...Canterbury Tales Webquest & Bookquest You are going to research background information about Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales. Anything not completed in class should be finished for HW. - Use the links to answer the questions listed below. Save answers into your Home Directory. Print a copy for your notebooks. - Please PARAPHRASE your answers rather than copying and pasting information. You may type your answers directly into the document and print when finished. 1. Geoffrey Chaucer 1. What kind of writer was he? 2. What were the years of his birth and death? 3. Where was he from? 4. What was his “masterpiece”? http://www.bartleby.com/65/ch/Chaucer.html 2. What is a pilgrimage? (You should already know this from our vocab. quiz.) 3. Define prologue. http://www.webster.com (or other dictionary site) 4. Where is Canterbury? What famous event happened there? What are the goals of the many people who travel there on pilgrimages? http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Canterbury,-England http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/history/history.aspx 5. When were The Canterbury Tales written? In what language were they written? • What are they about? • What is a frame tale? ...
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...Introduction The Canterbury Tales Introduction Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open eye(So priketh hem Nature in hir corages); Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes; And specially from every shires ende Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende, The hooly blisful martir for to seke That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke. Bifil that in that seson, on a day, In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay When in April the sweet showers fall That pierce March'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-course in the sign of the Ram 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 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...
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...Zachary Scott Bryant Professor Engleking Humanities Cluster September 9th 2015 Themes in Canterbury Tales When dissecting the Canterbury tales for themes you can find about 30 thousand different ones to try to draw stories from your own life. However, in my opinion the three biggest themes that resonate with me are the ideas of Relationships, Companions, and Corruption. Let us begin with the easiest one, relationships. There are several relationships discussed within the Canterbury tales. The most important one is by far the Wife of Bath’s tale of the knight. I see much of the male youth of today in him he is a real smartass and at times is outright rude he is a piss poor example of what a Knight is in general but through his own development in the story he builds his redeeming qualities and ultimately succumbs to his wife’s will and better judgement. I have been in the Knights shoes, stuck between what you want in life and what is truly the right thing to do. Many times my wife’s better judgement has saved me from some unnecessary hardship. Whether it be my impulsive buying habits or my quick to anger personality, I think many men could do well to learn from the knight how to place themselves in the hands of their better halves. From the romantic side of things it is a very short step into the world of corruption. A lot of corruption comes out of romance or love. The knight at the heart of himself is corrupt he is at his deepest level no knight at all. However in my...
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...Ransom Canterbury Tales Webquest Today you are going to research background information about Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales. - Working alone or with one other person, use the links to answer the questions listed below. - Please PARAPHRASE your answers rather than copying the information directly from the websites. Geoffrey Chaucer What kind of writer was he? Geoffrey Chaucer was a poet. What were the years of his birth and death? Chaucer was born in the year 1340 and when he was 44 he died in 1400. Where was he from? Geoffrey Chaucer was from London What was his “masterpiece” ? The Canterbury Tales is the book that most people remember Chaucer for. http://www.online-literature.com/chaucer/ What is a pilgrimage? A journey made to a sacred place as an act of religion Define prologue. The introduction to a play, book, novel, poem, ect. http://www.webster.com (or other dictionary site) Where is Canterbury? Canterbury is in England. What famous event happened there? The murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in 1170. What are the goals of the many people who travel there on pilgrimages? Pray Repent or to be saved http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Canterbury,-England http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/history/history.aspx When were The Canterbury Tales written? In what language were they written? The Canterbury Tales was written in the time frame of 1387 to 1400. The Canterbury tales...
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...Canterbury Tales The Canterbury Tales written by Geoffrey Chaucer is a book filled with tales and prologues during the late medieval time period. Chaucer was born in 1342 in Paris. Chaucer lived the majority of his life privileged and on the kings’ (Richard II until 1399 then Henry IV) payroll. Chaucer began writing The Canterbury Tales in 1387, and worked on it throughout the 90’s. Of the few tales that I read (“The Prologue”, “The Miler’s Prologue”, “The Miller’s Tale”, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale Prologue”, and “The Wife of Bath’s Tale”), it seems clear that love and marriage are underlying themes throughout. But, love and marriage are two separate things during this time period. What the characters perceive to be love is actually lust. This will become evident throughout the tales. “The Prologue” is where Chaucer introduces all of the characters that will be prevalent throughout The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer describes the season as being April, and goes into detail about each character. It should be noted that the 29 characters that Chaucer mentioned were brought together by chance and did not plan this meeting. Each character had stopped at Tabard Inn, while waiting to embark on the pilgrimage to Canterbury. The night before the pilgrimage was to begin, the host offered a proposition to the pilgrims. He suggested a simple task: Now listen for your good, And please don’t treat my notion with disdain. This is the point. I’ll make it short and plain. Each one...
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...The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, is an eminent frame story written in the middle ages. The story begins with an abundant number of people traveling to Canterbury for a religious or luxurious purpose. To pass time, the people tell a story and whoever has the best tale wins a free meal. Chaucer deliberately makes the Prioress stand out more than other characters because she is supposedly a religious woman. The Prioress is a nun who enjoys showing people that “she [is] so charitably solicitous “(Chaucer 147). Throughout The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer gives the Prioress a distinct description, acknowledging her personality, morals, and appearance. In The Canterbury Tales, the Prioress is described as an alluring woman who desires the finest things. Chaucer portrays the Prioress to have appealing features: “Her nose [is] elegant, her eyes glass grey; Her mouth [is] very small, but soft and red, Her forehead, certainly, [is] fair spread” (Chaucer 156-158). The Prioress’ appearance signifies modern day beauty. It seems as if Chaucer is admiring the Prioress and viewing her as a perfect individual from God. In contradiction, Chaucer states how on her jewelry “there first [is] graven a crowned A, and lower, Amor vincit omnia” (Chaucer 165). The saying written on the Prioress’ jewelry means love conquers all, showing that she is more worldly than ecclesiastical. Chaucer establishes that the Prioress cares more about what people think of her than God’s judgment. In addition...
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...The Canterbury Tales takes place in a tavern near London called the Tabard Inn. The narrator is staying at the inn with twenty-nine pilgrims who are all traveling to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury. The pilgrims are a wide range of people and characters. The Host, Harry Bailey, makes the point that they should all ride together and entertain one another with stories. I believe Chaucer uses this setting in order to tell many different types of tales. The first pilgrim to tell a story is the Knight. He tells a tale of two knights: Arcite and Palamon. They were wounded in battle by the Duke of Athens, Theseus. The Duke decides to imprison them rather than execution. During their imprisonment they both fell in love with the Duke’s sister-in-law, Emily. After fighting over who was more worthy of Emily, Arcite was freed from prison through the help of a friend. However, he was banished from Athens and was to never return. Arcite returns in disguise as a personal attendant for Emily. When his fellow knight, Palamon, is freed from prison, he confronts Arcite and they begin to fight over her again. The Duke apprehends them and arranges a tournament, with Emily as the prize, between the two knights and their best men. Arcite wins, but he is thrown from his horse and dies. Palamon then marries Emily instead. It makes sense that the Knight would tell this story because it is filled with knights, love, honor, chivalry, and adventure. I believe that...
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...ANALYSIS OF THE HOLY(!) CHURCH OF ENGLAND THROUGH THE CHAUCER’S PARDONER Chaucer uses the pardoner character in order to criticize the Church of England in the 14th century which was a wealthy, corrupt, dishonest and an unjust institution that was trying to maintain its position rather than providing spiritual leadership and guidance to the people. In the general prologue, the pardoner claims in his bag he has a pillowcase of Virgin Mary and a piece of sail that Saint Peter went on the sea. Then, he starts bragging about how he extracts money from people by using these relics that are parts of the body of a saint or something supposedly used by or associated with a saint and venerated as holy, and their influence on people in order to sell them. Since individuals have seen relics as a way to come closer to the saints and thus, to God in a way, relics became a large business and the pardoner uses people’s beliefs in his advantage by deceiving and selling them useless materials claiming to be relics. He also states that by using these “relics”, he earns more money in one day than a commoner can in two months. “His wallet lay before him in his lap Bretfull of pardons, come from Rome all hot.” Here Chaucer is making fun of the existence of pardons and the church as an institution and points the center of church being Rome as the creator of this absurd practice. These lines from the general prologue are two of the many exemplifying Chaucer’s critical approach towards the church...
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...Reverend Peter Popoff, who has a weekly program that promotes a miracle spring water, is most parallel to the character Pardoner from The Canterbury Tales. Throughout this article, Reverend Popoff tries to promote his miracle spring water with intentions of making lots of money. This idea can be supported by the description given in paragraph nine which states, “Popoff’s ministry soared from $9.6 million in 2003 up to $23 million in 2005...his home sold for almost $2 million, and...he’s been spotted driving a Porsche and a Mercedes.” Without making sales from selling the miracle spring water, he wouldn’t be able to buy all the luxury things that he has bought. Just as Reverend Popoff was greedy and had intentions of making money, the Pardoner...
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...The squire, son of the knight and knight in training, is a fine specimen to examine for imagery and physiognomic interpretation leading to characterization in Geoffery Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”. These interpretations can be pulled from his outward appearance, his actual talents, and how his father differs from him. The squire, to begin, is a young lad who follows his father on this journey to learn how to be a knight. He has not yet faced a major battle, and he doesn't appear to possess the outward appearance of a knight. “A lover and cadet, a lad of fire with locks as curly as if they had been pressed. He was some twenty years of age, I guessed” (lines 82-84). Chaucer used this chance to describe the squire as being young, aware of his appearance, and a lover rather than a fighter. He uses the phrase, “a lad of fire” to describe the boy as possessing a passion, though that passion is not to be in a war. He also uses imagery when describing the squire’s hair by saying the locks are pressed. The squire has beautiful hair that leads the reader to picture him as a handsome young man who is well kept and conscious of his appearance. These are not the typical qualities of a knight. Furthermore, “He was as fresh as is the month of May” (line 94). Fresh is a word to describe youth and isn’t a positive reflection on his intelligence. He also says May, a month in spring. Spring is a time of youth and it is another parallel drawn to his age. Finally, “Short was his gown, his sleeves...
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...In the prologue of the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, he portrays the Squire as an aesthetically focused character and a fine knight-to-be, with fitting diction, and similes to describe the elegance, and desire for love of the young man, along with polysyndeton to list the endless talents of the Squire. Chaucer also shows the reader a stark contrast between the Squire and his father, the Knight, in how they carry themselves despite being in the same aristocratic societal class. The Squire, as described in the prologue, can be seen as fancy, talented, and respectable. Chaucer's diction aids in developing the Squire. In line 81, Chaucer calls him ,"...fine [and] young...", establishing quickly to the audience the Squire is to be respected, and falls into a class higher than that of many others. The Knight's son is also youthful and energetic, "...a lad of fire...", an intentional introduction on line 82 which leads into the illustration of the Squire's physical appearance of average height, swiftness and muscularity. Chaucer distinguishes the character's...
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...The intention behind Chaucer’s ‘character portraits’ within The Canterbury Tales is a widely debated topic with ideas ranging from Hulbert’s opinion that they are reflections of real people and therefore of humankind as a whole at the time to Jill Mann’s idea that Chaucer was satirising the estates rather than any one individual. Whilst many of the pilgrims introduced are thought to be hyperbolic allegories for specific classes used to satirise the estate system present at the time others argue that he instead chose to use irony to highlight the hypocrisy of the time. The credulous tone present when he accepts the pilgrims’ versions of themselves that they put forward rather than the self that they actually are proves Chaucer to be a less...
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...Themes in Canterbury Tales Throughout an author’s literature, many times we find common themes; this is definitely true in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The reader can find common themes through many of the tales. In the Wife of Bath tale, The Miller’s tale, and the Pardoner’s tale, it is easy to see that one of the main themes through the book is that women are the downfall of men. In the tale of The Wife of Bath, the reader sees the main theme in Chaucer’s work. In The Wife of Bath’s prologue, she tells a story about a night when she and one of her husbands spent a night at home. Her husband would read to her from a book. On this particular night, the Wife of Bath was subjected to more of this book, and the reader is told of how the book explains that women are men’s downfall. The Miller’s Tale is another that supports the theme. The Miller’s Tale speaks of a man who is totally devoted to an unfaithful wife. In the tale this beautiful woman is having an affair with a friend of her husband. To have some time alone they made a plan to get him away. They tell her devoted and gullible husband that there will be a flood like Noah’s, and to make boats to save them. In an attempt to save his wife, the husband goes to the roof and makes the boats. He died, and again, the actions of an unfaithful wife lead to the death of an innocently man. In the Pardoner’s Tale, a male traveler, the characters in his tale give examples as to why women are the downfall of men. The characters...
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...In Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales are many stories diverse in topic and style. Among these stories told by twenty nine persons, is created an interesting interpersonal dynamic. Chaucer removes them all from their social circumstances and classes and levels the plane by placing all of the characters that tell the tales on a religious pilgrimage to Canterbury, England. Chaucer used this journey as a device to bring together his fictional persons from wide-ranging backgrounds and have them share a portion of their life through the telling of a tale. The entirety of the work involves the personal concerns and outcomes of individuals in an ever changing medieval culture. The pilgrimage provided an opportunity for Chaucer to negate the barriers of class and social propriety in order to include diversity in the tales. Each tale is told individually. Each character is detailed with well developed personalities and specified occupations, clothing and social standing and in each tale; Chaucer relays the changes going on about him in Medieval England on a person by person basis. While The Canterbury Tales are relayed light heartedly, creating a caricature of medieval individuals and situations, Chaucer respected the religious doctrine of the time. The very fact that the characters of The Canterbury Tales are going on a religious pilgrimage tells of the ever increasing role of Christianity in Medieval society. While Christianity was becoming more accepted in the Anglo-Saxon period, its...
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...The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer talks about a pilgrimage. In this story “a group is gathered at Tabard Inn to go on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Thomas à Becket at Canterbury.” (Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. South Carolina McDougall Little British literature. Ed. Janet Allen et. al. Houghton Mifflin, Co. 2009. p.140 ). The host decided to let the group to tell stories to pass time on their way. In this story there are Chaucer’s saints who are honest, ready to help, faithful and on the other hand, there are scoundrels who are greedy, hypocrites, liars. Chaucer's saints are Knight, Parson, and Plowman, and the rest where bad and good in ways. Every character on this pilgrimage have differences and similarities. Saints and...
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