Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury tales Flashcards
What can you tell me about Geoffrey Chaucer ?
- He was close to the royal family .This allowed him to often travel to France and Italy, where he fell in love with Boccaccio,Dante and Petrach’s work.
- It is speculated that he supported the Lollardy movement and John Wycliffe.
He wrote the masterpiece: The Canterbury Tales
-He was the first poet to be buried in the Poet’s corner in westminster Abbey.
Which were the three periods of Chaucer literature?
- The French period: poems modelled on French romance styles and subjects.
- The Italian period: shows greater maturity and skill in the use of metre.
- The English period: characterised by greater realism and includes his most famous work : The Canterbury Tales
Dante is to Italian what Chaucer is to English,which is?
Chaucer is considered the father of English literature.
Not only did he redeem English literature which at the time wasn’t considered as fine and elegant as Latin or French literature ,but he also coined about 2,000 words and phrases. The most used and famous being “shaking like a leaf” and “love is blind” .
What is the plot of The Canterbury Tales?
The story is about 30 pilgrims, including Chaucer as the narrator and a host . They are going on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Thomas Becket in canterbury.
To make the journey less boring the Host suggests that each pilgrim tells two story.The best story will win a price.Unfortunately Chaucer died before finishing this masterpiece so the pilgrims never reached Canterbury.
What kind of narrative does the poem own?
The poem owns a Frame type of narrative. This means that in the stories we can fin other stories ,in this case, the ones told by the pilgrims. The descriptions are all in Chaucer point of view and he describes the characters mostly with a ironic tone. The tales that the pilgrims tell are rich in realistic elements and there is always a moralising tone under the story.
What can you say about the pilgrims?
Chaucer used the characters of the pilgrims to portray his contemporary society. Each character is thouroghly analysed and behind their description there is always a moral of some sort.The pilgrims go from the clergy to commoners and peasants ,hi did not describe the aristocracy in pilgrimage because they would have not travelled with commoners.
What is the main theme ?
The main theme is the pilgrimage which can be also associated with rebirth. The journey is so an allegory of the course of human life .
Can you talk about how Chaucer viewed women ?
It is clear that he didn’t mind presenting the hierarchy in a different way. In fact he interchanged female and male roles quite often in the Canterbury tales. Chaucer this way underlined the new importance of women within the growing class of merchants and tradesmen. He seemed too show a real respect and understanding of women.
