...Divine Hypocrisy (A literary analysis of Chaucer’s use of satire to reach his audience) As you go through life you learn that many times most people do not agree with what you do. They all have their own interests as we have our own. People of all denominations perform many different jobs some even the same jobs, but others out do the others in their field. Chaucer is considered to be one of the greatest English poets of all time. Many refer to him as the father of the English language. Chaucer wrote one of the best known books titled Canterbury Tales. Chaucer’s literary work is one of the most famous books to ever be written. Within his book there are many smaller stories told by different characters told within it. All of the smaller...
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...Corruption of the Church has plagued many Christian societies throughout history as dishonest members misinterpret and misuse the word of God. This is especially true in fifteenth century England. In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer uses estates satire, ridiculing not only the Clergymen but all three social classes in order to highlight the flaws of society. He uses specifically uses “The Pardoner’s Tale” to highlight the deep-seated corruption of the Church during this particular time. The social commentary is focused around a Pardoner, authorized to grant forgiveness of sins, or indulgences, as a hyperbolic example of the flaws in the Church. Chaucer exposes increasing corruption, issues with clergymen, and the normality of deception...
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...burdensome. Chaucer expresses the interruptive aspect of the church through the various characters and situations he creates within his writing. In the General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer utilizes rhyme scheme and detailed imagery of both physical traits and personality traits in his description of the Prioress and the Pardoner to satirize the fourteenth-century practice of sending individuals who lack any ecclesiastical tendencies to work in the church. While the Pardoner represents...
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...The Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer Key Facts full title · The Canterbury Tales author · Geoffrey Chaucer type of work · Poetry (two tales are in prose: the Tale of Melibee and the Parson’s Tale) genres · Narrative collection of poems; character portraits; parody; estates satire; romance; fabliau language · Middle English time and place written · Around 1386–1395, England date of first publication · Sometime in the early fifteenth century publisher · Originally circulated in hand-copied manuscripts narrator · The primary narrator is an anonymous, naïve member of the pilgrimage, who is not described. The other pilgrims narrate most of the tales. point of view · In the General Prologue, the narrator speaks in the first person, describing each of the pilgrims as they appeared to him. Though narrated by different pilgrims, each of the tales is told from an omniscient third-person point of view, providing the reader with the thoughts as well as actions of the characters. tone · The Canterbury Tales incorporates an impressive range of attitudes toward life and literature. The tales are by turns satirical, elevated, pious, earthy, bawdy, and comical. The reader should not accept the naïve narrator’s point of view as Chaucer’s. tense · Past setting (time) · The late fourteenth century, after 1381 setting (place) · The Tabard Inn; the road to Canterbury protagonists · Each individual tale has protagonists, but Chaucer’s plan is to make none of his storytellers...
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...literature which addresses them. By analyzing the religious, political and societal ideals, the reader can see how these influenced the literature during this time period. The Medieval Period was a time in history that lasted from the 5th Century to the 16th Century. Through the early Middle Ages, literacy was often essential for entry into religious orders and even nuns were compelled to meet this requirement. However, the only people trained to read and write properly were those who were high church officials and monks. Society was centered mainly on the Medieval Church. However, the Church became corrupted but more at the higher levels. Geoffrey Chaucer illustrated this in his writings, “Prologue to the Canterbury Tales.” He exposes this in his prologue by his use of satire in regards to the religious figures. Using a naïve “Chaucer the Pilgrim” to describe them, he points out that certain characters, namely the Prioress and the Monk, are not as they should be. Although he does not criticize them openly, he merely emphasizes qualities that are favorable to the character’s general personality but are not consistent with the expectations of their position. For example, the Prioress is described as “straining to counterfeit a courtly kind of grace.” She wears “a coral trinket on her arm” despite her vow of poverty. By making the reader more aware of the Prioress as a woman than as a nun, Chaucer exposes her flawed ways. He also does the same...
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...TITLE · The Canterbury Tales AUTHOR · Geoffrey Chaucer TYPE OF WORK · Poetry (two tales are in prose: the Tale of Melibee and the Parson’s Tale) GENRES · Narrative collection of poems; character portraits; parody; estates satire; romance; fabliau LANGUAGE · Middle English TIME AND PLACE WRITTEN · Around 1386–1395, England DATE OF FIRST PUBLICATION · Sometime in the early fifteenth century PUBLISHER · Originally circulated in hand-copied manuscripts NARRATOR · The primary narrator is an anonymous, naïve member of the pilgrimage, who is not described. The other pilgrims narrate most of the tales. POINT OF VIEW · In the General Prologue, the narrator speaks in the first person, describing each of the pilgrims as they appeared to him. Though narrated by different pilgrims, each of the tales is told from an omniscient third-person point of view, providing the reader with the thoughts as well as actions of the characters. TONE · The Canterbury Tales incorporates an impressive range of attitudes toward life and literature. The tales are by turns satirical, elevated, pious, earthy, bawdy, and comical. The reader should not accept the naïve narrator’s point of view as Chaucer’s. TENSE · Past SETTING (TIME) · The late fourteenth century, after 1381 SETTING (PLACE) · The Tabard Inn; the road to Canterbury PROTAGONISTS · Each individual tale has protagonists, but Chaucer’s plan is to make none of his storytellers superior to others; it is an equal company. In the Knight’s Tale, the...
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...Miller’s prologue and tale?’ This section of the story is crucial for later development of the story and how it concludes. Chaucer, through the narrator of the Miller, describes the character of Absolon proleptically (achieved through language and imagery) and these certain - rather outlandish - qualities also have a part to play later making the tale humorous. However, the description of the character is not significant in the prologue since Absolon is not mentioned explicitly; and reduces the overall importance of Absolon in ‘The Miller’s Tale.’ There are two possible reasons why Absolon was not mentioned in the prologue but both intentional by Chaucer. The Miller does not include Absolon before he telling his story in the prologue. This can be explained in two ways; both very important (especially the first) because it reveals not only the character of the Miller (who is used as a mouthpiece) but of Chaucer’s devices for making this play more realistic. One reason why the Miller omits mention of this character is Chaucer’s use to increase the realism of the tale. The Miller is known to be a man who ‘was of brawn’ and had ‘a werte’ which sprouted ‘a toft of heris’; he later describes Absolon who was ‘smal’ and ‘clippe and shave’. Chaucer makes this a strong contrast. Perhaps it is natural for the Miller not to talk about Absolon: he is not worth mentioning since he is not manly enough. The other reason, this one also increases the realism of the tale, is also important....
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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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...Kyle Bain March 10, 2015 What’s Cohesion? ENG-550: Graduate Studies in English Language Professor Makhanlall What’s Cohesion? Paul Auster has a rather unique form of writing. Compared to other writers, Auster uses different techniques to draw his readers in. Auster’s use of cohesion, rhythm, and voice play unique roles in Auster’s City of Glass and Ghosts. Auster tends to do things in a very subtle and precise way, he never leads his reader astray and always leaves them wanting more. What interests me the most about Paul Auster’s writing is his use of cohesion (or lack there of). According to Martha Kolln and Loretta Gray in “Rhetorical Grammar:” “The first sentence in a paragraph, like the first paragraph of a chapter or an essay, sets up expectations in the reader about what is coming. Certainly one of those expectations is that the following sentences will stick to the topic. Another is that the sentence will have new information, not just a repeat of what the reader already knows.” (Kolln/Gray, pg. 87). This differs from what Auster does in City of Glass. Paul Auster draws his readers in by saying a little as possible until it is absolutely necessary; he is very literal with his language and does not give away information until it is essential. Firstly, Auster does not name his chapters, he simply numbers them. The beginning of chapter eight is a prime example of how Auster typically starts his chapters: “The next morning, and for many mornings to follow...
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...II (1372-99). It gained a literary standard in London English after 1425 and developed modern forms of verse, prose and of Drama. The conquest of England in 1066 by William of Normandy displaced English as medium of literature. The language of new rulers was French. Saxons dealing with the King had to learn French and French was the language of court and the law for three centuries. Four genres of Middle English are: i. 1. Fabliau 2. Lyric 3. Dream Allegory 4. Ballad Geoffrey Chaucer Chaucer is the best story teller and the narrative poet. Chaucer tells his stories in a most effective way. He has the knack of transforming an old tale into a new one in such a manner that its appeal increases manifold and its human interest becomes perennial (lasting/permanent). An important feature of Chaucer's descriptive power is that his individual portrait also represents the type. Initially perhaps the sketches were devised to provide representatives of the chief classes of English society under the higher nobility. The portraits of the pilgrims are not all drawn in the same way. It is true that Chaucer...
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...Characteristics of Old and Middle English Literature In many works from the Old English period, which was approximately between 600-1100, there were many distinguishing characteristics, which included heroism, a strict class system, religion, and teachings of moral behavior. Some different characteristics of Old English literature, which is a language derived from Old German, include a strong belief in fate in a very poetry dominated era. Many of the poems are called elegies of that time, which were sorrowful poems, such as “The Wanderer.” Another large characteristic of Old English literature is that of praising or honoring heroes of any kind, especially ones that prevail in battle. Some of these include the Cross from, “Dream of the Rood,” Beowulf from Beowulf, the lost hero in “The Wanderer,” Judith from “Judith,” and the biggest hero who is included in almost all poems and pieces of Old English literature, Christ. Many of these works express much religious faith having to do with Christianity. The Anglo-Saxon people also had a very strict class system. Going along with the faith they believed in the Great Chain of Being, which said that when God made the entire world each creature was put in their position. God made a monarchy and put the members of that high status position there for a reason and did the same for a person who was a slave, God made them that and put them in that position in society. The people on the top of the chain are supposed to help the others...
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...diminution of good forces readers to identify evil on a scale from almost complete corruption to perfect virtue. This scale is far more compelling than binary options of right and wrong behavior. When examining novel characters, the question should not primarily be whether actions are right or wrong, but how far removed from perfect virtue is the action. To put it simply, the term wrong or vice is not a substantive term on the scale by which critics examine literary texts; wrong is simply the term used to label actions that deviate more severely from perfect virtue (substance). The same can be said of hot and cold—cold is simply the term used to define the removal of energy. According to Augustine, to measure something by its wrongness, is to use a phantom ruler or measuring stick—measuring evil is measuring nothing. In response to something that is void of virtue Augustine writes, “Evil simply could not be, since it can have no mode in which to exist, nor any source from which corruption springs, unless it be something corruptible” (9). Augustine’s view of evil creates a framework by which all existence possesses some value of goodness; if it possessed no virtue, it would cease to exist....
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...• Characteristics of Medieval Literature Themes of Medieval Literature: • The Seven Deadly Sins • The Seven Heavenly Virtues • Physiognomy and "The Humours" • Values of "courtly love" • The Code of Chivalry(CF) The Poets and Authors: Caedmon: First English poet; author of "The Dream of the Holy Rood." Venerable Bede: wrote the Ecclesiastical History of England and the scientific treatise, De Natura Rerum. Geoffrey Chaucer: Famous Medieval author of the Canterbury Tales. Margery Kempe: Author of the first autobiography in English. John Gower: Medieval poet and friend of Geoffrey Chaucer Francesco Petrarch: Italian poet, and a humanist. Famous for his poems addressed to Laura. Dante: Medieval poet and politician. Christine de Pizan: Medieval author and feminist. William Longland: English poet who wrote the Vision of Piers Plowman. Boccaccio: Italian writer who was famous for writing the Decameron. Raphael Holinshed: Medieval author of Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland. (KM) Romance: • Chivalry was the reason behind this type of literature. • The greatest English example of the romance is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. • The romance hero-who often has the help of magic-undertakes a quest to conquer an evil enemy. (KM) Chivalry: • A system of ideals and social codes governing the behavior of knights and gentlewoman. • The rules included: taking an oath of loyalty to the overlord and observing...
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...Westminster, England. Contents [hide] 1 Early novels in English 2 Romantic period 3 Victorian novel 4 20th century 5 Survey 6 Famous novelists (alphabetical order) 7 See also 8 References Early novels in English[edit source | editbeta] See the article First novel in English. The English novel has generally been seen as beginning with Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Moll Flanders (1722),[1] though John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) and Aphra Behn's Oroonoko (1688) are also contenders, while earlier works such as Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur, and even the "Prologue" to Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales have been suggested.[2] Another important early novel is Gulliver's Travels (1726, amended 1735), by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, which is both a satire of human nature, as well as a parody of travellers' tales like Robinson Crusoe.[3] The rise of the novel as an important literary genre is generally associated with the growth of the middle class in England. Other major 18th century English novelists are Samuel Richardson (1689-1761), author of the epistolary novels Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740) and Clarissa (1747-8); Henry Fielding (1707–54), who wrote Joseph Andrews (1742) and The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749); Laurence Sterne (1713–68) who...
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...Министерство образования и науки Республики Казахстан Кокшетауский государственный университет им. Ш. Уалиханова An Outline of British Literature (from tradition to post modernism) Кокшетау 2011 УДК 802.0 – 5:20 ББК 81:432.1-923 № 39 Рекомендовано к печати кафедрой английского языка и МП КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, Ученым Советом филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, УМС КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова. Рецензенты: Баяндина С.Ж. доктор филологических наук, профессор, декан филологического факультета КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова Батаева Ф.А. кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры «Переводческое дело» Кокшетауского университета им. А. Мырзахметова Кожанова К.Т. преподаватель английского языка кафедры гуманитарного цикла ИПК и ПРО Акмолинской области An Outline of British Literature from tradition to post modernism (on specialties 050119 – “Foreign Language: Two Foreign Languages”, 050205 – “Foreign Philology” and 050207 – “Translation”): Учебное пособие / Сост. Немченко Н.Ф. – Кокшетау: Типография КГУ им. Ш. Уалиханова, 2010 – 170 с. ISBN 9965-19-350-9 Пособие представляет собой краткие очерки, характеризующие английскую литературу Великобритании, ее основные направления и тенденции. Все известные направления в литературе иллюстрированы примерами жизни и творчества авторов, вошедших в мировую литературу благодаря...
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