Imagination and the Cosmic Consciousness in Chaucer’s The House of Fame

Chaucer's poem The House of Fame draws on an ancient philosophical exercise called 'the view from above,' which uses imagination to help a person review their life and place it within the context of universal nature. The poet adapts the motif of celestial flight not to promote contempt for the world, as some writers do, but to align with thinkers like Marcus Aurelius who use it for self-reflection. Chaucer's treatment of the view from above topos validates the imagination's role in achieving self-knowledge and awareness of one's position in the cosmos.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The aim of this article is to situate Chaucer’s The House of Fame in the tradition of exercising the self as practiced by ancient philosophers and theorized by Pierre Hadot. It shows that Chaucer’s poem contains echoes of an ancient exercise referred to as ‘the view from above’, which engages the faculties of the imagination in order to enable an individual to review their life and to situate it in the context of universal nature. The poet’s creative use of the ancient motif of the celestial flight, I will argue, distances him from those writers who use the theme to develop the contemptus mundi topos and affiliates him with those ancient thinkers who, like Marcus Aurelius, employ it to turn their attention to their own self, which may be achieved via meditations on the identity and homogeneity of all things (homoeides). It is Chaucer’s use of the view from above topos that vindicates the role of imagination by showing how it contributes to self-knowledge, that is, to an awareness of where one stands.