“He helde about him alway, out of drede,
A world of folke.”
Geoffrey Chaucer book Troilus and Criseyde
Book 3, line 1721
Troilus and Criseyde (1380s)
Quotes from bookTroilus and Criseyde
Troilus and Criseyde is an epic poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Criseyde set against a backdrop of war during the Siege of Troy. It was composed using rime royale and probably completed during the mid-1380s. Many Chaucer scholars regard it as the poet's finest work. As a finished long poem it is more self-contained than the better known but ultimately unfinished The Canterbury Tales. This poem is often considered the source of the phrase: "all good things must come to an end" .
“Eek for to winne love in sondry ages,
In sondry londes, sondry ben usages.”
Geoffrey Chaucer book Troilus and Criseyde
Troilus and Criseyde (1380s)
Context: Ye knowe eek, that in forme of speche is chaunge
Withinne a thousand yeer, and wordes tho
That hadden prys, now wonder nyce and straunge
Us thinketh hem; and yet they spake hem so,
And spedde as wel in love as men now do;
Eek for to winne love in sondry ages,
In sondry londes, sondry ben usages.
Book 2, line 22-28
Geoffrey Chaucer book Troilus and Criseyde
Book 2, line 22-28
Troilus and Criseyde (1380s)
Context: Ye knowe eek, that in forme of speche is chaunge
Withinne a thousand yeer, and wordes tho
That hadden prys, now wonder nyce and straunge
Us thinketh hem; and yet they spake hem so,
And spedde as wel in love as men now do;
Eek for to winne love in sondry ages,
In sondry londes, sondry ben usages.
Geoffrey Chaucer book Troilus and Criseyde
Book 5, line 1835-1841
Troilus and Criseyde (1380s)
Context: O yonge fresshe folkes, he or she,
In which that love up-groweth with your age,
Repeyreth hoom fro worldly vanitee,
And of your herte up-casteth the visage
To thilke God that after his image
Yow made, and thynketh al nis but a faire
This world, that passeth sone as floures faire.
“Men may the wise atrenne, and naught atrede.”
Geoffrey Chaucer book Troilus and Criseyde
Source: Troilus and Criseyde
“Oon ere it herde, at tothir out it wente”
Geoffrey Chaucer book Troilus and Criseyde
One ear heard it, at the other out it went
Book 4, line 434
Troilus and Criseyde (1380s)
“Go, little booke! go, my little tragedie!”
Geoffrey Chaucer book Troilus and Criseyde
Book 5, line 1798
Troilus and Criseyde (1380s)
Geoffrey Chaucer book Troilus and Criseyde
Book 2, line 1335-37
The earliest known near-usage in English of the proverb "Great oaks from little acorns grow."
Troilus and Criseyde (1380s)
“I am right sorry for your heavinesse.”
Geoffrey Chaucer book Troilus and Criseyde
Book 5, line 146
Troilus and Criseyde (1380s)
“Of harmes two the lesse is for to cheese.”
Geoffrey Chaucer book Troilus and Criseyde
Book ii, line 470
Troilus and Criseyde (1380s)
“For tyme y-lost may not recovered be.”
Geoffrey Chaucer book Troilus and Criseyde
Book 4, line 1283
Troilus and Criseyde (1380s)
“It is nought good a slepyng hound to wake.”
Geoffrey Chaucer book Troilus and Criseyde
Book 3, line 764
Troilus and Criseyde (1380s)
“Eke wonder last but nine deies never in toun.”
Geoffrey Chaucer book Troilus and Criseyde
Book 4, line 525
Troilus and Criseyde (1380s)
