English Literature

Chaucers Book of the Duchess is a 14th century poem which tells the story of the poets dream of entering into a forest.  There, the poet discovers a man clothed in black, who is mourning the loss of his lady in white.  The knight describes his life as having been a struggle, in his youth being more prone to hate and in his maturity being opened to love.  He describes the beauty and chastity of his lady in white, yet noting in the end that his lady in white is now dead.  The struggle to love purely and the loss of the black knights lady in white, thought to reference the actual Blanche of Lancaster, point to idealistic love being at once both available and out of reach.

The lady in white in referenced throughout the poem as having the pure and good aspects of all things light and bright, And gode faire Whyte she hete, That was my lady name right, She was bothe fair and bright, She hadde not hir name wrong, 948-51.  The black knight desires to leave the hate, variance, and malice of his youth almost immediately upon meeting the lady in white, who Is fairer, clere, and hath more light, Than any planete, is in heven, 822-23.  It is clear that the knight is supremely inspired by the goodness of this white lady, as he compares her to Hester in the Bible, To speke of goodnesse trewly she, Had as moche debonairte, As ever had Hester in the bible, And more, if more were possible, 985-88.

The allegiance of the black knight to his lady in white, even after her death, is particularly noted in his total ongoing devotion to her, My lady yaf me al hoolly, The noble yift of hir mercy, 1269-70.  This is the tale of a man who had struggled to come to terms with God, with love, yet found utter revelation of the importance and truth of goodness through his relationship with the lady in white.  After losing her, the knight must come to terms with the separation from her, while still clinging to her memory and the values she shared with him during her life.