The Canterbury Tales Unit
The Medieval Period 1066-1485
The Middle of What?
-
Takes place between the ____________ Greece and ________ and the
__________________.
Power of the Church:
- Controlled about _____ of land in Western Europe
- Prompted the ____________ and the ______________
- ________________: poverty, chastity, and obedience
o Libraries and scriptoria to copy book and illuminate manuscripts.
A Transition…
- Vernacular _____ to more defined language ______
- Rapid literary, political, _________ , and _____________ shifts.
The Black Plague… (Analysis: write in the notes)
-
Ring around the Rosies –
Pocket full of PosiesAshes, AshesWe all fall down-
o
o
Peaked between __________ - _____________
Estimated to have killed _____ to _____ of ______________ population, reducing
the world’s population from an estimated _________ million to between 350 and
375 million in _________.
Feudalism:
- Divided out some to church and Barons known as fifes
- Had to:
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o _____________
o Supply knights/soldiers; received _________________ (manors)
- Land worked by peasants (__________)
- Kings held feudal domains in ___________ and France
Feudalism is a –
Changing Government:
- _____________ ended in 1154
- Henry II comes to rule; Founded the _______________________
o Church vs. King power
- Appoints Thomas Becket to archbishop at ______________ as a way to try and control
both church and state
Lecture about Saint Thomas a’ Beckett:
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Read the selection carefully and fill each space with the correct word from the word bank below.
Unflattering
Ransomed
Twenty-six
Squire
French
London
Courtiers
Soldiers
Medieval
Large
Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400) was the earliest great poet and story-teller in English literature. He was born in
____________________, in Thames Street not far from the Tower of London. Living close to the docks and being the son
of a prosperous wine merchant allowed for plenty of stimulation for Chaucer’s active imagination growing up.
In 1357, he went to be a page of the Countess of Ulster who was a daughter-in-law of King Edward III. He met
___________________ and statesmen, ___________________ and ambassadors, artists, musicians and craftsmen.
When later he was promoted to ___________________, his wages rose to seven pence halfpenny a day and he was
allowed a room, which he shared with a fellow squire. In 1359, he was sent abroad to fight the ___________________ in
what is now called the Hundred Years War. That winter he was taken prisoner near Rheims and the following year, when
he was ___________________ for 16£, he went home. King Edward III must have thought highly of him to pay this sum,
which was a ___________________ amount in those days.
In 1366, when he was aged approximately ___________________, Chaucer married Philippa de Roet, lady-in-waiting to
the Queen and a sister of the King son’s third wife.
Love played little part in ___________________ marriages as they were usually arranged by parents or friends. From the
___________________ comments that Chaucer makes in his poems about marriage, it seems that this was not a
particularly happy match.
Here are ten more sentences about the next stages in Chaucer’s life, but they are jumbled. Put them in the
correct order.
A. ____On his return to London in 1374, he was made Controller of Customs on wool, skins and hides, a post he
held until 1386.
B. ____From the east, he could see hills and unhedged fields.
C. ____Unfortunately for Chaucer, at the end of 1386, he lost all his public offices because his patron, John of
____Gaunt, was sent to Spain.
D. ____This visit brought him into contact with the finest art and literature in the world including the writers Petrarch
and Boccaccio, the greatest writers of the day.
E. ____In early 1386, as a poet, diplomat and man of business, he was made Justice of the Peace and a Knight of
the Shire.
F. ____In those days the countryside came right up to the city walls.
G. ____The loss of his jobs was lucky for us, however, as it gave Chaucer time to start on his greatest work. The
Canterbury Tales.
H. ____With this job, the city of London gave him a house and from its west windows he could look out on to the
crowded streets and see a hundred church spires.
I. ____In 1373, he was sent to Italy for the first time, on the King’s business.
J. ____Living in such a pleasant house was a happy time for him, especially as the job was so undemanding that he
had plenty of time to write, including “The Parliament of Birds” and “Troilus and Criseyde.”
Chaucer never finished The Canterbury Tales in the way that he wanted. He died financially insecure and was
buried in Westminster Abbey in the first of those tombs that are grouped together and known as Poets’ Corner.
PILGRIMAGE:
WHO:
WHAT:
WHERE:
WHY:
ME:
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Building a Canterbury Character Through Characterization
____________________
Your Name
Direct Characterization:
This is information you should find IN THE TEXT
Physical Appearance
Job description
Traveling with…
(props, people etc)
Knight
Squire
Your Pick
Indirect Characterization:
These are things you will make inferences about or come up with yourself. They are not in black and white. Be creative
but link it to the text.
Personality
What would their
theme song be?
Here begins the Book
of the Tales of Canterbury
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What 5 adj.s would
you use to describe
them?
Why are they making
a trip to Canterbury?
Middle English Prologue EC assignment: Memorize
and recite by next FridayPage
for EC
(5 pts)
4 ofcoupon!
9
When April with his showers sweet with fruit
The drought of March has pierced unto the root
And bathed each vein with liquor that has power
When April with his showers sweet with fruit
The drought of March has pierced unto the root
And bathed each vein with liquor that has power
To generate therein and sire the flower;
When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath,
Quickened again, in every holt and heath,
The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun
Into the Ram one half his course 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 do folk long to go on pilgrimage,
And palmers to go seeking out strange strands,
To distant shrines well known in sundry lands.
And specially from every shire's end
Of England they to Canterbury wend,
The holy blessed martyr there to seek
Who helped them when they lay so ill and weal
Befell that, in that season, on a day
In Southwark, at the Tabard, as I lay
Ready to start upon my pilgrimage
To Canterbury, full of devout homage,
There came at nightfall to that hostelry
Some nine and twenty in a company
Of sundry persons who had chanced to fall
In fellowship, and pilgrims were they all
That toward Canterbury town would ride.
The rooms and stables spacious were and wide,
And well we there were eased, and of the best.
And briefly, when the sun had gone to rest,
So had I spoken with them, every one,
That I was of their fellowship anon,
And made agreement that we'd early rise
To take the road, as you I will apprise.
But none the less, whilst I have time and space,
Before yet farther in this tale I pace,
It seems to me accordant with reason
To inform you of the state of every one
Of all of these, as it appeared to me,
And who they were, and what was their degree,
And even how arrayed there at the inn;
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Character Stereotype Symbols:
For each of the introductions, make sure you record a symbol on the stick figure below. You should have one
awesome representation of Chaucer’s society! Make sure you can justify each one!
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The Canterbury Tales Study Guide
Prologue Reflection
1.
Why do you think Chaucer starts his catalogue of descriptions with the knight?
2.
Note several ways in which Chaucer’s Prologue provides readers with social commentary.
3.
Why does Chaucer apologize in the sentence starting with line 745?
Read Lines 804-856 (Pg 117-119)
4.
What is noteworthy about Chaucer’s description of the Host?
5.
By what criteria will he judge the stories?
6.
How do they determine the first storyteller?
The Pardoner’s Tale Background (pg122-123)
7.
Define allegory.
8.
List the characteristics of archetypal narrative elements
9.
What are pardons?
10. What important skill(s) does the Pardoner possess that Chaucer praises? Criticizes?
11. What do all his sermons illustrate and why?
The P ardoner’s prologue (page 124-125)
Chaucer’s characterization of the Pardoner as a rapacious figure out for personal gain is a satire of the religious state of
affairs in his era. Before the Reformation in the sixteenth century, religious abuses were fairly common.
12. What is the text on which the Pardoner always preaches? (lines 5-8)
13. What are the “antics” the Pardoner refers to in line 17 (re-read lines 14-15 for a clue).
14. How does the Pardoner defend himself and his brothers? (lines 32-40)
15. What vice does the Pardoner admit to having even though he preaches against it? (lines 41-46)
16. What previous vocabulary word does question # 4 describe? (look at line 25-29 for a hint)
17. How does the Pardoner characterize a “yokel mind”? (lines 55-56)
18. What does the Pardoner say he will always avoid no matter what? (lines 57-59)
19. List a few pleasures the Pardoner indulges in. (lines 66-71)
20. Why does the Pardoner choose to tell a “moral tale”? (lines 74-80)
The pardoner’s tale (page 126-133)
21. What details at the beginning of the tale allow us to draw conclusions about the 3 main characters? (lines 81-83)
22. Who is in the coffin passing by? (lines 92-93)
23. How is Death personified? (lines 95-98)
24. What killed this person and a thousand others? (line 99)
25. How does the tavern-knave attempt to warn the rioters? (lines 100-104)
26. How do they respond? (lines 113-121) What condition are they in when the set out? (lines 125-127)
27. Describe the encounter with the old man.
28. What archetypal (look to page 122 o remind you of characteristics) role does the old man play? (lines 182-189)
29. What do the rioters find under the oak tree? (lines 190-194)
30. Why do they stop hunting for Death? (lines 194-196)
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31. How do the rioters account for the treasure? (lines200-205)
32. Why can’t they take the treasure home? (lines 206-211)
33. What is the first rioter’s strategy for increasing his share? (lines 230-258)
34. What is the youngest rioter’s plan? (lines 259-274)
35. How does this tale preach against greed?
36. In addition to greed, what sins does the exemplum preach in lines 319-324.
37. How does the narrator feel about what transpires?
38. How is the Pardoner’s audience to avoid the rioters’ fate? (lines 329-339)
The wife of bath’s tale (page 137-155)
In creating the Wife of Bath, Chaucer drew upon a centuries-old tradition of anti-feminist writings that was particularly
nurtured by the medieval church. In their conviction that the rational, intellectual, spiritual, and, therefore, higher side of
human nature predominated in men, whereas the irrational, material, earthly, and, therefore, lower side of human nature
predominated in women, St. Paul and the early Church fathers exalted celibacy and virginity above marriage. This pilgrim
demonstrates the conflict between bookish male “auctoritee” (authority)—or knowledge of books—with female
“experience”—or knowledge of the world.
1.
What is the setting for the Wife’s tale? (lines 1-8)
2.
How does she contrast the setting of the tale with her own time period?( lines 1-26)
3.
How does she account for the change? (lines 10; 23-26)
4.
With which act of violence does the Wife’s tale begin? (lines 30-34)
5.
How does the king respond? (lines 35-39)
6.
What is the queen’s plan for the knight’s fate? (lines 45-58)
7.
How long does the queen allow the knight to seek an answer to her question? (line 55)
8.
List some of the answers the knight receives when he polls the people he encounters. (lines 71-87)
9.
What seems to be the Wife of Bath’s personal opinion? (lines 89-94)
10. In what way does the Wife criticize her own gender? (lines 95-97)
11. What is the story within the story of the Wife’s tale (lines 98-128)
12. Why does the Wife pause her original tale to talk about King Midas?
13. What does the knight see on his way home from the quest? (lines 135-150)
14. According to the knight, what do women most want? (lines 183-188)
15. What is the old woman’s request in exchange for the answer? (lines 200-203)
16. How does the old woman rebuke the knight’s behavior on their wedding night? (lines 233-243; lines 254-263)
17. For what four reasons does the knight find the old woman objectionable? (lines 244-249)
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18. What do the woman’s debating techniques suggest about her?
19. What does gentility have in common with fire? (lines 285-322)
20. What makes poverty an occasion for dancing?(lines 339-340)
21. What final choice does the woman offer to the knight? (lines 365-373)
22. What is his response? (lines 374-381)
23. What is the Wife of Bath’s opinion on the story’s end? (lines 403-410)
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