Chaucer’s Ovidian Arts: Poetic Influence and Innovation at the Beginning of English Literature

FAIN: FT-278537-21

Jennifer Bryan
Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH 44074-1057)

Research and writing towards a monograph about the influence of the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE–17/18 CE) on the medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (1340s–1400 CE).

“Chaucer’s Ovidian Arts: Poetic Influence and Innovation at the Beginning of English Literature” will investigate the influence of the Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE–17/18 CE) on the medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (1340s–1400 CE). It will consider how Chaucer’s lifelong engagement with Ovidian techniques, modes, questions, and ideas resulted in some of the most remarkable and innovative poetry in the English tradition. It will be a significant resource for Chaucer scholars without intimate knowledge of Ovid, at a time when more Chaucerians than ever are conscious of Ovid’s importance, but few are conversant with that poet’s works. It will make major contributions to the ongoing historicization of literary forms, and to concepts of poetic influence and literary “tradition,” while providing a richer sense of Chaucer’s own understanding of the purpose of poetry and the relationships between art and life.