The Tale of Sir Thopas

Heere bigynneth Chaucers Tale of Thopas

And made grace woo

Character of Sir Thopas• He grew to be a very

strong young man.• His hair and beard were

saffron yellow and hung down to his waist, his shoes were of the finest Spanish leather and his clothes were worth a for-tune.

• He could stalk a deer, go hunting by the river with a grey goshawk, and was a very good archer.

Prologue of sir Thopas • Genre: The prologue continues the hoost’s role

as tale-instigator, calling upon bashful pilgrims to undertake their "behest"; the tale is a tail-rhyme romance, but parodically exaggerated un-til the genre's worst faults destroy it.

• Source: thank heavens for English literature there is no "source" for this tale.  There are many analogues" ,

some rather pleasant.  According to Loomis, Guy of Warwick, Bevis of Hampton, Lybeaus De-sconus, Sir Launfal, Perceval of Gales, Sir Eglam-our, and Thomas of Erceldoune contain the clos-est verbal parallels.

Summary of sir thopas• Sir Thopas, is hardly a tale at all. It starts

out, in the language and format of a min-strel romance.

• To recount the adventures of a paragon of knighthood, who wishes to fall in love with a fairy queen but is rebuffed by a giant.

• Once back home, Thopas tells his "merry men" that he needs to be well fed and prepared to go back and fight the giant, who has now acquired two extra heads

Summary of sir thopas • how brave Sir Thopas is, as he sets

forth on his second ride to meet the giant, that the Host steps in and stops him from telling any more. Pre-sumably Harry could not stand the prospect of any more of those wretched flowers and birds.

Impressive syntax of sir thopas

• "I will truly love an elf-queen, for in this world is no woman worthy to be my mate; I renounce all other women, and I will take myself over dale and hill to an elf-queen.“

• "As I hope for bliss, tomorrow I will meet you when I am in armor. And I hope, by my faith, you shall yet very bitterly pay for it by this lance's point. I will thrust through your maw, I trust, before prime of day; and here shall you be slain."

Impressive syntax of sir thopas

• His merry men he told to make glee and jollity, for he must fight a giant with three heads; all for the love and joy of one who shines fair.

Writer of sir thopas• Geoffrey Chaucer(pronounced

c. 1343 – 25 October 1400) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat. Although he wrote many works, he is best remembered for his unfin-ished frame narrative The Can-terbury Tales. Sometimes called the father of English literature, Chaucer is credited by some scholars as the first author to demonstrate the artistic legiti-macy of the vernacular English language, rather than French or Latin.

Question to thopas• When the Host looks at Geoffrey, what

does he have trouble remembering? • Describe Geoffrey's demeanor as the Host

phrases it. • What similarity does Geoffrey have physi-

cally with the Host? • How is Harry's description of Geoffrey's

"countenance" likely an inspiration for the themes of "Sir Thopas?"

• What sort of tale does Harry want Geoffrey to tell?

• http://www.umm.maine.edu/faculty/necastro/chaucer/translation/ct/18thop.html

• http://faculty.goucher.edu/eng330/Wilton%20diptych.jpg

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