1. Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales

2. 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 – “Father of English poetry”
Set a precedent.
Poets from Shakespeare to Dryden and Keats to Eliot owe him a debt of gratitude

3. Going on a Pilgrimage
Group of pilgrims heading to Canterbury Cathedral to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket. Most popular locations were Rome or Jerusalem. Occasion in which all social classes come together
Reasons for going:
Hope of heavenly reward
Penance
Miracle/healing
People went in groups for safety
Frame story: These pilgrims tell stories to pass the time. At the inn, where the text begins, the pilgrims agree to tell their own stories. According to the Host, Harry Bailey, the best one wins a prize (night of food and housing at the inn)

4. How could Chaucer write this kind of work?
Son of a merchant, page in a royal house, soldier, diplomat, and royal clerk
As a page, he made beds, carried candles, and ran errands…but got excellent education
All this life experiences made him an expert on all classes
Raised middle class but worked with aristocracy through his page job
Rose above middle class when he married a lady in waiting to the queen
Diplomatic missions to France, Spain, and Italy

5. Canterbury

6. Why Canterbury Tales matters?
“In all literature, there is nothing that touches or resembles the Prologue.
It is the concise portrait of an entire nation, high and low, old and young, male and female, lay (secular) and clerical (religious), learned and ignorant, rogue and righteous, land and sea, town and country” (Nevill Coghill)

7. Estates Satire
Uses exaggeration and sarcasm to show the abuses traditional in each estate (social class) for the different classes in 14th century England
3 Estates: Men only
Clergy (church) – those who prayed
Nobility (court/knights) – those who fought
Peasants (commoners) – those who labor
Estates for Women: virgin, wife, and widow
Yielding soon to rising middle class of merchants and intellectuals

8. 7 Clerical Figures: Target of Chaucer’s Satirical Attack
Prioress: sentimental depiction, proud in a petty way
Monk: hedonistic, hunter, inept but not malicious
Friar: seducer, sells forgiveness
Parson and Plowman: ideal religious men; Parson is one of 2 heroes in tales
Summoner: blackmailed, bribed on way to success; ugly, stupid thug
Pardoner: perfect fraud: charming, clever, corrupt; biggest hypocrite; secular church official fighting w/church official (Friar)

9. Chaucerian Irony
Don’t mistake Canterbury Tales for a historical document of realistic portraits; Chaucer is writing satire, and so “the rascals far outnumber the admirable figures. Chaucer seems to admire them all, without regard to their moral status” (Geoffrey Chaucer page from Harvard)

10. Artistry of Form
Originally planned for 120 stories (2 stories each way on pilgrimage from London to Canterbury for 30 pilgrims), but only 22 completed, with 2 fragmentary tales.
Chaucer left the manuscript(s) unfinished, so we don't know the final ordering of the tales
Narrative structure allowed Chaucer the freedom to create a variety of matter in a unified form. POV: switches between first (I, we) and third (he, she, they), enables reader to see story, person telling story, point behind story--all at once. points of view represent different outlooks, morals
Many genres incorporated including:
Fabliaux, romance, melodrama, sermon, parable, slapstick comedy
Fabliaux: short, bawdy poem *

11. Artistry of Language and Master of Character
Chaucer wrote in English (revolutionary choice at the time). English was gaining ground, but Latin was still the choice for the educated; so Canterbury Tales gained a wider audience.
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)
Indirect and direction characterization