1. Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer 1342-1400 So, what is so great about The Canterbury Tales?

2. The Language The Prologue- a “concise portrait of an entire nation, high and low, old and young, male and female, lay and clerical, learned and ignorant, rogue and righteous, land and sea, town and country but without extremes.” All characters are normal, sharply individual but together making a party of travelers.

3. Chaucer is in his own story He is the Host, he tells the story about the many stories. He comments on his own appearances (he talks about his plumpness) as well as the other travelers.

4. Rhyming Couplets Written in iambic pentameter (5 feet, or 10 syllables per line) Every two lines rhyme

5. The Pilgrimage Inspired by the superiority of the Italian literature (Dante) Plan of the pilgrimage made possible a much greater diversity of story tellers and their stories, furnished a more lively background, and presented greater dramatic possibilities in the contrasts of the pilgrims. 30 pilgrims: two stories there, two stories return

6. Continued: The pilgrims meet at Tabard Inn in London and propose the tales and the contest upon the traveling. Sixty stories connected by remarks made by listeners. The winner would be announced at the final banquet upon the return from Sir Thomas Beckett’s shrine\ Never written because Chaucer died (some scholars finished it though).

7. So, The Prologue Chaucer speaks directly to the reader A holiday mood prevails The descriptions of various pilgrims in rapid sequence It is and was meant to be entertaining as well as a dig!

8. Why? Told during a long journey from London to the shrine of the martyr St Thomas of Beckett at Canterbury Cathedral 70 miles southeast. See The Prologue on page 107 of your textbook for the story. Answer the quiz using The Prologue in the book and the Geoffrey Chaucer preview handout.