Geoffrey Chaucer 1343-1400

The Canterbury Tales

Created by Ms. Miller

Father of English poetrySpoke the Anglo-Norman composite called

Middle English (the ancestor of Modern English).One of the first to write in English (French was the spoken language of the time)Considered to be the greatest English writer

before Shakespeare. Most famous book:

The Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer

In part, its greatness lies in Chaucer’s language.

It also comes from the sheer strength of Chaucer’s spirit and personality.

“In a dark, troubled age, as it seems to us, he was a comfortable optimist, serene, full of

faith.” – John Gardner

What is so great about The Canterbury Tales?

At least once in their lifetime, people made a pilgrimage (religious journey) to the shrine of St. Thomas á Becket in the city of CanterburyBecket had been the archbishop of CanterburyHe was murdered in his own cathedral

Chaucer uses this idea of a pilgrimage to help form his frame story.

The time period

Chaucer’s most famous bookHe himself is a character in the book as a short,

plump, slightly foolish pilgrim who commands no great respect

This book was still unfinished when he diedType: FictionFormat: Collection of stories within a frame

story

The Canterbury Tales

Chaucer used several metrical forms and some prose in The Canterbury Tales, but the dominant meter is based on ten syllables, with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Iambic pentameterAt a stroke we have abandoned the old,

alliterative world of Anglo-Saxons and entered the modern world of Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and Robert Frost!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p226OX39OLs

The End of the Old Alliterative Anglo-Saxon World

What is Iambic Pentameter?Provide an example.

Quick Quiz

The Canterbury Tales gives us a collection of good stories and a snapshot, a picture of life in the Middle Ages frozen in time.

Chaucer places his characters on a pilgrimage, a religious journey made to a shrine of holy place.

Snapshot of an age

The tales begin with a general Prologue, the first lines of which establish that this pilgrimage takes place in the spring, the time of a new life and awakening.

Narrator: Poet-pilgrim, whom many consider to be Chaucer himself

Gather at Tabard Inn, there he meets twenty-nine other pilgrims also bound for Canterbury.

Setting up the frame

It is the host of the Tabard who suggests to the pilgrims, as they sit around the fire after dinner, that they exchange tales to pass the time along the way to Canterbury.

Frame Story- A story within a story. Chaucer uses the other story of the pilgrimage to unite his travelers; individual tales, but the tales themselves also have thematic unity.

Setting up the frame

AgilityEminentAccrueArbitrateBenignGuileObstinateFrugalDuress

Vocabulary Developmentpage 140

To create the portraits of his pilgrims, Chaucer uses the same methods of Characterization that writers still use today. He reveals his characters by telling us

How the character looks and dressesHow the character speaks and actsWhat the character speaks and actsWhat the character thinks and feels

How others respond to the characterHe also tells us directly what the character’s

nature is –virtuous, clever, and so on

Literary Focus: Characterization

With twenty-nine pilgrims to introduce in the Prologue, Chaucer could not develop any one character at great length. Instead, he had to provide a few well-chosen details that would make each character stand out vividly.

As you read the descriptions of each pilgrim in the Prologue, jot down striking details of dress, appearance, and behavior that give you an immediate impression of that character is really like.

Reading Skills

Narrator At the innIntroduces all the people taking part in

pilgrimage

Our Cast of Characters

Our Cast of CharactersKnightKind, chivalrous, just

back from war, good warrior

SquireKnight’s son, about

20, very artistic, very devoted to his father.

Yeoman• Servant, proper

Forrester, farmer• Wears weapons,

simply dressed• Yeoman: attendant,

servant, or lesser official in royal or noble household.

Flirts, speaks poor French (putting on Airs), not really classy (pretends to be)

Clean eater, fat, tender hearted

3 priests and another Nun are with her

Prioress: A nun in charge of a priory or ranking next below the abbess of an abbey

Our Cast of CharactersNun

Monk• Hunter, fat, likes to

eat• Indulgent, dainty

horses• Cares about money• Disregards his job and

rules

HubertDrinker, faker, liar,

flirt, beggarOxymoron (Devout

Friar)Coward (lily-livered)Limiter: Licensed to

beg within certain bounds, limited to a certain district

Our Cast of CharactersFriar

MerchantBoring, in debt,

poorly dressedPoor, student, moral,

philosopher, thinCleric: clergyman or

other person in religious orders.

Our Cast of CharactersOxford Cleric

Sergeant at the Law• Doesn’t think

much of him• Seems busier than

he is• Nosey

Self-indulgent, loves food and wine

Old, hospitableSheriff and in

ParliamentFranklin: person of

non-noble birth holding extensive property

Our Cast of CharactersFranklin

The GuildsmenSelf-indulgent, loves

food and wineOld, hospitableSheriff and in

ParliamentFranklin: person of non-

noble birth holding extensive property

• Lower class• Trying to act higher

class

Is good at his job With the sore on his

knee, he isn’t very sanitary which makes his food taste bad

Our Cast of CharactersThe Cook

Skipper• Sailor• Likes to drink• Ruthless, evil to

prisoners

Medicine based on Zodiac signs

Greedy, meds for unneeded things

Apothecary: one that prepares and sells drugs and other medicines (a pharmacist)

Our Cast of CharactersDoctor

The Wife of BathDeaf, well-dressed,

gap teeth, voluptuous, busy-body

Holy, poor, good priest, not judgmental, devoted, kind

Our Cast of CharactersParson

Plowman• Christian, hard

worker, kind• Will not take

money unless he has to

Muscular, strong, wart on nose, bar-fly

Steals grain, tells dirty stories, plays bag pipes

Our Cast of CharactersThe Miller

Manciple• Trading and money

managing• Illiterate but

intelligent• Easily makes fools

out of other manciples

• Works for college

Old, bad-tempered, thin

Does job well, steals from employer

Dishonest

Our Cast of CharactersThe Reeve

The Summoner• Summons people

to court• Face covered in

nasty sores, stinks because he eats onions and garlic, drunk

• One job is to track down adulterers

Sells pardons for church

Rat-tails, hair showsTrying to be better

than he isVoice like a goat,

bug eyes, feminine

Our Cast of CharactersThe Pardoner

The HostHappy, serves as the

guideProposes that they all

tell 4 stories2 on the way to shrine2 on the way backWinner gets feastWants to tell stories

to offer entertainment on trip

Our Cast of Characters