Troilus and Criseyde

About

Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde (c. 1382-86) is the longest and arguably the finest of his works: a narrative poem in five books following the love affair of the Trojan prince Troilus and the widow Criseyde, set against the backdrop of the siege of Troy. The poem is simultaneously a romance of great lyrical beauty and an anatomy of desire's self-deception — Troilus's idealization of Criseyde makes him blind to her circumstances, and the abandonment that follows is devastating. Chaucer ends it with a famous renunciation of earthly love that reframes everything that preceded it. Reading it aloud reveals Chaucer's music in ways silent reading cannot.