"A suffisant Astrolabie": Childish Desire, Fatherly Affection, and English Devotion in The Treatise on the Astrolabe

This essay examines the affective motivations in Chaucer's prologue to his Treatise on the Astrolabe, dedicated to his young son, Lewis. It argues that Chaucer conceptualizes Lewis as a metonym for vernacular readers, projecting an imagined ideal of "Englishness" that coalesces around paternal love and technological learning. More broadly, this essay explores the ways Chaucerian children, including Lewis, embody the aspirational possibilities of vernacular community.