AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CANTERBURY TALES

Geoffrey Chaucer

EQ:

What is the role of a story teller, a scop, a bard?

Do writers have a responsibility to society?

GEOFFREY CHAUCER

1343?- 1400 Upper class citizen during Medieval

times Writing in Middle English (began in his

twenties) Heralded for his writing as the greatest

English poet Turn to page 96 to read more

NARRATIVE POETRY

Metered verse Tells a story Uses voice of the narrator An Epic poem is a type of narrative

poem

THE CANTERBURY TALES

Originally in Middle English Rhyme scheme – couplets Iambic pentameter (lines with ten

syllables in an unstressed/stressed pattern)

29 pilgrims travelling to Canterbury and the shrine of St. Thomas of Beckett.

Prologue

IMPORTANT TERMS TO REVIEW

Characterization Direct Indirect

Satire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8WIBv3erj8

Irony http://ed.ted.com/series/?series=the-writer-s-workshop

Verbal Situational Dramatic

IMPORTANT TERMS TO REVIEW

Understatement Hyperbole Tone