From those references to the moon that occur in Chaucer's poetry alone, it
would be impossible to determine just how much he knew of the
peculiarities of her apparent movements; for he alludes to the moon's
motion and positions much less frequently and with much less detail than
to those of the sun. But a passage in the prologue to the _Astrolabe_
leaves it without doubt that Chaucer was quite familiar with lunar
phenomena. In stating what the treatise is to contain, he says of the
fourth part: "The whiche ferthe partie in special shal shewen a table of
the verray moeving of the mone from houre to houre, every day and in every
signe, after thyn almenak; upon which table ther folwith a canon,
suffisant to teche as wel the maner of the wyrking of that same
conclusioun, as to knowe in oure orizonte with which degree of the zodiac
that the mone ariseth in any latitude;"[84] As a matter of fact the
treatise as first contemplated by Chaucer was never finished; only the
first two parts were written. But Chaucer would scarcely have written thus
definitely of his plan for the fourth part of the work unless he had had
fairly complete knowledge of the phenomena connected with the moon's
movements.
The moon, in Chaucer's imagination, must have occupied rather an
insignificant position among the heavenly bodies as far as appealing to
his sense of beauty was concerned, for we find in his poetry no
descriptions of her appearance that can compare with his descriptions of
the sun or even of the stars. He speaks of moonrise in the most general
way:
"hit fil, upon a night,
When that the mone up-reysed had her light,
This noble quene un-to her reste wente;"[85]
He applies to her only a few epithets, the most eulogistic of which is
"Lucina the shene."[86] In comparing the sun with the other heavenly
bodies the poet mentions the moon among the rest without distinction, as
inferior to the sun:
"For I dar swere, withoute doute,
That as the someres sonne bright
Is fairer, clerer, and hath more light
Than any planete, (is) in heven,
The mone, or the sterres seven,
For al the worlde, so had she
Surmounted hem alle of beaute," etc.[87]
On the other hand, the stars are elsewhere said to be like small candles
in comparison with the moon:
"And cleer as (is) the mone-light,
Ageyn whom alle the sterres semen
But smale candels, as we demen."[88]
Whenever Chaucer mentions the moon's position in the heavens he does so by
reference to the signs of the zodiac[89] and, as in the case of the sun,
usually with the purpose of showing time. In the _Marchantes Tale_ he
expresses the passage of four days thus:
"The mone that, at noon, was, thilke day
That Ianuarie hath wedded fresshe May,
In two of Taur, was in-to Cancre gliden;
So long hath Maius in hir chambre biden,"[90]
and a few lines further on he states the fact explicitly:
"The fourthe day compleet fro noon to noon,
Whan that the heighe masse was y-doon,
In halle sit this Ianuarie, and May
As fresh as is the brighte someres day."[91]
When Criseyde leaves Troilus to go to the Greek army she promises to
return to Troy within the time that it will take the moon to pass from
Aries through Leo, that is, within ten days:
"'And trusteth this, that certes, herte swete,
Er Phebus suster, Lucina the shene,
The Leoun passe out of this Ariete,
I wol ben here, with-outen any wene.
I mene, as helpe me Iuno, hevenes quene,
The tenthe day, but-if that deeth me assayle,
I wol yow seen, with-outen any fayle.'"[92]
But while the moon is quickly traversing the part of her course from Aries
to Leo, Criseyde, pressed by Diomede, is changing her mind about returning
to Troy, and by the appointed tenth day has decided to remain with the
Greeks:
"And Cynthea[93] hir char-hors over-raughte
To whirle out of the Lyon, if she mighte;
And Signifer[94] his candeles shewed brighte,
Whan that Criseyde un-to hir bedde wente
In-with hir fadres faire brighte tente.
. . . . . . . .
. . . . and thus bigan to brede
The cause why, the sothe for to telle,
That she tok fully purpos for to dwelle."[95]
The passage of time is also indicated in Chaucer's poetry by reference to
the recurrence of the moon's phases. In the _Legend of Good Women_,
Phillis writes to the false Demophon saying that the moon has passed
through its phases four times since he went away and thrice since the time
he promised to return:
"'Your anker, which ye in our haven leyde,
Highte us, that ye wolde comen, out of doute,
Or that the mone ones wente aboute.
But tymes foure the mone hath hid her face
Sin thilke day ye wente fro this place,
And foure tymes light the world again.'"[96]
Chaucer refers more often to the phases of the moon than to any other
lunar phenomenon, but most of these references to her phases are used for
the sake of comparison or illustration and give us little idea of the
extent of Chaucer's knowledge. Mars in his 'compleynt' says that the lover
"Hath ofter wo then changed is the mone."[97]
The rumors in the house of fame are given times of waxing and waning like
the moon:
"Thus out at holes gonne wringe
Every tyding streight to Fame;
And she gan yeven eche his name,
After hir disposicioun,
And yaf hem eek duracioun,
Some to wexe and wane sone,
As dooth the faire whyte mone,
And leet hem gon."[98]