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Troilus and Criseyde

by Geoffrey Chaucer (1342–1400)

  • Free to read
  • 4 hours to read
  • 5 chapters
  • Reading level: 6th grade

"Troilus and Criseyde" by Geoffrey Chaucer is an epic poem written in the mid-1380s. Set during the siege of Troy, it tells the tragic love story of Troilus, a Trojan prince, and Criseyde, daughter of a prophet who has fled to the Greeks. With help from Criseyde's cunning uncle Pandarus, the lovers unite—but war intervenes when Criseyde must be exchanged for a prisoner. Separated and uncertain, their devotion faces its ultimate test in the Greek camp.

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  • Troilus (Legendary character)
  • Trojan War
  • Cressida (Fictitious character)
  • Troy (Extinct city)

Read the opening

Book I: Incipit Liber Primus

The double sorwe of Troilus to tellen, 1
That was the king Priamus sone of Troye,
In lovinge, how his aventures fellen
Fro wo to wele, and after out of Ioye,
My purpos is, er that I parte fro ye. 5
Thesiphone, thou help me for tendyte
Thise woful vers, that wepen as I wryte!

To thee clepe I, thou goddesse of torment,
Thou cruel Furie, sorwing ever in peyne;
Help me, that am the sorwful instrument 10
That helpeth lovers, as I can, to pleyne!
For wel sit it, the sothe for to seyne,
A woful wight to han a drery fere,
And, to a sorwful tale, a sory chere.

For I, that god of Loves servaunts serve, 15
Ne dar to Love, for myn unlyklinesse,
Preyen for speed, al sholde I therfor sterve,
So fer am I fro his help in derknesse;
But nathelees, if this may doon gladnesse
To any lover, and his cause avayle, 20
Have he my thank, and myn be this travayle!

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Contents

  1. Book I: Incipit Liber Primus
  2. Book II: Incipit Prohemium Secundi Libri
  3. Book III: Incipit prohemium tercii libri
  4. Book IV: Incipit Prohemium Liber Quartus
  5. Book V: Incipit Liber Quintus

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About this edition

This free edition of Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #257, released 1995-05-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Poetry, Classics of Literature, British Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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