This Poem consists of several distinct portions. It begins with a Proem, of
three stanzas, followed by a part of the story, in twenty-seven stanzas,
all in seven-line stanzas. Next follows the Complaint of Anelida, skilfully
and artificially constructed; it consists of a Proem in a single stanza of
nine lines; next, what may be called a Strophe, in six stanzas, of which
the first four consist of nine lines, the fifth consists of sixteen lines
(with only two rimes), and the sixth, of nine lines (with internal rimes).
Next follows what may be called an Antistrophe, in six stanzas arranged
precisely as before; wound up by a single concluding stanza corresponding
to the Proem at the beginning of the Complaint. After this, the story
begins again; but the poet had only written _one_ stanza when he suddenly
broke off, and left the poem unfinished; see note to l. 357.
The name of Arcite naturally reminds us of the Knightes Tale; but the
'false Arcite' of the present poem has nothing beyond the name in common
with the 'true Arcite' of the Tale. However, there are other connecting
links, to be pointed out in their due places, which tend to shew that this
poem was written _before_ the Knightes Tale, and was never finished; it is
also probable that Chaucer actually wrote an earlier draught of the
Knightes Tale, with the title of Palamon and Arcite, which he afterwards
partially rejected; for he mentions 'The Love of Palamon and Arcite' in the
prologue to the Legend of Good Women as if it were an independent work.
However this may be, it is clear that, in constructing or rewriting the
Knightes Tale, he did not lose sight of 'Anelida,' for he has used some of
the lines over again; moreover, it is not a little remarkable that the very
lines from Statius which are quoted at the beginning of the fourth stanza
of Anelida are also quoted, in some of the MSS., at the beginning of the
Knightes Tale.
But this is not all. For Dr. Koch has pointed out the close agreement
between the opening stanzas of this poem, and those of Boccaccio's Teseide,
which is the very work from which Palamon and Arcite was, of course,
derived, as it is the chief source of the Knightes Tale also. Besides this,
there are several stanzas from the Teseide in the Parliament of Foules; and
even three near the end of Troilus, viz. the seventh, eighth, and ninth
from the end of the last book. Hence we should be inclined to suppose that
Chaucer originally translated the Teseide rather closely, substituting a
seven-line stanza for the _ottava rima_ of the original; this formed the
original Palamon and Arcite, a poem which he probably never finished (as
his manner was). Not wishing, however, to abandon it altogether, he
probably used some of the lines in this present poem, and introduced others
into his Parliament of Foules. At a later period, he rewrote, in a complete
form, the whole story in his own fashion, which has come down to us as The
Knightes Tale. Whatever the right explanation may be, we are at any rate
certain that the Teseide is the source of (1) sixteen stanzas in the
Parliament of Foules; (2) of part of the first ten stanzas in the present
poem; (3) of the original Palamon and Arcite; (4) of the Knightes Tale; and
(5) of three stanzas near the end of Troilus, bk. v. 1807-27 (Tes. xi.
1-3).
1. In comparing the first three stanzas with the Teseide, we must reverse
the order of the stanzas in the latter poem. Stanza 1 of Anelida answers to
st. 3 of the Italian; stanza 2, to st. 2; and stanza 3 to st. 1. The first
two lines of lib. 1. st. 3 (of the Italian) are:--
'_Siate presenti_, O _Marte rubicondo_,
Nelle tue _arme_ rigido e _feroce_.'
I. e. _Be present_, O _Mars the red_, strong and _fierce_ in thy _arms_
(battle-array). For the words _Be present_, see l. 6.
2. _Trace_, Thrace. Cf. Kn. Tale, 1114-6 (A 1972-4). Chaucer was here
thinking of Statius, Theb. lib. vii. 40, who describes the temple of Mars
on Mount Hæmus, in Thrace, which had a frosty climate. In bk. ii, l. 719,
Pallas is invoked as being superior to Bellona. Chaucer seems to confuse
them; so does Boccaccio, in his De Genealogia Deorum.