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mods: Following Chaucer offices of the active life Staley, Lynn 1947- creator author. text bibliography Criticism, interpretation, etc. miu 2020 2020 monographic eng print 218 pages : color illustrations ; 24 cm "Following Chaucer: Offices of the Active Life explores three representative figures-the royal woman, the poet, and the merchant-in relation to the concept of "office," which Cicero linked to the health of the republic, but Chaucer to that of the common good. Not usually conjoined to the term "office," these three figures, situated in the active life, were not firmly mapped onto the body politic, which was used to figure a relational and ordered social body ruled by the king, the head. These figures are points of entry into a set of questions rooted in Chaucer's understanding of his cultural and historical past and in his keen appraisal of the social dynamics of his own time that also reverberate in the centuries after Chaucer's death. Following Chaucer does not trace influence but uses Chaucer's likely reading, circumstances, and literary and social affiliations as guides to understanding his poetry, within the context of late medieval English culture and the reshaping of the concept of these particular offices that suited the needs of a future whose dynamics he anticipated. His understanding of the importance of the Ciceronian concept of office within the active life, his profound cultural awareness, and his probing of the foundations of social change provide him with a keen sense of the persistent tensions and inconsistencies that are fundamental to his poetry"-- Introduction : Offices of the Active Life -- Anne of Bohemia : queenship and office -- Chaucer and the Trinity : Why it matters -- Chaucer and merchant narratives -- Epilogue Lynn Staley. Includes bibliographical references and index. Chaucer, Geoffrey -1400 Criticism and interpretation Queen, consort of Richard II, King of England Anne 1366-1394 In literature Queen, consort of Richard II, King of Engl…