Geoffrey Chaucer

Ye Tombe of Ye Poet Chaucer

Abbot and monks of Westminster
Here placed his tomb, in all men's view.
"Our Chaucer dead?"—King Harry said,—

King Harry's mass

Henry V (1413-1422) actually did order a memorial for Chaucer. This isn't invented—the king recognized Chaucer's importance to English literature.

"A mass for him, and burial due!"
This very aisle his footsteps knew;
Here Gower's benediction fell,—

Gower's benediction

John Gower, Chaucer's contemporary poet and friend, would have known him in Westminster. 'Minstral trewe' means faithful poet—they were literary brothers.

Brother thou were and minstral trewe;
Now slepe thou wel.
There died with that old century's death,
I wot, five hundred years ago,
One whose blithe heart, whose morning art,

England's Castaly

Castaly was the sacred spring on Mount Parnassus where Greek poets drank for inspiration. Chaucer made English itself flow as a poetic language.

Made England's Castaly to flow.
He in whose song that fount we know,
With every tale the skylarks tell,
Had right, Saint Bennet's wall below
To slumber well.
Eftsoons his master piously

His master

Surrey is Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (executed 1547), who translated Virgil and pioneered blank verse. He's buried across the Thames from Westminster—both poets rest near water.

In Surrey hied him to his rest;
The Thames, between their closes green,
Parted these warblers breast from breast,—
The gravest from the joyfulest
Whose notes the matin chorus swell:
A league divided, east and west,
They slumber well.
Is there no care in holy ground
The world's deep undertone to hear?
Can this strong sleep our Chaucer keep
When May-time buds and blossoms peer?
Less strange that many a sceptred year,
While the twin houses towered and fell,
Alike through England's pride and fear,
He slumbered well.

The envious Roses

The Wars of the Roses (1455-1487)—red rose of Lancaster vs. white rose of York. Chaucer died in 1400, slept through fifty years of civil war.

The envious Roses woefully
By turns a bleeding kingdom sway;
Thrones topple down,—to robe and crown
Who comes at last must hew his way.
No sound of all that piteous fray,
Nor of its ceasing, breaks the spell;
Still on, to great Eliza's day,
He slumbers well.
Methinks, had Shakespeare lightly walked
Anear him in the minster old,
He would have heard,—his sleep had stirred
With dreams of wonders manifold;
Even though no sad vibration told
His ear when sounded Mary's knell,—
Though, when the mask on Charles laid hold,

Mary's knell

Mary I died in 1558. Chaucer 'slept through' the Protestant-Catholic violence of her reign, just as he slept through the Wars of the Roses.

He slumbered well.
In climes beyond his calendar
The latest century's splendors grow;
London is great,—the Abbey's state
A young world's eager wanderers know;
New songs, new minstrels, come and go;
Naught as of old outside his cell,—
Just as of old, within it low,
He slumbers well.
And now, when hawthorn is in flower,
And throstles sing as once sang he,
In this last age, on pilgrimage
Like mine from lands that distant be,
Come youths and maidens, summer-free,
Where shades of bards and warriors dwell,
And say, "The sire of minstrelsy
Here slumbers well;"
And say, "While London's Abbey stands
No less shall England's strength endure!"
Ay, though its old wall crumbling fall,
Shall last her song's sweet overture;
Some purling stream shall flow, be sure,
From out the ivied heap, to tell

Fount of English pure

Chaucer standardized Middle English and proved it could rival French and Latin. Even if Westminster Abbey crumbles, his language-spring keeps flowing.

That here the fount of English pure
Long slumbered well.
1879
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

The Problem: This Isn't by Chaucer

The attribution is wrong—Geoffrey Chaucer died in 1400, and this poem was written in 1879. The actual author is Edmund Clarence Stedman, an American poet and critic writing nearly five centuries after Chaucer's death. The title should read "On the Tomb of the Poet Chaucer" or similar.

Stedman wrote this as a pilgrimage poem—he's an American visitor standing at Chaucer's tomb in Westminster Abbey, meditating on literary inheritance. The date 1879 matters: American writers were still anxious about their relationship to English literary tradition. Visiting Chaucer's tomb was a ritual for 19th-century American authors trying to claim their place in that lineage.

The poem imagines Chaucer sleeping through English history from 1400 to 1879—479 years of wars, revolutions, and regime changes. The central conceit: while England convulsed politically, its literary tradition (Chaucer's "fount of English pure") flowed steadily onward. Stedman is arguing that poetry outlasts politics, that language endures when kingdoms fall.

Notice the refrain structure: each stanza ends with a variation on "slumber well" or "slumbered well." This creates a lullaby effect—we're being reassured that Chaucer's rest is undisturbed, that his legacy is safe. The repetition mimics the centuries passing, one after another, while Chaucer sleeps on.

The Historical Timeline Chaucer 'Slept Through'

Stedman structures the poem as a chronological tour from 1400 to 1879, listing what Chaucer's sleep survived:

1400-1500: Chaucer dies "with that old century's death." Henry V orders his burial. His "master" Surrey (actually born 1517, so this is poetic license) is buried across the Thames.

1455-1487: "The envious Roses woefully / By turns a bleeding kingdom sway"—the Wars of the Roses between Lancaster and York. Thirty years of civil war, but Chaucer sleeps through it.

1558: "Mary's knell"—the death of Mary I, whose Catholic restoration brought burnings and executions. Chaucer doesn't stir.

1649: "When the mask on Charles laid hold"—Charles I's execution during the English Civil War. Even regicide can't wake him.

1558-1603: "Great Eliza's day"—Elizabeth I's reign, the golden age of English literature. Shakespeare walks near Chaucer's tomb ("lightly walked / Anear him in the minster old"), and Stedman imagines Chaucer's sleep stirring with dreams of what's coming.

The Shakespeare stanza (stanza 6) is key: Stedman suggests Chaucer would have sensed Shakespeare's presence, even in death. This is literary genealogy—Shakespeare is Chaucer's heir, and the continuity of English poetry is so strong it transcends the grave.

1879: "In climes beyond his calendar"—now Americans like Stedman come on pilgrimage. The "young world's eager wanderers" are New World poets seeking the Old World's blessing. Stedman is claiming Chaucer for America too—the "fount of English pure" flows to distant lands.

The poem's argument: political England is chaos, but literary England is continuity. Thrones topple, roses bleed, kings lose their heads—but the song endures. Westminster Abbey might crumble, but Chaucer's language keeps flowing like a spring from the ruins.