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Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer. Father of English literature The first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey A uthor, philosopher, alchemist, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat B etween 1368 and 1378 he came to Italy where he met the texts of Petrarch, Dante and Boccaccio.

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Geoffrey Chaucer

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  1. Geoffrey Chaucer Father of English literature The first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey Author, philosopher, alchemist, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat Between 1368 and 1378 he came to Italy where he met the texts of Petrarch, Dante and Boccaccio

  2. Canterbury Tales • The Canterbury Tales is a collection of short stories, written mostly after 1388, during the English of Chaucer production. However, his literary model is the Decameron of 1353, the individual stories are original works of Chaucer. • Chaucer was able to create authentic characters whose traits and appearances portrayed more of life's aspects than ever before.

  3. PRIORESS

  4. But she could carry a morsel up and keep The smallest drop from falling on her breast. For courtliness she had a special zest, And she would wipe her upper lip so clean That not a trace of grease was to be seen Upon the cup when she had drunk; to eat, She reached a hand sedately for the meat. She certainly was very entertaining, Pleasant and friendly in her ways, and straining To counterfeit a courtly kind of grace, A stately bearing fitting to her place, And to seem dignified in all her dealings. As for her sympathies and tender feelings,  There also was a Nun, a Prioress,  Her way of smiling very simple and coy. Her greatest oath was only “By St Loy!” And she was known as Madam Eglantyne. And well she sang a service, with a fine Intoning through her nose, as was most seemly, And she spoke daintily in French, extremely, After the school of Stratford-atte-Bowe; French in the Paris style she did not know. At meat her manners were well taught withal; No morsel from her lips did she let fall, Nor dipped her fingers in the sauce too deep; 

  5. Her forehead, certainly, was fair of spread, Almost a span across the brows, I own;  She was indeed by no means underground.  Her dock, I noticed, had a graceful charm. She wore a coral trinket on her arm, A set of beads, the gaudies tricked in green, Whence hung a golden brooch of brightest sheen On which there first was graven a crowned A, And lower, Amor vincit omnia She was so charitably solicitous She used to weep if she but saw a mouse Caught in a trap, if it were dead or bleeding. And she had little dogs she would be feeding With roasted flesh, or milk, or fine white bread. And bitterly she wept if one were dead Or someone took a stick and made it smart, She -was all sentiment and tender heart. Her veil was gathered in a seemly way, Her nose was elegant, her eyes glass-grey; Her mouth was very small, but soft and red, 

  6. The behavior • The Prioress adopts a behavior to seem like a courtly damsel, but she doesn't reveal her really education. • Although her elegant and noble table manners suggest that she comes from a court, Chaucer informs us that she tries to appear in that way because she is fascinated by this courteous world but her manners aren't natural. • Chaucer does not reveal the her behavior to humans. • She loves animals and treats her dogs as noble people at a time when most of the people suffer from hunger. really, she is a thoughtful woman with animals but not with people, as opposed to how it should be a nun. and instead of engaging in prayer she prefers to sing. • Chaucer does not judge the prioress or her attitudes but leaves the reader to reflect on attitudes unusual for a head of convent.

  7. The physicalaspect • Chaucer has painted an elegant and unusual portrait of the Prioress. • Chaucer describes the Prioress as a beautiful woman who does not go unnoticed. • She simulates to be simple and have a tender heart but an unknown woman hides behind that smile. • The glass-gray eyes are impenetrable and cold, also they do not allow you to read in them the real sentiments. • Chaucer tells us that her lips were red. This adjective is in contrast with the colors of a nun and suggests that the lips were rigged.

  8. The cloths She is elegantly dressed in a cloak and her wimple is neatly pleated. The veil is gathered in seemly way and leaves uncovered the forehead. She loves tasteful jewelry in fact she possesses a green -coral rosary and an elegant gold brooch on which there are graven ‘Amor vincitOmnia’. The pendant, which could refer to God's love, in her case more probably refers to the courtly love between a damsel and hero.

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