The reverdie is a form of poetry which found great popularity within the Late Medieval period found in many European lyrics and romances of the time. Perhaps one of the most well-known users of this form is Geoffrey Chaucer, the 14th-century writer of the unfinished story The Canterbury Tales, comprised of twenty-four tales. It tells of a group of pilgrims on their journey to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket to show their thanks for help during a period of illness. A reverdie leads the story for the first eighteen lines and lacks clear order or an ending throughout the rest of it.
Geoffrey uses a reverdie in a rather genius way, essentially turning the awakening and rebirth of spring into an explanation of the awakening of the pilgrims’ minds and hearts before they embark on their journey. The poem opens with very strong nature-based imagery, immediately alerting the reader to the fact that this is, indeed, a reverdie.
“Whan that April with his showres soote
The droughte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veine in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendered is the flower” (lines 1-4).
These first lines address the very beginning of spring, when April arrives with rain and life, nurturing the dry winter ground. This is the time of year when pilgrims want to venture out because Spring is a symbol of renewal, life, and virtue.
As the reverdie continues, the narrator explains how the wind and the rain are instilling life and energy into the plants and the earth. This is a perfect parallel to how the pilgrims in the tavern are awakening to the idea and excitement of the pilgrimage they are about to embark on. The narrator goes on to say:
That sleepen al the night with open ye
So priketh hem Nature in hir corages
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And palmeres for to seeken straunge strondes
To ferne halwes, couthe in sondry londes (Lines 10-14).
Nature has awakened in the pilgrims a joy and the energy that they need to get to their destination. In fact, they seem to be so excited and determined that they cannot sleep, as they “sleep with open eyes all the night”. This awakening of Spring has opened their hearts to the desire for their own awakenings, which they hope to achieve by making this voyage to Canterbury. The ending of this reverdie simply gives the location of where the pilgrims are and where they are going. The beautiful opening of spring has readied them and caused them to see the benefit of going on this journey.
Chaucer truly could not have chosen a better format of poetry to introduce this tale to us. A reverdie is the perfect embodiment of awakening and life, and therefore a perfect comparison to explain an internal human awakening. Spring also can be seen as almost holy, due to the gift of life instilled to man and nature by God, also making this reverdie a well thought out introduction to the idea of going on a pilgrimage.
