Geoffrey Chaucer
and
The Canterbury Tales
(ca. 1340/44-1400)
Chaucer’s Life
Born in London about 1340
Son of a well to do wine merchant
In his mid teens, he started working
for the Countess of Ulster to receive a
better education and to be schooled in
court and society life.
He learned Latin and some Greek as
well as perhaps some French and
Italian.
Chaucer’s Life
In, 1359, while serving in
English army...
He was captured by the
French at the seige of Reims
during the Hundred Years'
War and was ransomed by
King Edward III a year later
He returned to England and
served at Court
As a Royal Messenger
He was an important diplomat and he worked for the king
He had a lot of diplomatic trips to France, to Flanders and to
Italy.
He travelled a lot but his most important journeys were to Italy.
He visited Genoa and Florence where he acquired Dante’s
Divina commedia which is quoted in “The Canterbury tales”
On his second trip to Italy, he went to Milan, he became
acquainted with Petrarch’s and Boccaccio’s works
He probably read his works in unsigned manuscripts.
He died in 1400
He was the first
poet to be buried in
Poets’ Corner in
Westminster Abbey
The main feature of Chaucer’s works is their great
variety. His poems are usually divided into 3 periods:
1) FRENCH,
2) ITALIAN and the
3) ENGLISH.
The French period is modeled on French romance
styles and subject such as:
The Romaunt of the Rose. Introduces the reader to
medieval court behaviour and courtly love.
The Boke of the Duchesse. A personal elegy where the
knight in black tells of his grief for the loss of his
wife.
This grief becomes the universal grief of all man
for the death of all good young wives.
The Italian period shows a greater maturity of perception
and skill in the manipulation of the metres.
To this period belong:
- The Parlament of Foules: Introduces the reader to one of the most popular
genres of medieval literature, the Bird and Beast Fable.
- The House of Fame: A masterpiece of comic fantasy, dealing with the
contemplation of the vanity of human wishes.
- The Legende of Good Women. It speaks of the unhappy fate of the women
who suffered in the cause of love. The poem is the first known attempt to use
the couplet in English.
- Troylus and Criseyde. It is a long poem adapted from Boccaccio (Il
Filostrato) which reveals a subtle psychological insight into the development
of the characters.
The English period
It is marked by greater realism and includes
Chaucer’s masterpiece:
Canterbury Tales (ca. 1387), which was
written in Middle English. Chaucer’s
language gradually became standard
English, thus becoming the basis of Modern
English.
THE CANTERBURY TALES
Chaucer is often called the father of English poetry.
He estabilished the East Midlands and London dialect as the dominant
form of literary language
that would later develop into Modern Standard English
The importance of his Italian experience was that it showed Chaucer
that a vernacular language – in his case English – could be used to
create literature for the mobility, subtlety and importance equal to that
of the classical languages (he decided to write in English. His decision
was as revolutionary as Dante’s decision to abandon Latin to write in
Italian vernacular, although when he started to write he had not heard of
Dante yet).
THE CANTERBURY TALES
He decided to write a work in English (Middle
English) which could be understood by anybody,
whether literate or not.
Chaucer was also a great metrical innovator: he
introduced into English versification the five-stress
line, technically known as the iambic pentameter.
The conversational rhythm of this meter helps
Chaucer to carry through his long narrative without
apparent effort: The Canterbury Tales are written in
couplets of iambic pentameters.
THE CANTERBURY TALES
A free-verse poem about the pilgrimage to
St. Thomas Becket’s shrine.
The Canterbury Tales is a long narrative
poem written in verse. The work consists of a
General Prologue, where the pilgrims are
introduced,
and of 24 tales.
Chaucer’s original intention was to have each of his
30 pilgrims, including himself, tell two tales on the
road from London to the shrine of Thomas Becket in
Canterbury and two on the way back, giving a total
of 120 tales, plus detailed portraits of the piligrims in
the General Prologue.
Here begins the Book of the Tales of
Canterbury
When April with his showers sweet with fruit
The drought of March has pierced unto the root
And bathed each vein with liquor that has power
To generate therein and sire the flower;
When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath,
Quickened again, in every holt and heath,
The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun
Into the Ram one half his course has run,
And many little birds make melody
That sleep through all the night with open eye
(So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage,
And palmers to go seeking out strange strands,
To distant shrines well known in sundry lands.
And specially from every shire's end……….
Quando aprile con le sue dolci piogge ha penetrato
fino alla radice la siccità di marzo, impregnando
ogni vena di quell’umore che ha la virtù di dar vita
ai fiori, quando anche zeffiro col suo dolce fiato ha
rianimato per ogni bosco e per ogni brughiera i
teneri germogli, e il nuovo sole ha percorso metà
del suo cammino in ariete, e cantano melodiosi gli
uccelletti che dormono tutta la notte ad occhi aperti
(tanto li punge in cuore la natura), la gente allora è
presa dal desiderio di mettersi in pellegrinaggio e
d’andare come palmieri per contrade forestiere alla
ricerca di lontani santuari variamente noti, e fin
dalle più remote parti d’ogni contea d’Inghilterra
molti si recano specialmente a canterbury, a
visitare quel santo martire benedetto che li ha
soccorsi quand’erano malati.
Un giorno, appunto in quella stagione, mentre
sostavo alla locanda del tabarro in Southwark,
pronto a mettermi devotamente in pellegrinaggio
per Canterbury, ecco capitare verso sera la brigata
di ben 29 persone, gente d’ogni ceto trovatasi per
caso in compagnia e tutti pellegrini che
intendevano recarsi a cavallo sino a Canterbury.
Camere e stalle erano grandi, e perciò fummo
alloggiati nel migliore dei modi. In breve, stava
appena per tramontare il sole che già avevo parlato
con tutti ed anch’io ero ormai della brigata, e
combinammo dunque d’alzarci presto per
proseguire il viaggi dove vi ho detto.
April Sweet Showers
As April comes, in the period of rain and rebirth of
nature, while Zephyrus brings nature back to life and
birds are making melodies
Twenty-nine people make a pilgrimage toward
Canterbury, to visit the tomb of Thomas Becket,
the most venerated of English Saints. The rebirth of
nature, here corresponds with the rebirth of spirit.
The pilgrims begin the pilgrimage to Canterbury from
the Tabard Inn at Southwark and the narrator
describes them in turn, beginning with a Knight.
PLOT:
The general prolugue starts describing spring, the
good season for pilgrimages.
The poem introduces a group of pilgrims going on a
pilgrimage to Thomas Becket's shrine in Canterbury
The host of the Inn offered his services as a guide and
suggested that each pilgrim should tell two stories on
the way to Canterbury and two on the way back.
Chaucer himself was invited to join the company (so
he became an even more believable eyewitness).
THE CANTERBURY TALES
Canterbury is the symbol of
celestial city itself, the end of
the life, and the journery of the
pilgrims becomes the allegory of
the course of human life.
The pilgrimage is also a key
metaphor for life from the
religious sphere. We are all
pilgrims on the way to the
heavenly city, and every journey
reflects the basic pattern of
existence.
CHAUCER’S PLAN
Chaucer’s initial idea was to write a
collection of tales, as the title suggests.
He wanted to give his countrymen a book in
which they could really recognize
themselves and that would be a true mirror
of England
portrait of
English society
The Pilgrims
Chaucer
intended
to
give
a
portrait
of
society
as
a
whole
He chose a feudal society with members of clergy and the middle classes.
He didn’t deal with the aristocracy and the peasants (this is because in that period
the upper classes did not like to mix with other people and preferred to go on
pilgrimages on their own, while poor people did not have the money to afford the
journey).
In literature were first presented:
1) all male clerical figures,
2) then all male lay figures, in order of rank.
3) All female figures were considered lower in order of rank. Chaucer, instead,
placed the knights as the first figure amd mixed female and male characters
to underline the new importance women were assuming within the growing
middle classes.
The Pilgrims
The new factor in Canterbury Tales is that there is
individualisation
Group identification is not lost: the character exists
in that he has reactions, he is in movement and he
has a relationship to the role
This is different than the conventional medieval
character portrait which is rather static.
Characterization
The process by which the writer reveals
the personality of a character
Directly telling us
Describing looks/dress
Character’s words and actions
Character’s private thoughts
others’ reactions to the character
THEMES
Love which is presented in many forms
from courtly love to wild sensuality
Money
Justice and the use of magic
THEMES
Christianity/criticism: in the General Prologue, various pilgrims
are introduced, including a Nun, a Monk, and a Friar, all notable
figures in the Church. They represent distinct areas of Christianity,
with some holding to strict worship of Christ and others overtly
disobeying the laws. This initial introduction of the various religious
icons on the pilgrimage foreshadows tales of sin and worship that
will be told throughout the journey.
Chaucer concludes his grand Canterbury Tales with a retraction
stating that any tale which brought offense to anyone is only due to
his ignorance. He gives reverence to Christ once again in his
retraction, reminding his readers that everything he writes is with the
hope that he will be granted mercy and redemption in the
afterlife.
THEMES
Sexuality
The Wife of Bath's introduction in the General
Prologue is the first mention of any sort of sexual
behavior or so called misconduct discussed on the
journey. She is ostentatious in her presentation and
carries with her an aura of sexuality that is
apparent to all. Her initial description alludes to
her multiple marriages and use of femininity to get
what she desires.
The Knight
The Prioress
The Squire
The Monk
The merchant
The Cook
The Wife of Bath
The Miller
NARRATIVE FORMS
The variety of themes is accompanied by a
variety of narrative forms:
Farce and comic tales
Moral sermons
Dialogues
All these are combined with humour and
irony