Studia Litterarum Studia Litterarum 2500-4247 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2024-9-1-30-51 Research Article Articles Chaucer’s Early Poem “Book of the Duchess”: Features of Topics Semenov Vadim B. red@studlit.ru March 25, 2024 2024 July 19, 2023 The article discusses the meaning of the poem The Book of the Duchess by Geoffrey Chaucer, which is considered as a multi-layered structure. Traditionally popular topics in Chaucerian studies related to this work are those that involve discussion of questions about the validity of the publishers’ choice of one of the surviving titles for the poem, about the correlation of the images of the main characters, including the Dreamer, in the plot and narrative, about the motivation for the two-part type of composition (The Proemium and The Dream) and the function of using in the plot of the retelling from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (the story of Ceyx and Alcyone), and finally, about the connection of this retelling with the “Boethian” poems of Guillaume de Machaut. The author of the article consistently touches on the essence of the listed issues, in order to finally present his own concept of the form and meaning of Chaucer’s early poem. In particular, the primacy of the image of the lady lost by the knight is questioned. The author of the article proposes to consider the structure of the work as a voluminous, multi-layered object, under the outer layer of which (the praising of the queen stolen by Fortune, whose prototype was Blanche the Duchess of Lancaster) there is a layer with a focus on the complaining knight (and the implicit function inherent in the elements of this layer of praising this knight for his courtliness, education, and qualities of a lover), which, in turn, hides the third layer, the semantic core of which is in the theme of Chaucer’s own competition with Guillaume de Machaut and Ovid in the realm of poetic fantasies. Geoffrey Chaucer topics The Book of the Duchess La Fonteinne Amoreuse Scachs d’Amor chivalric romance dream motif genre of complaint chess metaphor Boethian consolation Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 1. 1 Gorbunov, A.N. Choser srednevekovyi [Medieval Chaucer]. Moscow, Labirint Publ., 2010. 335 p. (In Russ.) 2. 2 Khoffer, V.F. Chislovaia simvolika srednevekov’ia: tainyi smysl i forma vyrazheniia [Medieval Number Symbolism: Its Sources, Meaning, and Influence on Thought and Expression]. Moscow, Tsentrpoligraf Publ., 2014. 221 p. (In Russ.) 3. 3 Adams, Jenny. “Pawn Takes Knight’s Queen: Playing with Chess in the Book of the Duchess.” The Chaucer Review, vol. 34, no. 2, 1999, pp. 125–138. (In English) 4. 4 Bolens, Guillemette, and Paul B. Taylor. “The Game of Chess in Chaucer’s Book of the Duchess.” The Chaucer Review, vol. 32, no. 4, 1998, pp. 325–334. (In English) 5. 5 Connolly, Margaret. “Chaucer and Chess.” The Chaucer Review, vol. 29, no. 1, 1994, pp. 40–44. (In English) 6. 6 Davis, Steven. “Guillaume de Machaut, Chaucer’s Book of the Duchess, and the Chaucer Tradition.” The Chaucer Review, vol. 36, no. 4, 2002, pp. 391–405. (In English) 7. 7 Ellis, Steve. “The Death of the Book of the Duchess.” The Chaucer Review, vol. 29, no. 3, 1995, pp. 249–258. (In English) 8. 8 Hyde, Thomas. Historia Shahiludii. Oxford, E Theatro Sheldoniano, 1694. 71 p. (In English) 9. 9 Kreuzer, James R. “The Dreamer in the Book of the Duchess.” Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, vol. 66, no. 4, 1951, pp. 543–547. (In English) 10. 10 Palmer, John J.N. “The Historical Context of ʽThe Book of the Duchess’.” The Chaucer Review, vol. 8, no. 4, 1974, pp. 253–261. (In English) 11. 11 Peck, Russel A. “Number as Cosmic Language.” Eckhardt, Caroline D., editor. Essays in the Numerical Criticism of Medieval Literature. Lewisburg, Bucknell University Press, 1980, pp. 15–64. (In English) 12. 12 Taylor, Mark N. “Chaucer’s Knowledge of Chess.” The Chaucer Review, vol. 38, no. 4, 2004, pp. 299–313. (In English) 13. 13 Wimsatt, James. “The Sources of Chaucer’s Seys and Alcyone.” Medium Ævum, vol. 36, no. 3, 1967, pp. 231–241. (In English)