Portrait of Geoffrey Chaucer from the Welsh Portrait Collection at the National Library of Wales.
‘Go litel boke’ wrote Chaucer in the mid-1380s when he had finished his poem ‘Troilus and Criseyde’. ‘And I hope that you are understood,’ he added. I too hope that the 104 poems here are understood, but more than that I hope they are enjoyed.
Sending off these poems is like saying goodbye to your children when they leave home to make their way in the world. They must make the best they can of things.
So, in Chaucer’s words, I wish the poems well as they start out on their journey.
‘Go little book.’
