Self-rule (Motif)
Throughout “Truth,” Chaucer returns to self-rule as the most important objective in life. Unlike attempting to change others, it is achievable. Unlike seeking fame, power, and fortune, it makes one a better person. In both line 6 and line 13, he directly compares it to rule over others. Rather than entirely rejecting the premise of aristocratic power, he urges his audience to continue to value control, but to change its object from others to the self.
Broken Crockery (Symbol)
The broken crockery in line 12 symbolizes the self-destruction inherent to attempting to change an unchangeable world. The wall symbolizes society, which is fixed and immovable, despite one’s best efforts to change it. The crockery symbolizes Philip, who breaks himself in attempting to “strive with,” or fight against, the immovable wall of worldly society and its ills.
Truth as God (Allegory)
In the final line of each stanza, Chaucer personifies truth. Rather than a simple concept, it becomes an agent in the poem, capable of delivering Sir Philip from his misfortunes. Although not explicitly allegorical, truth here does stand in for God. In medieval thought, not only did the only real truth derive from God, but the ultimate truth was God himself. In this poem, then, the general concept of honesty stands in for the specific liberatory power of God, who is the true agent.
