Troilus and Criseyde

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`Now listen with good will, as I go straight to my subject matter, in which you may hear the double sorrows of Troilus in his love for Criseyde, and how she forsook him before she died' Like Romeo and Juliet, or Tristan and Iseult, the names of Troilus and Criseyde will always be united: a pair of lovers whose names are inseparable from passion and tragedy. Troilus and Criseyde is Chaucer's masterpiece and was prized for centuries as his supreme achievement. The story of how Troilus and Criseyde discover love and how she abandons him for Diomede after her departure from Troy is dramatically presented in all its comedy and tragic pathos. With its deep humanity and penetrating insight, Troilus and Criseyde is now recognized as one of the finest narrative poems in the English language. This is a new translation into contemporary English of Chaucer's greatest single poem which can be read alongside the Middle English original, or as an accurate and readable version in its own right. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London, the son of a vintner around 1342. He is known to have been a page to the Countess of Ulster in 1357 and Edward III valued him highly enough to pay a part of his ransom in 1360, after he had been captured fighting in France. It is probably in France that Chaucer became interested in poetry; he bagan to translate the Roman de la Rose and became interested in Boccaccio on trips to Italy. The order of his works is uncertain but they include The Book of the Duchess, The Canterbury Tales and The Parliament of Fowls. He died in 1400 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.


Nevill Coghill held many appointments at Oxford University, where he was Merton Professor of English Literature from 1957 to 1966. He wrote several books on English Literature and was particularly interested in Shakespearean drama. His translation of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales is also published by Penguin Classics and is an enduring bestseller. He died in November 1980.

Geoffrey Chaucer's most significant literary accomplishment may well be Troilus and Criseyde, a single, profoundly philosophical narrative of a tragic love affair. Set in ancient Troy and telling the story of the rise and fall, in love and war, of prince Troilus, Troilus and Criseyde is an archetypal medieval romance. The widowed Criseyde is a powerful woman, complex and intelligent, and the naive Troilus is ambushed by his overwhelming love for her; Pandarus, Troilus's friend and the enabler of the couple's love, provides comic relief. Chaucer used his familiarity with the works of Giovanni Boccaccio and Benoit de Sainte-Maure to build his own historical world, depicting pagan beliefs and myths with sympathy and imagination.

This edition is based on the Corpus Christi College Cambridge manuscript of Troilus and Criseyde; the manuscript text is conservatively edited and the original Middle English text is used. Difficult words are conveniently glossed in the margins, and explanatory footnotes help with references and allusions.