Medieval Body Language: A Study of the Use of Gesture in Chaucer’s Poetry. Anglistica XXI by Robert G. Benson (review)

STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER ROBERT G. BENSON, Medieval Body Language: A Study ofthe Use ofGesture in Chaucer's Poetry. Anglistica XXI. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger, 1980. Pp. 170. D. kr. 118. Benson starts from the beliefthat "Chaucer's use ofgesture in his best poetry is the most successful and artistically sophisticated employment ofthat device in English poetry before 1500" (p. 9), and is keen to see the contribution of gesture to many distinctive effects of Chaucer's poetry. After an introductory chapter, there follow three chapters, on the early poems, on some ofthe tales-especiallySumT-and on Troilus. The last third of the book is taken up by a catalogue ofgestures as discerned by Benson in Chaucer's works and quoted in full. There are many points and insights ofinterest; the main failings ofthe study seem to me to be ones of definition and of the literary interpreta­ tion of Chaucer's use of gesture. Benson is concerned to make a very inclusive definition of gesture: he wants to see all expressive actions as gesture, rather than retaining Habicht's definition of "all physical motions or positions ofthe body which have a meaning but do not serve a practical purpose." Moreover, Benson does not quite seem to resolve what he thinks the literary nature of gesture may be: he makes firm distinctions between what he thinks of as conventional, stylized, and ceremonial gesture, and gesture which is dramatic, individualizing, and realistic, and contributes to characterization. Benson sensibly declares that he is not suggesting that Chaucer moved from an acceptance of stylized and traditional gesture towards a more naturalistic use, and that both conventional and realistic gestures were used when appropriate in Chaucer's later works. However, Benson's discussion does suggest that Chaucer's most successful use ofgesture is in the delineation ofcharacter and realistic action. Character-development and the intrinsic appeal of colloquialism are taken as values and centres of interest in our reading against which success in use of gesture is judged. (Thus, the colloquial style and realistic, spontaneous gestures of the fabliaux are seen in association.) Gathering effectiveness in use ofgesture is matched with a growing power in the use of colloquial speech and evocation of indi­ vidual character in Benson's view of Chaucer's works. In Benson's account some ofthe minor poems are accordingly marked by gesture which is 'decorative' rather than working for that revelation of character which he sees as its optimal literary function. Because conven144 REVIEWS tional gesture tends towards generalization, even metaphorical expres­ sion, rather than individualization, it will seem static and ornamental to a reader looking forgestures which produce action or delineate character. The dream poems and LGW are thus disappointing for gesture, if gesture's role is seen in such terms, and although Benson has interesting points on these poems he does not acknowledge the very positive significance that can be attached to the stylized and traditional in them. However, in discussing the Tales Benson makes some good points on the value of calmness and stillness in tales as distinct as SNT, CIT, and KnT. The study concludes with a reading of some tales and Troilus, where most kinds of physical action and movement of the characters, although directly necessitated by the action, are considered as gesture ("The development that is evident is in the direction of what I would call organic gesture," p. 59), and sometimes the study risks becoming a synopsis of Chaucer's narratives. Not everybody will be able to follow Benson's inclusive idea of gesture here: he is examining the narratives from the viewpoint of modern 'body-language,' a less distinct and more psychological concept than traditional notions of gesture as certain acknowledged and definite physical signs, reactions, and movements. Despite some references Benson does not include extended compari­ son of Chaucer's writings with their sources where known, and this might have provided a necessary way of defining the nature of Chaucer's own innovation in gesture, and the ways in which Chaucer is often very much more formal and stylized-by his own positive choice-than might have been supposed. In a text like Troilus there is a blend of...