1. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Feature Menu
Introducing the Selection
Literary Focus: Characterization
Literary Focus: Frame Story
Reading Focus: Analyzing Style—Key Details
Writing Focus: Think as a Reader-Writer

2. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Chaucer’s Canterbury Pilgrims (1810) by William Blake. Engraving.
What moves a hero to act?

3. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
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4. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Introducing the Selection
For the most part, only the light characters travel. Who are you that have no task to keep you at home? —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

5. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Introducing the Selection
Take a Tour
If you went on a tour today, what types of people would you meet? Do you think you might come across a “character” or two?
Chaucer’s characters are the kinds of people he would have known in real life and observed riding toward Canterbury on the old pilgrimage road.

6. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Introducing the Selection
Chaucer used the East Midland dialect of Middle English. This dialect was the most common colloquial language at the time and became the basis for modern English.

7. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Introducing the Selection
Twenty-nine pilgrims are on their way to the shrine of Saint Thomas à Becket in Canterbury.
The time is April, and the place is the Tabard Inn in Southwark (SUTH erk), just outside London.
London
Canterbury
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8. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Literary Focus: Characterization
Chaucer uses indirect characterization when he tells how each character
looks and dresses
This yeoman wore a coat and hood of green, And peacock-feathered arrows, bright and keen
speaks and acts
Her greatest oath was only “By St. Loy!”
thinks and feels
And gladly would he learn, and gladly teach.

9. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Literary Focus: Characterization
Chaucer also uses direct characterization, when he comes right out and tells us what a character’s nature is—virtuous, vain, clever, and so on.
There was a Friar, a wanton one and merry, A Limiter, a very festive fellow.
In all Four Orders there was none so mellow,
So glib with gallant phrase and well-turned speech.
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10. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Literary Focus: Frame Story
A frame story is a literary device that binds together several different narratives. It is a story that contains other stories.
In The Canterbury Tales, the Prologue serves as the frame story.
The Prologue introduces each pilgrim and describes the journey they will all begin the next day.

11. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Literary Focus: Frame Story
Following the Prologue, the characters tell their own stories.
The pilgrims’ tales are stories within the frame.
Their individual stories are united by the frame.
Each tale has its own theme that supports the theme of the larger work.
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12. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Reading Focus: Analyzing Style: Key Details
With twenty-nine pilgrims to introduce, Chaucer couldn’t develop any one character at great length. Instead, he provides a few well-chosen details to make each character stand out vividly.

13. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Reading Focus: Analyzing Style: Key Details
Identifying key details about these characters can help you determine what Chaucer thinks about his characters and their experiences.
How do details of dress, appearance, and behavior influence your first impression of each pilgrim?
Note that some details contradict what the characters think of themselves (or want others to think of them).

14. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Reading Focus: Analyzing Style: Key Details
Into Action: As you read, use a chart like the one below to note one or two key details about the main characters in the Prologue. Briefly describe what you think each detail emphasizes about the character.
What Detail
Character Key Detail Emphasizes
the Knight
“He had done nobly in his sovereign’s
war / And ridden into battle.”
It tells us he’s a brave man, a strong warrior,
and someone of great experience.
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15. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Writing Focus: Think as a Reader/Writer
Find It in Your Reading
Describing each character’s appearance is one method of characterization that Chaucer uses.
As you read, consider how Chaucer describes each character’s physical appearance. Make notes on the different types of physical details he provides.
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16. Vocabulary 16

17. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
eminent adj.: great; of high standing.
benign adj.: kind; gracious.
guile n.: sly dealings; skill in deceiving.
obstinate adj.: unreasonably stubborn.
frugal adj.: thrifty; careful with money.

18. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
The word eminent is often used to describe an important person.
The Lincoln Memorial expresses Americans’ regard for this eminent president.
It comes from a word related to hill, suggesting that an eminent person stands out from the crowd.

19. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
“I would like to introduce our eminent speaker,” said the principal.
Are people in the audience likely to know who the speaker is?

20. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
The word benign comes from a French word meaning “good.”
Yolanda wore a benign smile as she petted the chick.
It is related to words like
• benefit
• benevolent
• beneficial

21. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
If a doctor says a growth is benign, is that good news?

22. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
The word guile comes from a French word meaning “trick.”
In Aesop’s fables, the fox often succeeds in tricking other animals because it is full of guile.

23. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
A person who is full of guile is
trustworthy
easy to fool
skilled at deception

24. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
A person who is full of guile is
trustworthy
easy to fool
skilled at deception

25. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
Mules are well-known for sometimes refusing to head towards danger, as the mule sees it.
People are sometimes said to be “as stubborn as a mule.”
Stubborn people could also be called “as obstinate as a mule.”

26. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
A obstinate person is
easy to persuade
hard to change
eager to try new things

27. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
A obstinate person is
easy to persuade
hard to change
eager to try new things

28. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
The word miser comes from a Latin word meaning “pitiful or wretched.”
A miser would rather hold on to money than spend it.
A related word is miserable.

29. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
According to legend, King Midas was rich, but he wanted to be richer.
A god gave him the power to turn everything he touched to gold. Of course, this made it hard to eat. So the king was miserable until the god took his golden touch away.
Was Midas a miser?
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30. The End

31. QuickWrite

32. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales QuickWrite
If you wanted to write a story about a pilgrimage, what sorts of characters would you include, and where would they go?
Write two paragraphs explaining your choices.
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33. Build Background

34. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Build Background
The Canterbury Tales is a group of stories told by the characters as they travel together to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas à Becket in Canterbury.
The Prologue sets up the purpose of their journey, introduces all of the characters, and provides a detailed description of each member of the group.
Written at the end of the fourteenth century, the poem provides a rich view of life during Chaucer’s time.
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35. Meet the Writer 35

36. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Meet the Writer
Geoffrey Chaucer had two careers: He was not only a writer but also an important government official. Chaucer was so important, in fact, that when he was captured in France while serving as a soldier during the Hundred Years’ War, the king himself contributed to the ransom.
More about the writer
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37. Read with a Purpose 37

38. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Read with a Purpose
Read to discover how Chaucer uses a collection of diverse individuals to create a vibrant picture of medieval culture and society.
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