Transcript The Canterbury Tales (1387

The Canterbury Tales
(1387-1400)
by Geoffrey Chaucer
GEOFFERY CHAUCER
Geoffrey Chaucer
(1340?-1400)
• An English author, poet,
philosopher, bureaucrat,
courtier and diploma
• One of the greatest
narrative poet of English
• Father of the English
poetry, who made a crucial
contribution to English
literature in using English
at a time when much court
poetry was still written in
Anglo-Norman or Latin.
Course of Chaucer’s Life
• In 1357, he served as a page
to Elizabeth, Countess of
Ulster, from which he learned
the ways of court and the
use of arms.
• In 1359–1360 he was with the
army of Edward III in France,
where he was captured by
the French but ransomed.
• In 1373 Chaucer traveled to
Picardy as part of a military
expedition, and visited
Genoa and Florence.
• In 1378, Richard II sent Chaucer as
an envoy dispatch to the Visconti
and to Sir John Hawkwood, English
condottiere in Milan.
• From 1374 on he held a number of
official positions, among them
comptroller of customs on furs,
skins, and hides for the port of
London (1374–1386) and clerk of the
king's works (1389–1391).
• Chaucer dead on Oct. 25, 1400. He
was buried in Westminster Abbey
(an honor for a commoner), in what
has since become the Poets' Corner.
• The first period includes his
early work (to 1370), which is
based largely on French
models.
• The second period (up to
c.1387) is called his Italian
period.
• The final period, in which he
achieved his fullest artistic
power, belongs his
masterpiece, The Canterbury
Tales (written mostly after
1387).
The Canterbury Tales
-----one of the most famous works in all literature----
General Prologue [slide Ⅰ]
----outline of the story
• on a spring evening, the poet drops in the Tabard Inn,
where he meets 29 other pilgrims all ready for a journey
of 60 miles to Canterbury.
•
Because of the long and tedious journey, the host of
the Inn suggests that they should color the journey by
telling stories. And the best story-teller should be treated
with a fine meal at the cost of all the rest.
•
The pilgrims are 30 in all including the poet.
Therefore according to the plan, there should have been
120 stories altogether. But only 24 tales were written due
to the author’s death in 1400.
General Prologue [slide Ⅱ]
However, incomplete as these stories are,
they cover practically the whole major literary
genres in medieval Europe,such as:
chivalric,
folk tales,
legends,
legendary epic sagas,
beast fables,
mythology,
moral allegories, etc.
Function of General Prologue
1. Present a vivid collection of character sketches.
2. Reveal the author’ s intention in bringing
together a great variety of people and narrative
material together.
3. Set the tone for the story-telling:
• grateful acceptance of life;
• make clear the plan for the tales;
• motivate the telling of several tales;
• introduce the pilgrims, the time and occasion
of the pilgrimage.
Features of The Canterbury Tales
• It covers a wide range of characters from
nearly every walk of life—from the top of
society to the bottom in the England of that
.
time.
Three Basic “Classes”
The Fighting / Noble class:
knight
squire
Etc.
The Praying / Church
class:
monk
prioress
Etc.
The Working class:
merchant
haberdasher
carpenter
weaver
tapestry-maker
franklin
miller
Etc.
Sources
No other work prior to Chaucer's is
known to have set a collection of
tales within the framework of pilgrims
on a pilgrimage. However,Chaucer
borrowed portions of his stories from
earlier stories, and his work was
influenced by the general state of the
literary world in which he lived.
Storytelling was the main
entertainment in England at the time,
and storytelling contests had been
around for hundreds of years. The
winner received a crown and, as with
the winner of the Canterbury Tales, a
free dinner.
Source [continued] and Style:
Framing Device
•In Italy, Chaucer met writer Giovanni
Boccaccio, and it is believed Chaucer got
his inspiration for the Canterbury Tales
from Bocaccio’s Decameron.
•Both use a framing device within the tales.
Chaucer’s frame is a religious pilgrimage
during which each traveler is to tell two
tales going and two tales upon his or her
return.
Genre and Structure
• Canterbury Tales falls into the same category or genre
as many other works of its day as a collection of stories
organized into a frame narrative or frame tale. Chaucer's
Tales differed from other stories in this genre chiefly in
its intense variation. Most story collections focused on a
theme, usually a religious one. Even in the Decameron,
storytellers are encouraged to stick to the theme decided
on for the day. The idea of a pilgrimage appears to have
been a useful device to get such a diverse collection of
people together for literary purposes, and was also
unprecedented.
Style: Historical context and themes
• The time of the writing of The Canterbury
Tales was a turbulent time in English
history. The Catholic Church was in the
midst of the Great Schism and, though it
was still the only Christian authority in
Europe, was the subject of heavy
controversy. An early English religious
movement led by John, is mentioned in
the Tales, as is a specific incident
involving pardoners (who gathered money
in exchange for absolution from sin) who
claimed to be collecting for hospital in
England. The Canterbury Tales is among
the first English literary works to mention
paper, a relatively new invention which
allowed dissemination of the written word
never before seen in England.
Style: Religion
• The Tales reflect much of the
religious world of Chaucer's time.
After the Black Death, many
Europeans had begun to question the
authority of the Catholic Church in
various ways. Some chose less
extreme paths, starting new monastic
orders or smaller movements
exposing church corruption in the
behavior of the clergy, false church
relics or sale of indulgences
(payment for forgiveness of sins).
Several characters in the Tales are
religious figures, and the very nature
of the pilgrimage to Canterbury is
deeply religious, making this a
outstanding theme of the work.
Style: Social class and convention
• The Tales constantly reflect the conflict between
classes. Most of the tales are interlinked by common
themes, and some "quit" (reply to or retaliate against)
other tales. Convention is followed when the Knight
begins the game with a tale, as he represents the
highest social class in the group. But when he is
followed by the Miller, who represents a lower class, it
sets the stage for the Tales to reflect both a respect for
and a disregard for upper class rules.
The social significance
• Chaucer gives us a true-to-life picture of the society of his
time. He affirms man and opposes the dogma of
asceticism preached by the church.
• As a forerunner of humanism, he praises man’s energy,
intellect, wit and love of life. His tales expose and satirize
the evils of his time.
Length of Trip, Condition of
Road, and Safety
• In Chaucer's day, a leisurely journey to
Canterbury on horseback probably took three to
five days, with stops at inns along the way. April
rains probably made the dirt road connecting
Southwark and Canterbury muddy in spots with
water pooling in holes and ruts. Robbers were a
constant danger on rural roads. However, armed
pilgrims traveling in a large group, like those in
The Canterbury Tales, probably were safe from
marauders.
The Martyr: Thomas à Becket
• Thomas Becket (also known as Saint Thomas of
Canterbury, Thomas of London,and later
Thomas à Becket; circa 1118 – 29 December
1170) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162
until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a
saint and martyr by both the Catholic Church. He
engaged in conflict with Henry II of England over
the rights and privileges of the Church and was
murdered by followers of the king in Canterbury
Cathedral. Soon after his death, he was
canonized by Pope Alexander III.
Contribution by the author
Chaucer’s poetry is plainly
narrative. Everything is based
on reality.Chaucer’s
language ,now called Middle
English,is vivid and exact. He is
a master of word –pictures. His
verse is among the smoothest
in English. Hardly a single word
will offer difficulties to a man of
sufficient reading in modern
English. Repetition with
variation is redundant .
•
Chaucer’s contribution
to English poetry lies
chiefly to the fact that
he introduced from
France the rhymed
stanzas of various
types, especially the
rhymed couplet of
iambic pentameter
(which would later be
called later the “heroic
couplet”) to English
poetry, instead of the
old Anglo-Saxon
alliterative verse.