TheHouseofFame
From Wyclif
Contents |
[edit] The House of Fame
[edit] Book I
Before we even get started, what is the overriding theme of the House of Fame? That is, what is most significant about Fame that Chaucer is investigating and will spend the whole poem on?
What are the causes of dreams?
What is the narrator’s repeated prayer?
How good is December 10th’s dream?
[edit] Invocation
After invoking the Rood, whom does the narrator call on?
Does Chaucer backtrack from this second persona?
What curse is also offered?
[edit] The dream
Is the dreamer again insomniac?
Whose temple does the dreamer find himself in?
In lines 143ff, what poem is translated?
Does Chaucer tell the story exactly as Virgil did?
What is the one word that Dido spoke to Aeneas?
What mistake does the narrator blame her for?
Does he hold her completely accountable?
Why not?
What does Dido accuse Aeneas (or men in general) of wanting from women?
What has he gained and she lost?
What other echo of the Aeneid starts on line 349?
Do you think Chaucer wanted to write a version of the Troy story?
Did he ever?
And after the dreamer says he won’t tell the rest of Aeneas’ story, what does he do?
What word does Chaucer use instead of temple on l. 473?
What does the dreamer find outside the temple?
To whom does the dreamer now pray?
What appears to the dreamer from on high?
Why that particular apparition?
[edit] Book II
[edit] Proem
Who is invoked this time?
Is she famous for skillful word-craft?
How good is the dream we are being told?
The dream continues
What does the eagle do?
What is the dreamer’s reaction?
How does the eagle speak to the dreamer?
Why is line 571 critically important?
What does the dreamer imagine will happen to him?
Why has he in fact been airlifted?
Whom is the dreamer told he is not like?
What god has sent the eagle?
Why is the dreamer being rewarded?
What description does Chaucer give us of his composition skills?
What one mistake has he made as a writer according to the eagle?
How will a visit to the House of Fame help the dreamer?
What can be heard in the House of Fame?
Why?
What science lesson does the eagle offer?
What happens to light or heavy objects?
Of what is speech made?
In what way does air behave like water? Speech like a stone tossed into water?
And what does the eagle say of his own skills of rhetoric?
What cautionary tale does the eagle tell of letting an idiot be in charge of something he can’t control?
What knowledge does the dreamer decline to have?
How is the House of Fame perceived from afar?
What shape do the speeches of men take in the House of Fame?
[edit] Book III
[edit] Invocation
Who is invoked in this final prayer?
Is that god an odd choice?
What does Chaucer tell of about his writing skills here?
The dream continues
What is the foundation of the House of Fame?
What is carved there?
Why are some carvings ephemeral?
What literary convention does the dreamer harp on in his description of the castle?
What is seen facing out from the castle?
Who waits outside the gate?
Describe Lady Fame.
What surrounds her on columns?
What common theme did many of the authors share?
Who is Fame’s sister?
In what way does Fame resemble her?
What do Fame’s supplicants desire?
How does Fame deal with her supplicants?
What third female deity are these ladies compared to?
Compare how good and bad reputation are spread.
What odd request does the fourth group of petitioners seek?
And the fifth?
And the sixth?
Heck all of them.
Line 1872 asks the dreamer whether he is come to seek fame. Is he?
Is his answer credible?
What building is below the castle?
Describe it.
How does the dreamer gain admission?
What does he find inside?
What is gossip compared to?
How are truth and falsehood conjoined?
How satisfying is the non-ending?
Is there any way to parse it into meaning?
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