Chaucer's Metrics: Linking the Beat with the Means

Chaucer does not continue to amaze students merely because of his ability to depict the richest and most subtle of human emotions, but in his ability to do so with rhythmic prowess. His use of iambic form, trochaic substitution, double entendre and stressed innuendo are not by chance or by accident. I will show in this paper that rhythm, space, stress and balance are closely considered by Chaucer and that the rhythm of his work greatly aids the content of his tales.

My goal here is to show how Chaucer uses rythmn in the line to aid in character development, distinguish different social estates, and create motion within the text crucial to the survival of any long poem. Chaucer's skill with meter is not merely and understanding of simple structures, it goes as far as having great awareness of when to stress and not stress a word or phrase. These poetic tricks are not merely decorative; they are examples of form aiding content. As hard as it may be to know exactly how the Middle English passages from the Canterbury Tales should be pronounced in Modern English, one can make a connection between the metrical qualities of a given passage and the way the passage was possibly meant to be considered. This intense coupling of form and content makes Chaucer's verse impenetrable and I will strive to show how this happens.

I would first like to observe Chaucer's use of iambic pentameter, or use of the five-foot line of iambs. Paull F. Baum states in his book Chaucer's Verse that,

But finally now, however he may have come to it, Chaucer's line is a series of five iambs. For this line he had no native models-though a few isolated specimens have turned up-and the means of relieving monotony he either discovered for himself or deduced intuitively from foreign models (11).