Your favorite dream vision?

Personally, mine is the Parliament of Fowles because 1) it's hilarious! I love the birds arguing with each other and the implied parody of Parliament, 2) it's bawdy (loved the bit about Priapus and his "sceptre") :D, 3) it's the most coherent, and 4) it commemorates Valentine's Day! How sweet is that?

I also think that it captures Chaucer's deep respect for God's created world, especially in his gorgeous descriptions of the trees and the birds. The garden has a very Edenic, prelapsarian aura to it with Nature, the catalogue of birds according to their rank, and their sensual joy in choosing their mates. The poem also brings up a number of theories about love, and how to choose one's spouse. Though some of the birds are written off as silly, I think all of their suggestions about the nature of love & marriage have validity.

Also, it's refreshing to see such sympathy for women in the poem. I really enjoyed the fact that the goddess Nature allows the formal eagle the agency to choose her own mate, and doesn't rush her into it. I think it shows that she not only trusts the formal's judgment, but also respects her intelligence to make a prudent decision for herself.

In comparison to Chaucer's other dream visions, PoF's narrator does the least. During both his visions, the dreamer is mostly an observer and does not noticeably change, though the point - supposedly - is to educate him. In both the other dream visions, the dreamer either learns a lesson (HoF) or helps another suffering individual come to a reconciliation (BoD). My professor doesn't agree with me and argues that one of the central themes of PoF is about the dreamer learning to "read" the world correctly, whereas I think the main message is to debate the nature of romantic love. Thoughts?

I also love that you can begin to see the influence of Dante on Chaucer in this poem. Granted, it becomes much more explicit in HoF, but I think you can begin to trace those subtle associations here.