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Geoffrey Chaucer:

“The Father of English Poetry”

His Most Popular Work:

The Canterbury Tales- “The Human Comedy”

Important Facts Chaucer was born in 1342 and died in

1400. The Canterbury Tales was his crowning

achievement, which he never finished. Chaucer wrote the CT’s in Middle English,

which is a mixture of Old French and Old English.

The Canterbury Tales: The Basics It is known as a Frame Tale- Contains a prologue and

individual tales…talk about a unique plot structure. The lines are written in heroic couplets. The poem includes pilgrims from three different class

systems: 1. the laity 2. the religious 3. the feudal. The Canterbury Tales describes the religious journey

(pilgrimage) from the Tabard Inn (London) to the shrine of Saint Thomas a Beckett located in the Canterbury Cathedral.

His Characters- Real or Fiction?

Chaucer uses irony to “paint” his pilgrims as real people he may have encountered while completing diplomatic duties for England.

We’re not sure if Chaucer ever went on a

pilgrimage; however, we do know that at one point in his life he did live in an apartment that overlooked the pilgrimage path out of the Southwark borough that heads to Canterbury.

A Few Pilgrims We’ll Meet

Knight- Feudal Class, Perfect, Great Warrior

Doctor- Laity Class, Uses Astronomy to Diagnose Illnesses, Loves “Using Gold” in his practice

Pardoner- Religious Group, Sells fake relics to make money, Hypocrite, Greedy

“Pilgrims” in our Society

Politicians? Professional Athletes? Celebrities? CEOs, Big Business Executives? Religious People? Different Race and Ethnic groups? Upper class vs. Middle Class vs. Lower

Class

The General Prologue (In Middle English)

Whan that Aprill with his shoures sooteThe droghte of March hath perced to the roote,And bathed every veyne in swich licourOf which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breethInspired hath in every holt and heathThe tendre croppes, and the yonge sonneHath in the ram his half cours yronne,And smale foweles maken melodye,That slepen al the nyght with open ye(so priketh hem nature in hir corages);Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,