The Hous of Fame

The poem supposed to be written between 1374 and 1385 is a dream vision. The narrator is here transported a temple of glass where he sees the images of famous warriors and lovers. He is taken there- from and carried off by a talking Eagle and dropped close to a big tower. He enters the castle and has the experience of the diverse ways in which fame spreads and melts away.

Like the other Chaucerian work The Parlement of Foules, this is also based on French allegorical poetry. The poet here presents the capricious way in which fame moves and spreads. Of course, the allegory has a deeper sense to suggest, how fame often proves deceptive and dangerous for men. Chaucer's enjoyable sense of wit and humour is well evident here. The poem remains a quite vigorous, engaging and original allegory, which might have proved the inspiration for Spenserian allegorical works. In The Hous of Fame, however, the influence of Divina Commedia of the celebrated Italian poet, Dante, is perceived. But, Chaucer's pattern is French, and not Italian, and the mood of the poem, rather lively, is different from Dantesque.The poem is written in Chaucerian octosyllablic couplets. This is, however, left unfinished by the author.