Sonnet, Chaucer, Research

Online recording software >> Poem
"Sonnet XII"
John Milton

I DID but prompt the age to quit their clogs

  By the known rules of ancient liberty,

  When straight a barbarous noise environs me

  Of owls and cuckoos, asses, apes, and dogs;

As when those hinds that were transformed to frogs

    

  Railed at Latona’s twin-born progeny,

  Which after held the Sun and Moon in fee.

  But this is got by casting pearl to hogs,

That bawl for freedom in their senseless mood,

  And still revolt when Truth would set them free.

      

  Licence they mean when they cry Liberty;

For who loves that must first be wise and good:

  But from that mark how far they rove we see,

  For all this waste of wealth and loss of blood.

I chose this sonnet because it was by a British poet and the poem is about divorce and how he thinks it should be more open and available to everyone. Much to the dismay of the Presbyterian church.

Fact

Chaucer first came into the scene as a page to the noblewoman Elizabeth de Burgh, the Countess of Ulster. This gave Chaucer a chance to remain in the close courts circle where he stayed throughout his life. He became a courtier, a diplomat and also worked for the King later to become one of the greatest poets in history.

http://www.famousauthors.org/geoffrey-chaucer

This is significant because it's part of the reason he was able to write about so many things related to Britain, its people, and its problems.

Research

http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/

A site with great information. So much information, that I couldn't pick a certain page to focus on.