Separated by two centuries Geoffrey Chaucer and John Milton were two very different authors, who nonetheless reflected the lessons of classical myth and literature, as well as the more contemporary influence of Christianity. In his poem Ode on the Morning of Christs Nativity Milton uses allusions to classical figures such as Apollo, the Fates, Pan, and other mythical deities to juxtapose the emergence of Christ in both a religious and cultural context. Similarly, Geoffrey Chaucer in The Friars Tale from the Canterbury tales uses religion and classical imagery such as Dante Alligheris tales of hell and purgatory and Virgil to compliment and at times mock one another. While Chaucers use of mythical and classical imagery is more subtle, in both instances we can see how the influences of ancient and classical cultures and civilizations influenced not only the building of modern civilization but the foundations of literature.
Centered around the birth of Christ Ode on the Morning of Christs Nativity is a mixture of the divine and the ancient. There is no doubt that Milton wishes to impart the sacredness of Christs birth as a catalyst for humanity, That glorious form, that Light insufferable, And that far-beaming blaze of Majesty here with us to be, Forsook the courts of everlasting day, And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay. Humanity itself is base, becoming only divine through its relationship with God and his son. Milton prompts the Muse of classical myth to sing a praise to the birth of Christ, this event that acted not simply as a beginning for Christianity but also as an end for some more ancient forms of religion and culture. The Muse is not simply the Greek ideal of creativity but also Miltons own creativity. He is showing the convergence of two sides of himself, both the learned and the religious. More importantly, he uses this type of classical imagery to show a continuity of thought. While Christianity is certainly a divergence from the type of religion that created the idea of the Muse as a physical being, Milton is illustrating how the two can work within a complimentary manner, join thy voice unto the Angel quire.
In the hymn part of the poem there is almost a historical progression of beliefs and imagery Milton moves from imagery of nature to the more classical images of Greek and Roman mythology and legend. When Christ is born, he is greeted with a personification of nature herself, she is a being unto herself who had doffd her gaudy trim to greet the birth of this savior. Like the pagan belief in Nature as a living being, Milton plays on this imagery to show the move from one belief to another but also to show a unification between the two. God is Natures Master. However, even as Milton illustrates a unity between nature and God, he also condemns this personification as no longer in season To wanton with the sun, her lusty paramour. Nature is the baseness of human nature, in Miltons view she is not rebirth and life but rather the animal tendencies of humanity. The Sun receives equally harsh treatment. Perhaps indicative of the more ancient beliefs of Egypt, where the sun was the supreme god, in the light of Christianity this belief becomes diminished, As his inferior flame The new enlightend world no more should need He saw a greater Sun appear Than his bright throne, or burning axle tree could bear. The natural sun becomes a product of God as well. The world no longer revolves around the sun but both the sun and the earth revolve around the concept of God.
As much as Milton condemns some of the ancient religions and beliefs, utilizing their own imagery, he also employs it within the context of this new belief. In doing so he gives new life to some of the old beliefs. An excellent example of this is the use of the imagery in lines 133-150, where Milton uses the image of ideas such as mercy, justice, fate, truth and vanity which are commonplace in classical works. The underlining message of the poemhymn however, is pointedly clear as he switches once more to the use of classical imagery as a way to illustrate the decadence and falsity of the past while promoting the truth of Christianity. Turning his sharp tongue to Greece, Milton states, The Oracles are dumb No voice or hideous hum Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving. The lessons learned from the ancients and the great thinkers of the classical age become based in folly, their belief in such things as Oracles and great gods such as Apollo who from his shrine Can no more divine is made false by the birth of Christ and the rise of Christianity.
The Greeks are not the only ones to suffer this fate, as Christianity moves farther to the east great ancient kingdoms and their beliefs fall to the wayside with the influence of Christianity, Peor and Baalim Forsake their temples dim, with that twice batterd god of Palestine. What Milton primarily appears to be saying is not that these beliefs have died but have become irrelevant. A god who was once strong due to the belief of its followers will weaken and eventually disappear as people begin to forget. However, Milton himself in using the images and names of these ancient and classical deities and virtues is in effect keeping them alive. Language, as Milton shows, is the basis of belief. Without the stories, there is little to inspire belief. More importantly, without someone to pass the stories along the legend dies. In his discussion of the birth of Christ, Milton is molding these traditions to Christianity and Christ, even if it is only to show how they have become debunk in the face of a newer ideology.
Religion is as much culture as faith, finding its way into everyday understanding and logic. The practices of a people, the rise and fall of civilizations can be tied to the rise and fall of their beliefs. In comparing Christianity to Greek mythology or eastern religions, Milton may be pointedly marking their downfall but is also showing a kinship between the ideals of faith that hold all of their beliefs together. Based on these rules, Christianity could as easily find its downfall in the advent of another more powerful and pervasive basis of faith. But faith is the central tenet of this poem, because there is no doubt concerning Miltons own faith in Christianity and that Milton does not contemplate a similarity between his faith and those of the past shows how he believes it to be a culmination of understanding.
Chaucer, coming before Milton, saw religion in a more practical light. Seeing the abuses of the clergy and recognizing the hypocrisies that sometimes arise between faith and the practice of faith, his characters were based in human nature and not the divine. Perhaps having been chronologically closer to the older pagan religions of Britain, Geoffrey Chaucers The Friars Tale shows more of a pessimism towards Christianity and its ability to abide by its own values and beliefs. The summoner, working on behalf of the church, summoning those who owe debts or have created transgressions to come before the courts for judgment. This is the court of man and not of God, which Milton speaks of. Finding a kinship with the demon along the roadside, Chaucer exposes the hypocrisy of a man who supposedly works for the church but exploits his fellow man for his own benefits.
Unlike Milton, Chaucers use of the classical allusion is much more subtle. The conflict between good and evil, the eventual fable-like karma of the summoners demise is an old context but is not as specific as that presented by Milton. Instead of relying heavily on allusion like Milton, Chaucer brushes lightly against the history of thought and belief. At one point he makes reference to the great classical thinker Virgil, who takes Dante through the levels of hell in Aligheris Inferno, For you shall, of your own experience, In a red chair have much more evidence Than Virgil ever did while yet alive, Or ever Dante (Chaucer). A man such as the summoner would know the truths of Dantes hell more thoroughly and completely than the observing Dante and Virgil as they went down through the levels. In his misdeeds, in his inability to live up to the standards not simply of his own faith but of common decency, the summoner is eventually pulled into hell. Like Milton, Chaucer is providing a continuity in literature and in the idea of retribution. For his sins, the summoner does indeed suffer. The satirical nature of the piece lies in the summoners connections to the church which reveal Chaucers own pessimism and distrust.
Despite the varying degrees of use, the allusions to the past and to classical heroes and imagery effect the overall impact of both Milton and Chaucers work. In laying the ideas of the past beside the ideology and the human applications of religion and belief, both Milton and Chaucer show the continuance of knowledge. While Milton seems to want to trump the past, he also draws on it as a source for inspiration and his understanding of his faith in Christianity while Chaucer views the future within the context of the unchanging precepts of human behavior.
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