NEFLT Study Materials

Projekt Síť vzdělavatelů učitelů cizích jazyků NEFLT registrační číslo CZ.1.07/2.4.00/31.0074

je součástí IPRM Ústí nad Labem Centrum.

Tento projekt je spolufinancován Evropským sociálním fondem a státním rozpočtem České republiky.

Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales

Source (Public domain) Ezra Winter's Canterbury Tales mural (1939), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams_Building

Geoffrey Chaucer

• The first truly great

English author to write in

his own language rather

than French or Latin

Source (Public domain): Portrait of G. Chaucer from the 17th centuryFrom:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales as a Masterpiece

• Chaucer's final period.

• He achieved his fullest artistic power.

• The Canterbury Tales (written mostly after 1387). This

unfinished poem, about 17,000 lines, is one of the most

brilliant works in all literature.

• The poem introduces a group of pilgrims journeying from

London to the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket at

Canterbury. To help pass the time they decide to tell

stories. Together, the pilgrims represent a wide cross

section of 14th-century English life.

The General Prologue Introduces Individual

Characters of the Canterbury Tales

Source: A woodcut from William Caxton 's second edition of The Canterbury Tales printed in 1483 at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterbury_Tales

Tales, Storytelling,

Power of Characterization

• They cover a variety of medieval genres from the

humorous fabliau to the serious homily,

• and they vividly indicate medieval attitudes and

customs in such areas as love, marriage, and religion.

• Chaucer's superb powers of characterization

• Chaucer was a master storyteller and craftsman.

Each of the Tales told by a very specific individual

• There are three layers of the meaning in each Tale.

• No. 1 – the story itself

• No. 2 - the teller and the way this story is told

• No 3 - and finally it is Chaucer himself manipulating

the relationship between the teller and the Tale to

make a point about the character

Chaucer´s Skills

• Narrative skills

• Skills at describing places and settings,

• Ability to create a vivid portrait with ironic details.

• Plot and character details, dialogues – as a major

technique.

• Perfect links between stories.

• Wide range of knowledge (astronomy, astrology,

medicine, the law, chivalry, the art of rhetoric)

Chaucer´s Treatment of Characters

He describes them by :

• Their job or rank• The type and colour of their clothing• Their “accessories” (jewelry, pets, other portables)• Their interests• Their income• The way they act• Their “secrets”• Their status in society as a whole• The way they speak / their slang or accent• Their follies, weaknesses, etc.

The Wife of Bath from the Prologue in

Images

• The opening page of The Wife of Bath's Tale from the Ellesmere manuscript of The Canterbury Tales , circa 1405–1410. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wife-of-Bat h-ms.jpg

Read the portrait of the Wife of Bath from the Prologue and prepare a list of Chaucer´s areas of characterization.

Find the lines which are humorous or ironic.

Who were the other poets of the the

medieval period of literary development ?

Some of the authors were anonymous. They created

ballads in the form of short songs that tell stories:

• Sir Patrick Spens

• The Unquiet Grave

• Robin Hood Ballads

• One anonymous work is very important – a

chivalric romance Sir Gawain and the Grene Knight (Sir Gawain is tested here by supernatural powers but he fails. It is a poem that does not keep the conventional approach to the theme).

Latin Works:

Geoffrey of Monmouth

Historia Regum Britanniae

- a collection of historical events and legends, it includes

the first tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the

Round Table.