1. Middle English Chaucer’s Language

2. Spelling There was no one way to spell a word, unlike today’s language. All of Chaucer’s letters are pronounced (no silent letters) Consonant letters will not be as problematic as vowels Many contemporaries believed that Chaucer was a poor rhymester

3. Iambic Pentameter All of Chaucer’s poems are written in iambic pentameter 5 feet on a line (unstress/stress=1 foot) Rhyme scheme (abab, cdcd, efef, gg)

4. Chaucer’s Consonants We must pronounce the letters k, g, l, r though in today’s language those letters may be silent Try say to say and decipher the word below: KNOKKE

5. Chaucer’s Vowels There are more than one pronunciation of the vowels e, i, and o Many of Chaucer’s vowels are diphthongs (gliding vowel sounds to blend into one) *Note: ou is not a diphthong as it is today Ex. Today’s word- HOUSE would actually rhyme with GOOSE in Middle English HOOSE?????-Yep! That’s it!!!

6. Vowels A and E a, aa= “ah”-April (today’s English) =Ahpril (Middle English) ai, ay and ei, ey= “ah-ee” as in aisle MAYDE???? e, ee= “a, at”-Math (today’s English) GREET???? e= “uh”-sofa (often found at the end of iambic pentameter line but not pronounced)

7. Vowel I and O i,y = “ee”-sheet (today’s English) and “short i”- him NYNE???? RIDEN??? oi, oy=“oh-ee”-boy (today’s English)-has not changed OISTRE???

8. Vowel O (con’t) o, oo= “aw”-claw (today’s English) and pronounced the same way in today’s English HOOLY??? FREDOM??? o,oo= “oh”-most (today’s English) and food BLOOD??? ou, ow= “oo” and “uh”-crawl (today’s English) KNOWEN??? and SOULE???

9. VOWEL U u= pronounced the same way we use today MUCHEL???? READY? LET’S HAVE FUN…

10. TASK 1 In your groups and using the rules (pgs. xxxiii- xl) translate the following lines: “He was a verray, parfit, gentil knight. But for to tellen yow of his array, His hors were gode, but he was nat gay.”

11. Task 2 Which vowels did you find difficult to translate? Which line was most difficult? Were you able to read the lines with ease?

12. Task 3 Translate the following lines “Short was his goune, with sleves longe and wyde. Wel coude he sitte on hors, and raire ryde. He coude songes make and wel endyte