The House of Fame

Chaucer, Geoffrey (c.1343–1400), translated by Kline, A.S., (contact-email)

A modernised translation of Geoffrey Chaucer’s House of Fame, retaining as much of Chaucer’s diction and rhymes as possible. The work is a dream-vision poem that explores celebrity and renown. It examines the ways in which people’s achievements are communicated and remembered or, conversely, how they can be forgotten. Chaucer crafts a narrative where the protagonist, often thought to be a stand-in for the poet himself, is guided by an eagle to a palace made of ice, engraved with names of the famous. This allegorical structure embodies the transient nature of fame. The work, unfinished, consists of three books and melds humour with philosophical musings, reflecting on the arbitrary nature of the fame-granting process.

Author Details

Geoffrey Chaucer was born c1343 in London to a prosperous family of wine-merchants. Through his father’s connections, he began his official duties as page to the Countess of Ulster, the wife of Lionel, second son to the king, Edward III. Chaucer subsequently served as courtier, diplomat and civil servant while also establishing his poetic reputation.

He appears to have travelled widely in Europe during his varied court career. He married Philippa de Roet, lady-in-waiting to the queen, and sister to Katherine Swynford, John of Gaunt’s third wife, and flourished under John of Gaunt’s patronage. His most prolific period of writing was during his time as comptroller of customs for the port of London, between 1374 and 1386, both “Troilus and Criseyde”, his finely constructed poem based on classical and Renaissance sources, and the early “Canterbury Tales”, his celebration of the English social landscape, dating from that time.

Chaucer is thought to have died in October 1400, not long after the overthrow of his royal patron Richard II and the accession of Henry IV, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey, in what has become known as Poet’s Corner, that being his right as a tenant of the Abbey Close. His son Thomas had a significant career at the court of successive kings, and as Speaker of the House of Commons.

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Kline, A.S.,

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