“O maister deere and Fadir reverent,
Mi maister Chaucer, flour of eloquence,
Mirour of fructuous entendement,
O, universel fadir in science!
Allas! þat þou thyn excellent prudence
In þi bed mortel mightist naght by-qwethe;
What eiled deth? allas! whi wolde he sle the?”

— Thomas Occleve

O master dear and reverend father, my master Chaucer, flower of eloquence, mirror of fruitful wisdom, O universal father of knowledge! Alas, that on thy mortal bed thou mightest not bequeath thine excellent prudence! What aileth Death? Alas, why would he slay thee?
Source: Regement of Princes (c. 1412), Line 1961; vol. 3, p. 71; translation from Roger Sherman Loomis and Rudolph Willard (eds.) Medieval English Verse and Prose in Modernized Versions (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1948) p. 351.

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Thomas Occleve 9

British writer 1369–1426

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