Question- Write an essay on Chaucer's narrative art.

Or
Write a note on Chaucer's narrative skill.

Answer -

Chaucer's greatness as a poet is founded on his matchless narrative skill. He is gifted with the narrative skill. He is the greatest story-teller in verse". Dull Chronicles, legends and stupid tales' are transformed into literary gems, sparkling with animation and realism, and invested with the deepest human interest. With his keen and observing eyes he gracefully picks up anything that suits his purpose. The plan and design of the Canterbury Tales reveals Chaucer's deep interest in story-telling. The stories of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are interesting in themselves.

Chaucer has an objectivity of temper. He has consequently an impersonal attitude towards life. It is temperamentally fitted to perform the task of a narrative poet, he distributes equal emphasis on character and situation which brings into harmony the subjective and the objective values of life in a total, complex artistic picture with a left-sided lean towards the impersonal.' He exhibits an extraordinary power for balance and restraint. Even the most minute details appear to be an essential ingredient of the whole and don't look like mere patch-work. The co-ordination of character and circumstances is brought about by Chaucer in an easy and skilful manner. All these qualities entitle him to the most distinguished place in the rank of great story teller verse. Chaucer's narrative art is straight forward and simple. It is distinguished for its comprehensive qualities. It has the infinite variety of characters, situations and feelings. He produces the complex and infinite characters in a natural and homely manner. His genius is essentially narrative and not dramatic. He maintains the balance of interest throughout and accounts for the variety and many sidedness of his narrative art. The stories are well adapted to the character of the narrator. The stories are significant as they possess great potentialities to make the almost static figures of the prologue dynamic. The tales differ in character within the difference in the character of their narrators. The inseperable character of the tales with their tellers is a convincing proof of Cahucer's masterly skill as a narrator.

Chaucer practices the art of expansion, contraction and modification of the original.' He appears to be perfect in the art of telling a s.ory supremely well. "His narrative method is characterised by straight forward directness and simplicity. His stories have a single plot, one main thread of interest which is taken up at the beginning and followed without interruption to the end." His natural bent is for telling a story with point and precision. His digressions sometime seem to be tedious but they are deliberate and purposeful. He always keeps to the essential. "Chaucer relates, rather than describes; he lingers longer on the actions and characters of his heroes than on their outward appearance, and even where he wishes to draw special attention to the external appearance, the individual traits have essentially a symbolical meaning, and are intended as an interpretation of the whole character and manner of the man."    -Ten Brink.

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