GGFF II – 1.

Medieval
literature

Middle English
Literature
The C anterbury
Tales
(1387-1400)

GGFF II – 1. Medieval
literature
Middle English
Literature

GGFF II – 1. Medieval
literature
 Middle English
Period
Medieval soc iety: three
“estates”
• The nobility
• The Churc h
• The Commoners
Also: A growing and prosperous middle c lass was
beginning to play important roles in church and
state.

GGFF II – 1. Medieval
literature
 Geoffrey
Chaucer
1343-1400

• Chauc er’s father was a

wine merc hant in London

• Chauc er worked as a
page

• He eventually became a
civil servant:
 Diplomatic missions

 Travelling around Europe

and Italy

GGFF II – 1. Medieval
literature
 Chaucer in
Italy
Literary influences: Chaucer’s Works:
o Troilus and Criseyede
– Dante
o The C anterbury Tales
– Petrarch
o Consolation of Philosophy
– Boccaccio (a translation from Boethius’s work, written in
Latin)

GGFF II – 1. Medieval
literature
 The Canterbury
Tales
30 pilgrims  Each tells 2 tales om the road
to Canterbury & 2 on the way bac k to
London.

120 tales  Only 24 were found

Variety of pilgrims & narrative

genres:

- Sec ular & religious, high & loq

- Courtly romanc es, c omic

GGFF II – 1. Medieval
tales, satires, etc. literature
 Why are they so
relevant?
• The Canterbury Tales turned vernacular English into popular
literature.
 They are written in the London dialect of M.E.
 Chauc er’s contemporaries were using French and Latin.

• It is the first work that comprises the tales of pilgrims on a

pilgrimage.

 Influenced by Boccaccio’s Decameron

GGFF II – 1. Medieval
literature
The Canterbury
Tales

The General Prologue

GGFF II – 1. Medieval
literature
 The Canterbury
Tales
Original version in
M.E.
WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of M arc he hath perc ed to
the
roote, And bathed every veyne in swich
licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete
breeth Inspired hath in every holt
and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge
sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe c o urs y-
ronne, And smale fowles maken
melodye, Tha t slepen al the night
with open ye, (So priketh hem
nature in hir co rages:
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
And palmers for to seken straunge strondes,
To ferne halwes, couthe in sondry
londes; And spec ially, from every
shires ende
Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they
wende, The holy blisful martir for to
seke,
Adapted
version
When in April the sweet showers fall
That pierce M arch's drought to the root and all
And bathed every vein in liquor that has
power To generate therein and sire the
flower;
When Zephyr also has with his sweet breath,
Filled again, in every holt and heath,
The tender shoots and leaves, and the young
sun His half-co urse in the sign of the Ram has
run, And many little birds make melody
That sleep through a ll the night with open eye
(So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)
Then folk do long to go on pilgrimage,
And palmers to go seeking out strange strands,
To distant shrines well known in distant lands.
And specially from every shire's end Of England
they to Canterbury went,
The holy blessed martyr there to seek
Who helped them when they lay so ill and weak
GGFF II – 1. Medieval
literature
 The Canterbury
Tales
Pier Pablo Pasolini adapted Chaucer’s
celebrated work on screen:
https://youtu.be/HSAKwwsjmZg

GGFF II – 1. Medieval
literature
 GGFF II – 1. Medieval
literature

Tas
k
The C anterbury
Tales

GGFF II – 1. Medieval
literature
 Tas
• k
Visit Harvard’s G eoffrey C hauc er Website

1. What is the ‘framing narrative’ in The

Canterbury Tales?

2. Choose a tale and find information about

the plot and characters. Tell this tale to
your classmates.

GGFF II – 1. Medieval
literature