanzas tells the tragic love story of the knight Troilus, son of Priam, and his unfaithful lover Criseyde, brought together by her uncle Pandarus. One of the masterpieces of medieval literature, this is also a very humanist work, focusing on the theme of human love, however ecstatic and transcendant.
Do note that Amazon have published all the reviews for the various different editions against them all, so you should check whether you are getting the original in medieval English or a modern translation. This review is for the original medieval edition edited by Windeatt, which contains an excellent on-page glossary, and a good, fairly scholarly introduction, but no modern translation.
Do note that Amazon have published all the reviews for the various different editions against them all, so you should check whether you are getting the original in medieval English or a modern translation. This review is for the original medieval edition edited by Windeatt, which contains an excellent on-page glossary, and a good, fairly scholarly introduction, but no modern translation.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Beware!!
I am no scholar but this is a very readable translation - it flows well like any modern literature.
However I have only given the book 3 stars simply because I wanted the... Read more
However I have only given the book 3 stars simply because I wanted the... Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2009 by Steven Foster
THE GO-BETWEEN
There surely can't be many tragic love stories more affecting and involving than this. Nor, it seems to me, can there be many that are more original, despite the conspicuous play... Read more
Published on 15 Sep 2004 by DAVID BRYSON
Outstanding
Anyone with the merest interest in middle English and/or medieval romance and the cult of the lady simply cannot afford to pass this by. Read more
Published on 3 May 2004 by Gerry
A real gem.
Chaucer's mastery of English verse and the subtlety of his narrative make this poem a rare performance. Read more
Published on 5 Nov 1998
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