GEOFFREY CHAUCER

The Canterbury Tales

 EARLY LIFE
 1342/3-1400
 Born to a middle class family
 His father was a wine merchant who
believed his child should have a formal
education
 Odd jobs = page, courtier, diplomat, civil
servant, scrap metal collector
 Travelled all over Europe
 LATER LIFE
 Fluent in English, Italian, Latin, and
French
 Worked as a government official under
three different kings = high social status
 Was captured as a POW during the
Hundred Year’s War  King paid his
ransom
 Died of unknown causes – murder
suspected
 Chaucer was one of the first writers to be
buried in the Poets’ Corner in
Westminster Abbey.
 WRITING STYLES
 the father of English poetry
 Most scholars still wrote in Latin
Felt English lacked sophistication and had a limited
vocabulary
Only local stories and ballads written in English
 He wrote in the vernacular or language of the commoners
Now known as Middle English
 Allegory:
A story in which the character, settings, and events stand for
abstract or moral concepts.
It has a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.
Popular in the Middle Ages.
 Satire: a way of criticizing something such as a group of
people or a system, in which the writer deliberately make
them seem funny so that people will see their faults.
 Rhythmic pattern: he introduced the iambic pentameter.
 Lack of alliteration
 Best known for writing The Canterbury Tales, but also
produced several other works
 CHAUCER’S MAIN WORKS
 During the French period he wrote poems modelled on
French romance styles and subjects like:
The Romaunt of the Rose (before 1373), which introduces the
reader into medieval court behaviour in relation to courtly love;
The Boke of the Duchesse (ca. 1369), a personal elegy in which the
knight in black tells of his grief for the loss of his wife and this
grief is then made the universal grief of all men for the death of
all young, good wives.
 During the Italian period he wrote
The Parliament of Foules (ca. 1380) which introduces the
reader into one of the most popular genres of medieval
literature, the Bird and the Beast Fable.
The House of Fame (ca. 1383), a masterpiece of comic
fantasy dealing with the contemplation of the vanity of
human wishes.
The Legende of Good Women (ca. 1385) which is about the
unhappy fate of women who suffered in the cause of love.
Troylus and Criseyde (ca. 1380-5), a long poem adapted from
Boccaccio which reveals a subtle psychological insight into the
development of characters.
 THE CANTERBURY TALES

 Although the work was never completed, The Canterbury

Tales is considered one of the greatest works in the
English language
 The narrator meets 29 pilgrims at the Tabard Inn in
London and travels with them to the shrine of St.Thomas
Becket in Canterbury. The host of the inn suggests that
each pilgrim should tell two stories while going to
Canterbury and two on the way back: whoever can tell
the best tale wins a dinner at the inn when they get back,
courtesy of the other travelers.
o While the genre of the Canterbury Tales as a whole is a
"frame narrative," the General Prologue to
the Canterbury Tales is an example of "Estates
Satire," a genre which satirizes the abuses that occur
within the three traditional Estates (in particular, the
Clergy).
 THE CANTERBURY TALES
 Feudal society was traditionally divided into three
"estates" (roughly equivalent to social classes).
 The "First Estate" was the Church (clergy = those
who prayed).
 The "Second Estate" was the Nobility (those who
fought = knights). It was common for aristocrats to
enter the Church and thus shift from the second to
the first estate.
 The "Third Estate" was the Peasantry (everyone
else, at least under feudalism: those who produced the
food which supported those who prayed and those
who fought, the members of the First and Second
Estates).
 Begun: 1386
 Planned: 120 tales
 Completed: 22 and 2 fragments
 CHARACTERS
 Narrator (“Chaucer”)  Franklin = L’Allodoliere
 Host = L’Oste  Guildsmen = Gli uomini della Gilda
 Knight = Il Cavaliere  Cook = Il Cuoco
 Squire = Lo Scudiero  Shipman = Il Marinaio
 Yeoman = Il piccolo  Physician = Il Medico
proprietario terriero  Wife of Bath = La signora di Bath
 Prioress = La Madre Priora  Parson = Il Parroco
 Second Nun = La seconda  Plowman = L’Aratore
suora
 Manciple = L’Economo
 Three Priests = Tre preti
 Reeve = Il Fattore
 Monk = il Monaco
 Miller = Il Mugnaio
 Friar = il Frate
 Summoner = L’ Apparitore o cursore
 Merchant = il Mercante
 Pardoner = L’Indulgenziere
 Clerk = il Chierico
 Man of Law = L’uomo di
legge
GEOFFREY CHAUCER
(C. 1343-1400)
 Died of unknown causes
– murder suspected.
 Chaucer was one of the
first writers to be buried
in the Poets’ Corner in
Westminster Abbey.
WRITING STYLE
 Allegory:
A story in which the character, settings, and events stand
for abstract or moral concepts.
It has a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.
Popular in the Middle Ages.
 Satire:witty language used to convey insult
 Rhythmic pattern

 Lack of alliteration

 Best known for writing The Canterbury Tales,

but also had several other works as well.
GEOFFREY CHAUCER AND
THE CANTERBURY TALES
 Wrote around 1385 A.D.
 Planned many more tales, but did not complete
the proposed amount before his death.
 Wrote about all classes in The Canterbury Tales
to give us a glimpse of English society at the
time.
GEOFFREY CHAUCER AND
THE CANTERBURY TALES
Canterbury Tales can be considered
“estates satire”.
Three “Estates” in European feudal
society.
Peasants work (agricultural labor)
Clergy pray
Nobles fight (and rule)
 Planned:120 tales
 Completed: 22 and 2 fragments
THE MIDDLE AGES
BACKGROUND
Hierarchy – Class
Structure During Nobility/Ruling Class
Chaucer’s Time - Knight and Squire

Clergy - Monk,
Friar, Prioress,
Parson, Summoner,
Pardoner
Middle Class –
Merchant, Doctor,
Student, Wife of Bath
Peasants –
Miller, Plowman,
Skipper
KNIGHT’S CODE OF CHIVALRY
A knight must be:
true to his God and a
defender of the faith.
true and loyal to his
lord and king.
true to his lady.
humble and modest in
daily actions.
brave and fierce in
war and adversity.
CODE OF THE CLERGY
A member of the clergy must:
be chaste and pure.
be devoted to God.
obey God and Biblical law.
take vows of poverty.
achieve heavenly reward
through earthly denial.
SEVEN DEADLY SINS
 Gluttony

 Avarice / Greed
 Sloth

 Lust

 Vanity

 Pride

 Anger
MORAL VIRTUES (OPPOSITE OF SINS)
 Moderation

 Generosity

 Diligence

 Love

 Modesty

 Humility

 Forgiveness
CHAUCER’S CANTERBURY TALES

Takes representatives of English

society on a pilgrimage to
Canterbury Cathedral.
Pilgrims—each has speech and
tale that matches a real person
during his (Chaucer’s) time.
CHAUCER’S CANTERBURY TALES
(CONT.)
 30characters representing all social
classes.
Chaucer, as a parody of himself, is one of the
pilgrims.
Although fictional, does have realistic settings and
occupations.
 Tabard Inn
Canterbury & Canterbury Cathedral


Shrine of Thomas Becket

 Chaucer’s tone: IRONIC

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
 The Hundred Years’ War  Awakening of national
 The 1381 Peasant consciousness
Uprising  People’s hatred for the
corrupt church and
nobles—John Wycliff
and William Langland

Edward III, watercolour, 15th

century; in the British Library
(Cotton MS. Julius E. IV)
HIS CONTEMPORARIES
 John Wycliff (1324?-  William
1384) Langland(1330?-1400?)
Translation of the The Vision of Piers
Bible into Standard Plowman (an allegory)
English(--Father of
English Prose)
Pamphlets in Latin
against abuse of power
John of
England,
 Sir Gawain and the
from an
Green Knight
early 14th-
century
illumination
.
ALLEGORY
 Anallegory is a story or description in which
the characters and events symbolize some
deeper underlying meaning, and serve to
spread moral teaching.
THE PROLOGUE
 Heroic couplet
 Caesura

 Description

 Humour
HEROIC COUPLET
 It comprises rhymed decasyllables, nearly always
in iambic pentameters rhymed in pairs: one of
the commonest metrical forms in English poetry
but of uncertain origin. –Cuddon, J.A., A
Dictionary of Literary Terms, p.299
NAMES OF FEET
Name of Name of Meas  Trochee trips from long to
Foot Meter ure short;
From long to long in solemn
Iamb Iambic ×/
sort
Trochee Trochaic /× Slow Spondee stalks;
strong foot yet ill able
Anapest Anapestic ×× / Ever to come up with
Dactylic trisyllable.
Dactyl Dactylic / ×× Iambics march from short
to long -
Spondee Spondaic // With a leap and a bound
the swift Anapests throng.
Pyrrhic Pyrrhic ××  —Samuel Taylor Coleridge
NAMES OF THE LINES
Length Name
one foot Monometer
two feet Dimeter
three feet Trimeter
four feet Tetrameter
five feet Pentameter
six feet Hexameter
seven feet Heptameter
eight feet Octameter
THE CANTERBURY TALES
 Itgives a comprehensive
picture of Chaucer’s time;
 The dramatic structure of
the poem has been highly
commended by critics;
 Chaucer’s
Chaucer s apt use of
humor, “the smyler with
the knyf under the cloke”;
 Chaucer proved that the
English language is a Crypt, Canterbury
beautiful language and Cathedral (12th century),
can be easily handled in England.
writing poetry.
 Chaucer’s World and
Time
Edward Ⅲ
Three Kings: Richard Ⅱ
Henry Ⅳ
1. a long ,continuing war
Dangerous
against France
Time
2. disagreements between the
English King and the Pope

3. The “Black Death” or

Plague (infection)
 The most famous pilgrimage in
England

to Canterbury
Thomas Becket, who had been
Why?
murdered in Canterbury
Cathedral,could help the sick and
answer prayers

1.Became pilgrims for authentic

Some
religious reasons
people
2.Treated it as a holiday
 The Difference between
Medieval and Modern Literature

Whan that Aprille with his shoures sote

The droghte os March hath perced to the rote…
Than longen folk to go on pilgrimages

When……….. With its sweet showers

replaces the dry period of……. Then
people desire to go on……….
Written sometime in the 1380s, The Canterbury
Tales -- the first selection of short stories in
English -- is about a group of pilgrims who agree
to tell stories while they travel together to
Canterbury, the seat of the English Church (still
Catholic) and the site of the shrine dedicated to
Thomas a Beckett, who was martyred for his faith.
The language of Chaucer -- Middle English -- is
closer to Old English, the language of the Anglo-
Anglo-
Saxons, and Norman French, the language of
William the Conqueror (invasion, 1066).
The idea of a frame story (story within a story)
comes from a long tradition: The Arabian Nights
and The Decameron. Chaucer read The Decameron
when he visited Italy.
Originally, he proposed 124 stories; he actually
wrote 24.
LITERATURE FROM THIS UNIT
 The Canterbury Tales
 By Geoffrey Chaucer
“Father of English Poetry”
First author to write in English (Middle
English) [previously Latin]
Educated
Government official – work took precedence
over writing
Worked on Canterbury Tales for 22 years;
never finished
FEUDALISM
 Caste system (social class)
 Military system

 Property system

 System of social behavior

 Top of the Ladder: William the Conqueror

Barons, vassals, lower vassals, landless
knights, serfs
CITY CLASSES
 Eventually many people left the country and
moved to the cities
 City classes not defined by the feudal system
Upper, middle, lower
Middle class = merchant class who could afford what
they wanted
KNIGHTHOOD AND CHIVALRY
 Chivalry was a system of ideals that governed
knights
Loyalty to overlord
Rules of warfare
Adoration of a lady
CRUSADES & HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR
 Crusades:  Hundred Years’ War
Series of religious wars
to spread Christianity
throughout Europe
Struggle against
Muslims
Ultimately a failure
Europe benefited from
contact with higher
civilization of Middle
East
Battles between
England and France
Lasted over 100 years
(1337-1453)
Feud stemming from
Norman Invasion
Militarily unsuccessful
for Britain; did
increase sense of
nationalism
BLACK DEATH
 Highly contagious plague
 Spread through cities from fleas of
infested rats
 Killed 1/3 of people in England

 Gave more power to people in lower

classes
Caused labor shortage
Lower class workers willing to work could
negotiate wages and working conditions
London
BUT WHY GO TO CANTERBURY?
ONE ANSWER: RELIGION
 Canterbury has always been an
important religious center in
England.
 St. Augustine (seen in stained
glass from the Canterbury
Cathedral) was sent by Pope
Gregory the Great to establish the
Catholic faith in the country
 Religion played an important
part in medieval life.
WHY WAS RELIGION IMPORTANT?

 It’s the Middle Ages

Plague
Warfare
High Infant Mortality Rate
Short Life Expectancy
…and if you were a peasant, you lived your whole life in harsh
conditions
 About the best thing that you had to look forward to was
dying and going to heaven
BECKET WAS A TRUSTED ADVISER AND FRIEND OF
KING HENRY II. HENRY NAMED BECKET
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.
ARCHBISHOP
 A bishop is someone  An archbishop is a bishop of
higher rank.
who supervises a  The Archbishop of
number of local Canterbury is the senior
bishop and principal
churches. leader of the Church of
England, the symbolic head
of the worldwide Anglican
Communion and the
diocesan bishop of the
Diocese of Canterbury.
 The current archbishop is
Justin Welby. He is the
105th in a line which goes
back more than 1400 years
to Augustine of Canterbury,
the "Apostle to the English",
in the year 597.
BECKET’S OUTSPOKEN
STYLE ANGERED THE
KING. ONE DAY, HENRY
COMPLAINED, “WILL NO
ONE RID ME OF THIS
MEDDLESOME PRIEST?”
THREE KNIGHTS RODE
TO CANTERBURY WHERE
THEY FOUND BECKET AT
THE ALTAR OF
CANTERBURY
CATHEDRAL.
BECKET WAS MURDERED AT THE
ALTAR.
THE DEATH OF
BECKET ANGERED
THE PEASANTS WHO
FELT HIS SAXON
HERITAGE MADE HIM
ONE OF THEM.
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL BECAME A SITE FOR
PILGRIMS TO OFFER PRAYERS TO ST. THOMAS.
 Three Main Estates or Social Classes
in
The Canterbury Tales
•"First Estate" was the Church (clergy = those who prayed).

•“Second Estate" was the Nobility (those who fought = knights).

•"Third Estate" was the Peasantry (everyone else; those who

produced the food which supported those who prayed and those
who fought, the members of the First and Second Estates).
Women were also separated into different
“classes” within their social class:
Virgin
Wife
Widow