GEOFFREY CHAUCER

The Canterbury Tales

EARLY LIFE

1342-1400Born to a middle class familyHis 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 Often called 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”) Host = L’Oste Knight = Il Cavaliere Squire = Lo Scudiero Yeoman = Il piccolo

proprietario terriero Prioress = La Madre

Priora Second Nun = La seconda

suora Three Priests = Tre preti Monk = il Monaco Friar = il Frate Merchant = il Mercante Clerk = il Chierico Man of Law = L’uomo di

legge

Franklin = L’Allodoliere Guildsmen = Gli uomini della

Gilda Cook = Il Cuoco Shipman = Il Marinaio Physician = Il Medico Wife of Bath = La signora di Bath Parson = Il Parroco Plowman = L’Aratore Manciple = L’Economo Reeve = Il Fattore Miller = Il Mugnaio Summoner = L’ Apparitore o

cursore Pardoner = L’Indulgenziere