1 / 10

Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer’s Life. Born to a wealthy wine merchant Was made a page in court Served various kings as a soldier, diplomat, and civil servant Was well traveled and well-spoken Likely met Boccaccio and Petrarch

ivana-may
Download Presentation

Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales

  2. Chaucer’s Life • Born to a wealthy wine merchant • Was made a page in court • Served various kings as a soldier, diplomat, and civil servant • Was well traveled and well-spoken • Likely met Boccaccio and Petrarch • Stayed mostly in London, but eventually to Kent and Canterbury • Died while working on The Canterbury Tales

  3. History of the Tales • Geoffrey Chaucer began writing the tales around 1387 AD • Uncompleted manuscript published 1400AD, the year he died • First book of poetry purposely written in the English language • Set a precedent and poets from Shakespeare to Dryden and Keats to Eliot owe him a debt of gratitude

  4. Artistry of Form • As a work of art it encompasses individuality and universality • Narrative structure allowed Chaucer the freedom to create a variety of matter in a unified form • Many genres incorporated including; • Fabliaux • Romance • Melodrama • Parable • And more…

  5. Artistry of Form (cont’d.) • Despite being unfinished, clear indications of a plan • Each pilgrim to tell at least two stories maybe four • Chaucer was writing and collecting whatever occurred to him, but it was likely to find a more firmly constructed structure as it neared completion.

  6. Artistry of Language • Chaucer wrote in English • It was becoming more solid and widespread • He used verse, which was the norm, but varied it according to his purpose • Despite borrowing much of his material, his use of language injects these tales with new life

  7. Mastery of Character • Part of his master rests with creating characters • The characters take turns telling tales • They have depth and verisimilitude • Characters are created through: • Physical descriptions (some quite graphic) • Characters interacting with each other • The tales themselves reflecting character (often specifically their personalities and motivations)

  8. Merits of Meaning • Chaucer is free to use tales to convey multiple themes • Creates a microcosm of medieval English life (almost a sociological exploration possible) • Paints a multifaceted picture of humanity • Parodies forms of literature • Entertains

  9. Here Bygynneth the Book of the tales of Caunterbury 1: Whan that aprill with his shoures soote2: The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,3: And bathed every veyne in swich licour4: Of which vertu engendred is the flour;5: Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth6: Inspired hath in every holt and heeth7: Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne8: Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne,

  10. 9: And smale foweles maken melodye,10: That slepen al the nyght with open ye11: (so priketh hem nature in hir corages);12: Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,13: And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,14: To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;15: And specially from every shires ende16: Of engelond to caunterbury they wende,17: The hooly blisful martir for to seke,

More Related