PRESENTATION

ON
DEVELOPMENT OF PROSE DURING THE AGE
OF CHAUCER
2019 -2020

GUIDED BY SUBMITTED BY
MANJARI SINGH MAM GROUP ‘H’
DEPARTMENT OF MANJU, OMKUMARI,
ENGLISH ROSHANI, KHILENDRA,
MANISH, SOHAN
 Introduction of Prose
 Definition of Prose
 Origin of Prose
 Types of Prose
 Prose Writers
 Conclusion
 When identifying a piece of writing as prose, the
piece should be written in a typical,
straightforward manner.
 It will follow grammatical structures rather than a
meter or verse pattern.
 Prose is a form of language that has no formal
metrical structure. It applies a natural flow of
speech, and ordinary grammatical structure,
rather than rhythmic structure.
 The English prose had its beginning in
Chaucer’s age.
 Due to the ripening of English language, the
prose could now be experimented.
 There are experimental works like Thomas
Mallory’s King Arthur.
 The Biblical translation of John Wycliffe is an
example of it.
 Fictional Prose (Includes Novels, Short stories)
 Non-fictional Prose (Includes Biographies,
Autobiographies, Essays, Journals)
 Heroic Prose (Includes Legends, Tales)
 Poetry Prose ( Poetry written in prose instead of
using verse but maintaining poetic qualities)
1. John of Trevisa
 Born- 1342 in Trevessa
 Death- 1402 at Cornwall
 Education- Queen's College, Oxford
 Profession- Priest, Writer and Translator
 Writing style- Awkward, sentences long, tortuous,
and difficult to understand.
 Works-
◦ Higden's Polychronicon
◦ On the Properties of Things
◦ Defensio Curatorum
◦ The Dialogue between a Lord and a Clerk
2.Sir John Mandeville
 Born- St. Albans, England
 Profession- Traveler
 Traveling- 1322-1356
 Writing style- Sweet, Colloquial and Clear
 Work- The Travels of Sir John Mandeville
 Importance of his work-
1. It throws light on credulity of the age.
2. Its was written for entertainment, not for moral
edification.
3. His work are clear and was written in simple
language.
4. He began sentences with ‘And’.
5. Sentences are short and well constructed.
6. Every sentence makes an appeal to the reader’s
romantic imagination.
3. John Wycliffe
 Born:- 1330, Hipswell, United Kingdom
 Died:-1384, Lutterworth, United Kingdom
 Influenced by:- William of Ockham, Geoffrey
Chaucer, Roger Bacon
 Education:- Balliol College and The Queen's
College, Oxford
 The Morning Star of the English Reformation
 Lollard Movement
 Works-
◦ Translation of ‘Bible’
◦ Responsio (1377)
◦ On the Church (1378)
◦ On the Truthfulness of Holy Scripture (1378)
◦ On the Pastoral Office (1378)
◦ Objections to Friars (1380)
 The prose of 14th century consists mostly of
translation from Latin and French. Mandeville’s
travels descriptions inspired many European
travelers like Christopher Columbus and François
Bernier. After translation of the ‘Bible’ into
English, People started movement against
corruption in the Church called the Lollard
Movement. Now at that time, People were able to
read the sacred knowledge of the Bible.