{"product_id":"9781458707833","title":"The Legend of Good Women","description":"It is only a few months ago that we brought before the notice of our readers Professor Skeat's edition of the \u003ci\u003eMinor Poems\u003c\/i\u003e of Chaucer, and now we have the pleasure of welcoming an edition of Chaucer's \u003ci\u003eLegend of Good Women\u003c\/i\u003e, the work of the same indefatigable scholar. Professor Skeat infers from various notices in other poems of Chaucer, and from internal evidence, that the present poem was begun in the spring of 1385, so that it was the immediate precursor of \u003ci\u003eThe Canterbury Tales\u003c\/i\u003e. In the Introduction to the \u003ci\u003eMan of Lawes Prologue\u003c\/i\u003e Chaucer expressly refers to this poem, which he is pleased to call \"the saintes legende of Cupide,\" i. e. the Legend of Cupid's Saints.\u003cp\u003eThe poem consists of a succession of tales, and each tale relates the story of some woman famous in love. We are able to infer from lists in two other poems of Chaucer, that the poet's plan was to write the stories of Alcestis and of nineteen other women; but long before he had completed the plan he grew tired of the task, and at last gave it up in the middle of a sentence. Instead of twenty stories we have in the present poem only ten, written in nine \u003ci\u003eLegends\u003c\/i\u003e. The names of the ten holy martyrs of love are Cleopatra, Thisbe of Babylon, Dido, Hypsipyle, Medea, Lucretia, Ariadne, Philomela, Phyllis, and Hypermnestra. Professor Skeat thinks that we may be quite sure that such stories of \" martyred\" women were suggested by Ovid's \u003ci\u003eHeroides\u003c\/i\u003e, and Boccaccio's book entitled De Claris Mulicribus, a work containing 105 tales of illustrious women, briefly told in Latin prose. Hence no doubt the title of Chaucer's poem, \u003ci\u003eThe Legend of Good Women\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe Oxford Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, Vol. 8.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ReadHowYouWant","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47124365639920,"sku":"9781458707833","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781458707833_p0.jpg?v=1763861308","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781458707833","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}