Blizzard Musings, or A Blanche Day

As a result of the blizzard here in Ontario, church has been cancelled, so I sit here trying to figure out productive ways to pass the time. Not content with being only cooped up, my head has decided to have a migraine, too. So I tried working on an essay that is due this Thursday with the hope that it'd be finished well in advance. Naturally this won't happen--the words aren't coming as I stare back at the blank, wordless screen with contempt--as my brain never co-operates when I want it to. It works according to its own schedule, one which is unknown to me, of course.

The question I am attempting to answer in 2000 words is: "Consider the nature and function of the dream vision as a poetic device in The Book of the Duchess." So far I am thinking of focusing on elements of 'fantasy' in the poem, such as the microcosmic tale of Ceyx and Alcyone and the macrocosmic dream vision in relation to the sleepless narrator/dreamer. If I am not mistaken, Chaucer's dream visions tend to work in chronological fashion. Similarly I noticed that in the beginning, Chaucer's dream vision narrators have something on their mind, be it ailments or musings, that needs to be addressed. So the poem moves forward with intent to resolve this issue with "other" literature (usually classic tales, such as by Ovid, Virgil, or Chaucer's "contemporaries"), which is followed by an interlude recollection of the tale. In the case of this poem, the tale is apropos of the narrator's problem. He muses over the tale, usually wishing such fantastic closure for himself, followed by a mystical, fantastic occurence--an insomniac narrator falling asleep, a poet encountering a "fictional" creature, etc. Then the dream vision begins. Here the dreamer is lead across a fantastic/dream landscape laden with allegorical meaning. It is interesting that the dream is awakened by perfect, natural harmony of birdsong to behold two important tales (Virgil and the Romance of the Rose) on the glass inside a house with "white" (parallels later) walls, lead to an imperfect, human hunt for a "hert" (parallels later), then to a harmonious forest (no predators), and in the midst of this forest is a noble Black Knight best by excessive humours (melancholy or despair) after losing his courtly Lady (and herte) to death, whose name is Blanche (white in French). I've left out other important matters, but that's the gist of it.

Unless I am a fool, this poem is densely packed like a Shakespeare play. Nothing is unimportant. Everything has a purpose for being there.

NOTE: This post though jumbled as it is, has helped me find a better structure for organising my essay. I realize that the tale's actual dream vision must be the main subject for my close reading--I can incorporate parallels to earlier in the poem (narrator and the tale of Ceyx and Alcyone) to back up my theoretical stand point. My original plan was backwards, literally, I realize now. I have to start this essay in media res for it to work.