Le Roman de la Rose

Chaucer references this French poem in many of his tales. For more information about the background and authorship of the poem, as well as excerpts: http://romandelarose.org/#rose
To briefly catalogue, utilizing the notes provided by Larry D. Benson in our text, (and I’m sure this is not exhaustive):
In the General Prologue, the portrait of the Squire, especially the descriptions of Mirth and Love and the list of accomplishments at court owe much to Le Roman de la Rose. The Prioress’s table manners are modeled on the advice of La Vieille (the Old Woman) in a speech she makes advising young women how to attract a husband. A character called Faus Semblant in Le Roman de la Rose is a direct literary ancestor to the Friar. When the narrator of The Canterbury Tales is describing the Clerk, he says, “Somnynge in moral vertu was his speche,/And gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche.” In Le Roman de la Rose, Plato is said to have taught a similar sentiment, that man was given speech to teach and to learn (345). The list of medical authorities in the description of the Physician is a lengthier version of a similar list in Le Roman de la Rose. The Wife of Bath’s portrait is based upon a monologue delivered by La Vieille, with other references to the poem as well (“oother compaignye”, “la vieille daunce”) (352). The apology/confession/”disclaimer” offered by the by the narrator himself is similar to one in Le Roman de la Rose:
“But first I pray yow, of youre curteirsye,
That ye n’arrette it nat my vileynye,
Thogh that I pleynly speke in this mateere,
To telle yow hir wordes properly,
For this ye knowen al so wel as I:
Whoso shal telle a tale after a man,
He moot reherce as ny as evere he kan
Everich a word, if it be in his charge,
Al speke he never so rudeliche and large,
Or ellis he moot telle his tale untrewe,
Or feyne thing, or fine wordes newe.
He may nat spare, although he were his brother;
He moot as wel seye o word as another.
Crist spake himself ful brode in hooly writ,
And wel ye woot no vileynye is it.
Eek Plato seith, whoso kan hym rede,
The wordes moote be coryn to the dede.” (lns. 725-742)

References to Le Roman de la Rose also pervade the Tales themselves. To keep this relevant, I’m going to note the references just in the last few tales we’ve read.

“The Monk’s Tale” is essentially a collection of tragedies befalling great men (and a few women). Le Roman de la Rose is one of Chaucer’s closest models for the tale. Additionally, the emphasis on Fortune and its unlimited power seems to be taken directly from the French poem, “where modern as well as ancient instances are used to illustrate the capricious workings of the goddess” Fortuna, who operates independently of both the divine and the agency of man (452). Chaucer also frequently references Boccaccio in this tale.

The references to Le Roman de la Rose in “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale” lie in the references to trusting a woman (or hen, I suppose):
“But for I noot to whom it might displese,
If I conseil of women wolde blame,
Passe over, for I seyde in it in my game.” (lns. 3260-3263)
and the desires held dearest by a true lover:
“And in thy seryce did al his poweer,
Moore for delit than world to multiplye” (lns. 3345-3345)

I expressed confusion over the Second Nun’s warning against “ydelnesse” in her Prologue. I briefly addressed this in an earlier post, but the explanatory notes of our edition offer another important point. Idleness, in Le Roman de la Rose, is the gatekeeper of the Garden of Love, where ydelnesse is “the yate of all harmes” (463). This exemplifies its status as a sin, and indeed sloth is one of the seven deadly sins.

The exempla involving a caged bird, cat, and wolf used by the Manciple in his tale can be found in Le Roman de la Rose, as well as in other sources. Chaucer references the poem especially in his description of the she-wolf . The sentiments expressed in lines 148-154,
“A good wyf, that is clene of werk and thought,
Sholde nat been kept in noon awayt, crtayn;
And trewly the labour is in vayn
To kepe a chrewe, for it wol nat bee.
This holde I for verray nycetee,
To spille labour for to kepe wyves:
Thus written olde clerkes in hir lyves”
are similar to those found in Le Roman de la Rose.

Obviously, Chaucer was greatly influenced by this poem, begun by Guillaume de Lorris around 1230 and continued by Jean de Meun approximately forty years later. I urge you to check out the website I linked above.


Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales: Complete. Benson, Larry D., ed. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston: 2000.