Chaucer's Works

Geoffrey Chaucer's Boethius and Troilus and Criseyde emerge here as twin achievements of the same creative moment, each shaped by profound questions of fortune, love, suffering, and truth. Walter W. Skeat's scholarly edition surrounds them with extensive introductions, notes, manuscript evidence, and editorial comparison, while the Boethius material traces Chaucer's translation to the years around 1377–1383, perhaps inspired by Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose and intended to bring difficult philosophy to readers without Latin. The edition also places Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy in vivid historical context: the Roman philosopher-statesman's fall from power, prison meditation, and dialogue with Philosophy herself become a searching meditation on injustice, providence, free will, and the Supreme Good. The work's medieval influence is then followed through English versions from King Alfred to John Walton, later prose and verse adaptations, and Chaucer's own place in that tradition. Troilus and Criseyde adds dramatic immediacy, as Pandarus maneuvers Criseyde toward Troilus's desperate love, blending persuasion, pity, and suspense. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.