It is also noteworthy that several words which appear in their older form in the first version are modernised in the second (e. g. in the first line sythes becomes tymes), so that it is possible to see the language in actual process of development.
Chaucer’s last and greatest work, the Canterbury Tales, was begun in 1386—though as has been shown, certain isolated tales, or rough sketches for tales, were already in existence—and the composition continued till 1389, when it—like so many of his other poems—was left unfinished. A number of fugitive pieces and lyrics also date from about this time, as does the prose Treatise on the Astrolabe written for his little son, Lewis.
The popularity of Chaucer’s poetry is shown not only by repeated references to him as master and teacher, made by his immediate successors, but by the entire Chaucer apocrypha which soon sprang into being. Some genuine works of his—such as the Book of the Lion (this very probably was no more than a translation of Machault’s Le Dit du Lion), have been lost, but to make up for this a number of poems have been attributed to him, some of which were not written until years after his death. Subjoined is a list of the more important of these, with the names of the real authors in cases where scholars have succeeded in tracing them.
The Testament of Love. Thomas Usk (d. 1386).
La Belle Dame sans Merci. Sir R. Ros (fifteenth century).
The Cuckoo and the Nightingale (sometimes called The Book of Cupid God of Love). Sir Thomas Clanvowe.
The Flower and the Leaf; The Assembly of Ladies. Considered by some scholars to be the work of the same hand. Both purport to be written by a woman.
The Court of Love.
The Second Merchant’s Tale, or The Tale of Beryn (containing a preliminary account of the Pardoner’s adventures in Canterbury).
The Complaint of the Black Knight. Lydgate.