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Chaucer's Eagle: A Contemplative Symbol

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

John M. Steadman
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Extract

The significance and literary ante cedents of the garrulous bird which seizes Chaucer “at a swappe” and bears him aloft “to a place, Which that hight THE HOUS OF FAME” have long been subjects of controversy. Garrett identified it with “the eagle of folk-tales who carries the hero to a high mountain.” Rambeau regarded it as “ein symbol der philosophie, aber einer sehr humoristischen art von philosophie, die ihn tröstet und mit seinem loos versöhnt.” In Sypherd's opinion, it combined “three functions—1. the messenger of a divinity; 2. the guide to a hero on his journey; 3. the helpful animal” (p. 86). Whereas Lounsbury stressed the influence of Ovid's account of Ganymede, both Rambeau and Chiarini emphasized Chaucer's indebtedness to the eagle of Dante's Commedia.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 75 , Issue 3 , June 1960 , pp. 153 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1960

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References

1 Wilbur Owen Sypherd, Studies in Chaucer's Hous of Fame (Chaucer Society, London, 1907), p. 14; see A. C. Garrett, “Studies on Chaucer's House of Fame,” Harvard Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, v (1896), 151–175. In Garrett's opinion, Chaucer utilizes “two not unfamiliar folk-tale motives”—1) “the ‘Glasberg’ of German folk-lore, with a palace on its top” and 2) “the motive of the ‘Hero carried off by an Eagle,’ familiar everywhere from the Greek myth of Ganymede to the tales of the North American Indian ‘thunder-bird’.”

2 Adolf Rambeau, “Chaucer's Hous of Fame in seinem Verhaltnis zur Divina Commedia,” Englische Studien, iii (1880), 235.

3 T. R. Lounsbury, Studies in Chaucer, ii (1892), 246; Sypherd, p. 89 n.

4 Rambeau, passim; Sypherd, p. 89 n.; Cino Chiarini, Di una imitazione inglese delta Divina Commedia: La Casa delta Fama di Chaucer (Bari, 1902), pp. 95–97. Cf. F. N. Robinson (ed.), The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, 2nd ed. (Boston, 1957), pp. 781–782. Cf. Charles Muscatine, Chaucer and the French Tradition (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1957), p. 110.

5 Robinson, p. 778; F. Cumont, “Le mysticisme astral dans l'antiquite,” Bulletin, Academie Royale de Belgique, 4th Ser. (1909), pp. 258 ft, 278 ff.; see also the unpubl. diss, by Rob Roy Purdy, The Platonic Tradition in Middle English Literature, summarized in Bull, of Vanderbilt Univ., Abstracts of Theses, XLVII (1947), 15–16.

6 Papias, Vocabularium (Venice, 1485), “Aquila ab acu-mine oculorum. dicta quia irreverberato visu solem aspiciat.” Cf. Rabanus Maurus (P.L., cvm, col. 974); Hugo of St. Victor (P-L., CLXXVII, col. 53); Bartholomeus Anglicus, De Rerum Proprietatibus (Nuremberg, 1519), Book XII, Chap. 1, “De Aquila”; Petrus Berchorius, Dictionarium seu Repertorium Morale (Venetiis, 1583), s.v. “Aquila”: “Aquila dicitur quasi habens acutos oculos.”

7 See C. Plinii Sectmdi Naturalis Historia, ed. D. Detlefsen (Berlin, 1867), ii, 126–127, on the keen eyesight of the sea-eagle or osprey: “superest haliaetus clarissima oculorum acie, librans ex alto sese visoque in mari pisce praeceps in eum ruens et discussis pectore aquis rapiens.” “Haliaetus tantum inplumes etiamnum pullos suos percutiens subinde cogit adversos intueri solis radios et, si coniventem humectantem animadvertit, praecipitat e nido velut adulterinum atque degenerem, ilium cuius acies firma contra stetit educat.”

8 W. M. Lindsay (ed.), Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi Elymologiarum sive Originum Libri XX, Vol. II (Oxonii, 1911) Book xu, Chap. 7; cf. P.L., Lxxxii, col. 460. Vide Ambrose, Exameron, Book v, Chap. 18, in S. Ambrosii Opera, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, xxxn, ed. Caroli Schenkl (Vindobonae, 1896), pp. 186–187; P.L., xiv, col. 232; see also Ambrose's Sermon 46 “De Salomone” (P.L., xvii, col. 695).

9 Gregorius Magnus, Moralia in Job, Book ix, Chap. 32 (P.L., LXXV, cols. 884–885).

10 Moralia, Book ix, Chap. 33 (P.L., LXXV, col. 886).

11 Moralia, Book xix, Chap. 27 (P.L., LXXVI, col. 131).

12 St. Gregory the Great, Morals on the Booh of Job (Oxford, 1850), pp. 495–96.

13 Moralia, Book xxxi, Chap. 47 (P.L., LXXVI, cols. 625–626). Cf. Rabanus Maurus, De Universo, Book viu, Chap. 16 (P.L., cxi, cols. 243–244); idem, Expositio super Jeremiam, Book xx (P.L., cxi, cols. 1258–59); Hugo de S. Victore, De Besliis el Aliis Rebus, Book i, Chap. 56 (P.L., CLXXVII, cols. 53–54); Bartholomeus, Book XII, Chap. 1; Berchorius, Re-ductorium Morale (Venetiis, 1583), p. 184.

14 Sententiarum, Book iii, Chap. IS (P.L., LXXXIII, col. 691).

15 Allegoriae in Sacram Scripturam (P.L., cxil, col. 862).

16 Hugo de S. Victore, De Bestiis, Book i, Chap. 56 (P.L., CLXXVII, col. 54).

17 Idem, Exposilio Moralis in Abdiam (P.L., cxxxv, cols. 377–378).

18 Alexander Neckam, De Naluris Rerum Libri Duo, ed. Thomas Wright (London, 1863), pp. 71–72.

19 Venetiis, 1583, p. 186.

20 Berchorius, Redtcctorium Morale, pp. 183–184. This work (which consists essentially in a moral interpretation of Bartholomeus Anglicus' De Proprietatibus Rerum) should not be confused with Berchorius' Reductorium Morale super Totam Bibliam (see fn. 19, supra). See Ernest H. Wilkins, “Descriptions of Pagan Divinities from Petrarch to Chaucer,” Speculum, xxxii (1957), 513.

21 Berchorius, Repertorium Morale, s.v. “Aquila;” pp. 198–200: “Sic verb… praelatus & praedicator, & quilibet vir perfectus debet habere visum clarissimae discretionis, intantum quod solem… i. claritatem bonorum aeternorum debet… speculari….” Like the eagle, the prelate should provoke his subordinates “ad volandum sursum, & ad videndum, & respiciendum, advertendum, & cogitandum Dei speculationen, & bonorum aeternorum contemplationen….” Job xxxix. 27 (“elevabitur Aquila”) signifies “quod nos de-bemus habere… Luminosam speculationem….”

22 See also Glossa Ordinaria (P.L., cxiv, col. 726), “Aquila omnes praedicatores, qui mente longinqua conspiciunt….”

23 Comedia di Dante degli Allagherii col Commento di Jacopo delta Lana Bolognese, ed. Luciano Scarabelli, ii (Bologna, 1866), 103.

24 Petri Allegherii super Dantis ipsius Genitoris Comoediam, ed. G. J. Vernon and Vincentio Nannucci (Florence, 1845), pp. 60–61.

25 Sypherd, pp. 55–56; Rambeau, pp. 233–234, “Der adler, der bote des Jupiter (ii, 101–103), redet Chaucer ‘in mannes vols’ an (ii, 48). Auch diesen zug hat vielleicht der englische dichter der gottlichen comoedie entnommen: im sechsten kreis des paradieses, der sphaere des Jupiter, trifft Dante das symbol des kaiserthums, den aus wunderbaren lichtern zusammengesetzten adler (aquila imperiale), der zu ihm spricht, vgl. Par. XVIII, xix, xx.” Cf. Chiarini, p. 97, “qualche non lontana relazione con l'aquila del poema chauceriano, in quanto essa par la ‘con voce umana’….”

26 L'Ottimo Commento delta Divina Commedia, ed. Accademici della Crusca, in (Pisa, 1829), 427; cf. Commento alia Divina Commedia d'Anonimo Fiorenlino del Secolo XIV, ed. Pietro Fanfani, in (Bologna, 1874), 352, “In questo capitolo fae l'Auttore quattro cose; la prima introduce la predetta aguglia a parlare…. la seconda domanda l'Auttore assolvi-gione d'uno dubbio alia detta aquila sanza esprimer lo titolo della quistione; la terza alia detta aquila fa esprimer lo dub-bio et assolverlo, et esprime l'aquila predetta lo titolo della quistione, poi soggiugne alcuni universali, che fanno alia solvigione….”

27 L'Ottimo Commento, p. 427.

28 [Petrus Berchorius], Metamorphosis Ovidiana Moraliter a Magistro Thoma Waieys Anglico… Explanata (Paris, 1515), fol. lxxxii.

29 Ibid., fol. v. Cf. the analogous passage in the Copenhagen commentary on the Ovide Moralist (Jeannette Theodora Maria Van't Sant, Le Commentaire de Copenhague de I'Ovide Moralist [Amsterdam, 1929], p. 28): “Les aigles que cler voient, c'est assavoir, les prudens, discrez et hardiz hommes, doivent assister a telz prelats. Et par leur science et doctrine doivent les enffans—ce sont les simples et Innocens crestiens—eslever amont en la comtemplacion et amours des choses celestes. Comme dist Job en son tiers chappitre comme par admiration: ‘Nunquid ad preceptum tuum elevabit aquila.’ ‘Et comment, dist Job, ne s'elevera pas l'aigle a ton comandement’.” Miss Van ‘t Sant (pp. 17–18) regards the Copenhagen commentary as a translation of the Latin commentary preceding Berchorius’ Ovidius Moralizatus.

30 Odo died in 1415. See Johannes Osternacher, “Die Ueberlieferung der Ecloga Theoduli,” Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft fur altere deutsche Geschichtskunde, XL (1915), 333 n.

31 Theodolus cum Commento [“magistri Odonis natione picardi”] (s.l., 1487). For Chaucer's knowledge of the Ecloga Theoduli see Ferdinand Holthausen, “Chaucer and Theo-dulus,” Anglia, xvi (1893–94), 264–266, and George L. Hamilton, “Theodulus: A Mediaeval Textbook,” MP, vii (1909), 169–185. Odo is commenting on the line “Splendorem tanti non passus Juppiter auri.”

32 Cf. the following variants: 1) Adores [sic] cum Glosa Octo Libros… Continentes (Lugduni, 1489), “impletudinem sapientie”: 2) Ecloga Theodoli (Impensis Iudoci pelgrim & Henrici Jacobi, 1508), “plenitudinem sapientie”; 3) Theodoli cum Commento (Londoniis, 1515), “plenitudinem sapientie”; 4) Authores cum Commento (Lugduni, 1519), “plenitudinem sapientie.”

33 Theodolus cum Commento (s.l., 1487). Odo is commenting on the quatrain beginning “Idaeos lepores puer exagitat Ganimedes.”

34 Cf. Conradi Hirsaugiensis Dialogus super Auctores sive Didascalon, ed. Georg Schepss (Wurzburg, 1889), pp. 77–78, “Artem mathematicam idest doctrinalem scientiam eruditis convenit intellectibus intueri, quam quatuor quidem distinctam partibus (partim) arihtmetica [sic] speculatur interitas, partim modulaminis temperamenta pernoscunt, partim geometrica noticia continet, partim astronomicae noticiae peritia vendicat.” Elsewhere in the Dialogus Conrad includes the four branches of mathematics under physics—one of the three principal divisions of philosophy (pp. 83–84): “In tres partes philosophia distinguitur: in logicam quae rationalis dicitur, in phisicam quae naturalis dicitur, in ethicam quae moralis dicitur. De phisica quadrivium habes: arihtmeticam geometriam musicam astronomiam….”

35 See Robert J. Allen, “A Recurring Motif in Chaucer's ‘House of Fame’,” JEGP, LV (1956), 393–405, on Chaucer's “contrast between the learned eagle and the ‘lewed’ poet.”

36 In tracing the allegorical interpretation of the eagle in terms of contemplation, we should, of course, realize that this was simply one of several traditional explanations. Indeed, it frequently occurred in conjunction with distinctly different interpretations, in commentaries on the Bible, on Dante's Commedia, or on Ovid's Metamorphoses. Cf. P.L., LXXVI, col. 624; cxii, col. 862; Manfredi Porena (ed.), La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri (Bologna, 1947), II, 89, 307 and iii, 47; Berchorius, Metamorphosis Ovidiana Moraliter, fol. iv–v, lxxxii.

37 Robinson, p. 784. Cf. Chaucer's translation of Boethius: “and I schal fycchen fetheris in thi thought, by whiche it mai arisen in heighte…. I have, forthi, swifte fetheris that surmounten the heighte of the hevene. Whanne the swifte thoght hath clothid itself in tho fetheris, it despiseth the hateful erthes, and surmounteth the rowndnesse of the grey ayr; and it seth the clowdes byhynde his bak, and passeth the heighte of the regioun of the fir… til that he areyseth hym into the houses that beren the sterres….” For parallels between Boethius and Chaucer's Hous of Fame, see Bernard L. Jefferson, Chaucer and the Consolation of Philosophy of Boethius (Princeton, 1917), pp. 140–142.

38 SaeculiNoniAuctorisinBoetiiConsolationemPhilosophiae Commentarius, ed. Edmund Taite Silk (Rome, 1935), p. 222.

39 Before describing this allegorical flight of thought, Chaucer appropriately invokes “Thought” itself, in the “Proem” to Book II (1. 523). It is interesting to note that the traditional interpretation of the eagle as a symbol of thought survived well into the Renaissance. Thus, in describing the “Carro di Giove,” Cesare Ripa declares that “Il carro e tirato da due Aquile… per dinotare gl'alti, & nobili suoi pensieri….” (Nova Iconologia di Cesare Ripa [Padova, 1618], p. 67.)