W.H. Hudson has rightly said, “Every man belongs to his race and age; no matter how marked his personality, the spirit of his race and age finds expression through him.”
For a comprehensive study of an author’s literary works, what is also required (among other things) is the social background of that period – the kind of society the author was living in. Apart from many other changes in the English society in the age of Chaucer, the most dramatic change was a demographic one – the occurrence of the most devastating plague called Black Death. It erupted first of all in Dorset in 1348 and was at its peak in 1349. This epidemic wrought havoc and around one-third of the population of England perished in it. The true medical causes of this plague could not be established but the effects of this devastation were long-term as well as social, political and religious in nature.
The socio-economic system of England was paralyzed. The Black Death led to an acute shortage of labour. This aggravated the social tensions between the workers and landlords and other employers. This was also one of the causes of the traumatic Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, under the rule of Richard II. The Kentish priest, John Ball, who preached the dignity of labour, raised the question:
For a comprehensive study of an author’s literary works, what is also required (among other things) is the social background of that period – the kind of society the author was living in. Apart from many other changes in the English society in the age of Chaucer, the most dramatic change was a demographic one – the occurrence of the most devastating plague called Black Death. It erupted first of all in Dorset in 1348 and was at its peak in 1349. This epidemic wrought havoc and around one-third of the population of England perished in it. The true medical causes of this plague could not be established but the effects of this devastation were long-term as well as social, political and religious in nature.
The socio-economic system of England was paralyzed. The Black Death led to an acute shortage of labour. This aggravated the social tensions between the workers and landlords and other employers. This was also one of the causes of the traumatic Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, under the rule of Richard II. The Kentish priest, John Ball, who preached the dignity of labour, raised the question:
“When Adam delved and Eve span
Who was then a gentilman?”
There was a demand for higher wages by the workers, which according to Compton-Rickett was “a dim foreshadowing of those industrial troubles that lay in the distant future.”
The Church too was deeply affected by the unstable nature of the society and its medieval beliefs. The Parish clergy suffered a decline not only in numbers but also in quality, both morally and intellectually. This inadequacy of the parish clergy proved a recurrent theme in Langland’s poetry. In his ‘Prologue to Canterbury Tales’ Chaucer says:
That if gold ruste what shal iren doo?
(This means: If gold rusts what shall iron do?)
The theologian and reformer, John Wycliffe criticized the misuse of papal powers and revenues. Thus, we can see that the influence of Black Death was not limited to a single sphere of life, rather it was manifold and engulfed the whole society.
No comments:
Post a Comment