Woman carrying a distaff while feeding chickens

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(No Transcript)
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Woman carrying a distaff while feeding
chickens Luttrell Psalter, British Library,
London 14th c. England
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Medieval English Clocks
Salisbury Cathedral, c. 1386
Wells Cathedral, c. 1392
Well sikerer was his crowyng in his logge Than is
a clokke or an abbey orlogge. (VII.2853-54)
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What is woman? The confusion of man. An
insatiable beast. A continual trouble. An
unceasing battle. The wreck of the continent man.
A human slave.
From Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Historiale
xi.71 ( before 1260), quoted in Carleton Brown ,
Mulier est hominis confusio, Modern Language
Notes, Vol. 35, No. 8 (Dec., 1920), pp. 479-482
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This sely wydwe and eek hir doghtres twoHerden
thise hennes crie and maken wo,And out at dores
stirten they anon,And syen the fox toward the
grove gon,And bar upon his bak the cok away,And
cryden, "Out! Harrow and weylaway!Ha, ha! The
fox!" and after hym they ran,And eek with staves
many another man. (VII. 3375-3382)
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Marie de France, Fables (c. 1190)THE COCK AND
THE FOX(from the Harvard Chaucer Page)

• But as he crossed an open space,
• The shepherds spy him off they fly
• The dogs give chase with hue and cry.
• The Fox still holds the Cock, though fear
• Suggests his case is growing queer.
• 'Tush!' cries the Cock, 'cry out, to grieve 'em,
• "The cock is mine! I'll never leave him!"
• The Fox attempts, in scorn, to shout,
• And opes his mouth the Cock slips out,
• And, in a trice, has gained a tree.
• Too late the Fox begins to see
• How well the Cock his game has play'd
• For once his tricks have been repaid.
• In angry language, uncontrolled,
• He 'gins to curse the mouth that's bold
• To speak, when it should silent be.
• 'Well,' says the Cock, 'the same with me
• I curse the eyes that go to sleep

• A Cock our story tells of, who
• High on a dunghill stood and crew.
• A Fox, attracted, straight drew nigh,
• And spake soft words of flattery.
• 'Dear Sir!' said he, 'Your look's divine
• I never saw a bird so fine!
• I never heard a voice so clear
• Except your father's -- ah! poor dear!
• His voice rang clearly, loudly but
• Most clearly, when his eyes were shut!'
• 'The same with me!' the Cock replies,
• And flaps his wings, and shuts his eyes.
• Each note rings clearer than the last
• The Fox starts up, and holds him fast
• Towards the wood he hies apace.

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An engraving by Wilhelm von Kaulbach for the 1857
edition of Goethes 'Reinecke Fuchs'.
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    God turne us every drem to goode!For hyt is
wonder, be the roode,To my wyt, what causeth
swevenesEyther on morwes or on evenesAnd why
th'effect folweth of somme, And of somme hit
shal never comeWhy that is an avisiounAnd this
a revelacioun,Why this a drem, why that a
sweven,And noght to every man lyche even  Why
this a fantome, why these oracles,I not but
whoso of these miraclesThe causes knoweth bet
then I,Devyne he for I certeinlyNe kan hem
noght, ne never thinke         To besily my wyt
to swinke,To knowe of hir signifiaunceThe
gendres, neyther the distaunceOf tymes of hem,
ne the causes,Or why this more then that cause
is   As yf folkys complexionsMake hem dreme of
reflexionsOr ellys thus, as other sayn,For to
gret feblenesse of her brayn,By abstinence, or
by seknesse, Prison, stewe, or gret distresse,
Chaucer, The House of Fame 1-65
Or ellys by dysordynaunceOf naturel
acustumaunce,That som man is to curiousIn
studye, or melancolyous,  Or thus, so inly ful of
drede,That no man may hym bote bede Or elles
that devocionOf somme, and contemplacionCauseth
suche dremes ofte      Or that the cruel lyf
unsofteWhich these ilke lovers ledenThat hopen
over-muche or dreden,That purely her
impressionsCausen hem to have visions           
Or yf that spirites have the myghtTo make folk
to dreme a-nyghtOr yf the soule, of propre
kynde,Be so parfit, as men fynde,That yt forwot
that ys to come,           And that hyt warneth
alle and someOf everych of her aventures        
Be avisions, or be figures,But that oure flessh
ne hath no myghtTo understonde hyt
aryght,            For hyt is warned to derkly
--But why the cause is, noght wot I.Wel worthe,
of this thyng, grete clerkys,That trete of this
and other werkesFor I of noon
opinion                       Nyl as now make
mensyon,But oonly that the holy roodeTurne us
every drem to goode!For never, sith that I was
born,Ne no man elles me beforn,                  
Mette, I trowe stedfastly,So wonderful a drem
as IThe tenthe day now of Decembre,The which,
as I kan now remembre,I wol yow tellen everydel. 
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Nuns Priests Tale outlineby Maurice Hussey
reprinted in Peter Travis, Disseminal Chaucer
(2010), 10-11

• 1-54 Prologue
• 55-115 Introduction of human and bird characters
• 116-141 The Tale (I) The Dream
• 142-175 Pertelote's interpretation (based upon
  Cato)
• 176-203 Her medical advice
• 204-217 Chauntecleer's rejection of her
  interpretation
• 218-283 The first example the murder of the
  pilgrim
• 284-296 Brief moralization upon murder and
  punishment
• 297-343 The second example deaths by drowning
• 344-355 The third example the death of St Kenelm
• 356-360 The reference to Scipio's dream
• 361-371 The reference to Joseph's dreams
• 372-384 Citation of classical examples
• (i) Croesus (372-374)
• (ii) Andromache (375-384)
• 385-390 Chauntecleer's conclusion
• 391-420 The Tale (II) In the Yard
• 421-433 Astronomical interlude
• 434-440 Chauntecleer's fears

• 441-448 Digression upon rhetoric
• 449-459 Introduction of the Fox
• 460-463 Digression upon treachery
• 464-485 Digression upon Predestination
• 486-558 The Tale (III) with moralization
  (486-500)
• 559-564 Sermon upon Flattery
• 565-571 The Tale (IV) The attack upon
  Chauntecleer
• 572-575 Digression upon Destiny
• 576-580 Digression upon Venus
• 581-588 Digression upon Richard I
• 589-608 Classical lamentations
• (i) Troy (589-595)
• (ii) Carthage (596-602)
• (iii) Rome (603-608)
• 609-636 The Tale (V) The Chase
• 637-638 Couplet upon Fortune
• 639-669 The Tale (VI) The Escape
• 670-680 The Moral
• 691-696 Epilogue

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Nuns Priests Tale outlineby Maurice Hussey
reprinted in Peter Travis, Disseminal Chaucer
(2010), 10-11

• 1-54 Prologue
• 55-115 Introduction of human and bird characters
• 116-141 The Tale (I) The Dream
• 142-175 Pertelote's interpretation (based upon
  Cato)
• 176-203 Her medical advice
• 204-217 Chauntecleer's rejection of her
  interpretation
• 218-283 The first example the murder of the
  pilgrim
• 284-296 Brief moralization upon murder and
  punishment
• 297-343 The second example deaths by drowning
• 344-355 The third example the death of St Kenelm
• 356-360 The reference to Scipio's dream
• 361-371 The reference to Joseph's dreams
• 372-384 Citation of classical examples
• (i) Croesus (372-374)
• (ii) Andromache (375-384)
• 385-390 Chauntecleer's conclusion
• 391-420 The Tale (II) In the Yard
• 421-433 Astronomical interlude
• 434-440 Chauntecleer's fears

• 441-448 Digression upon rhetoric
• 449-459 Introduction of the Fox
• 460-463 Digression upon treachery
• 464-485 Digression upon Predestination
• 486-558 The Tale (III) with moralization
  (486-500)
• 559-564 Sermon upon Flattery
• 565-571 The Tale (IV) The attack upon
  Chauntecleer
• 572-575 Digression upon Destiny
• 576-580 Digression upon Venus
• 581-588 Digression upon Richard I
• 589-608 Classical lamentations
• (i) Troy (589-595)
• (ii) Carthage (596-602)
• (iii) Rome (603-608)
• 609-636 The Tale (V) The Chase
• 637-638 Couplet upon Fortune
• 639-669 The Tale (VI) The Escape
• 670-680 The Moral
• 691-696 Epilogue

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Larry Scanlon, The Authority of Fable Allegory
and Irony in the Nuns Priests Tale, Exemplaria
1 (1989) 43-68
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• Some Exegetical Readings of the Nuns Priests
  Tale
•   For whatsoever things were written aforetime
  were written for our l earning, that we through
  patience and comfort of the scriptures might
  have hope. (Romans 154)
• cock preacher enjoining alertness
• fox devil/heretic
•  
• cock secular priest
• fox false flattering friar
•  
• Tale allegory of fall and redemption
• beem forbidden tree of knowledge/Cross
• tree _at_end safety of Resurrection
• Friday day of Crucifixion
• barnyard paradise, ruled by a trinity (widow
  3 daughters 3 sows 3 cows ram Christ)
• except its not a ram, its a ewe named Molly
  ! (VII.2830)

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The Nuns Priests Talethe ironic approach
There is allusion to serious matters here, and
indeed the tale is shot through with such
allusion, which has provided a temptation that
modern interpreters, unwilling to regard laughter
as an adequate reward for the effort expended in
reading the tale, have found it difficult to
resist, despite the wise warnings issued by
Muscatine The tale will betray with laughter
any too-solemn scrutiny of its naked argument if
it is true that Chauntecleer and Pertelote are
rounded characters, it is also true that they are
chickensUnlike fable, the Nuns Priests Tale
does not so much make true and solemn assertions
about life as it tests truths and tries out
solemnities. If you are not careful, it will
try out your solemnity too. (1957, p.
242) The manner in which the
Nuns Priests Tale recoils upon all systematic
attempts at interpretation is not a sign that
more efforts should be made to find one that
works. Its machinery is designed to defy such
attempts that is the point of the tale.
Language and rhetoric and learning are noble
arts, but they are constantly shown in the tale
being used, by expert practitioners, to conceal
the world from themselves, and themselves from
themselves. They become, not means to
understanding, but a series of reflecting mirrors
in which we can be satisfied we shall see only
those things that preserve our high opinion of
ourselves.The laughter has an edge, but it is
salutary, not satirical it implicates the
reader, and the critic.   Derek Pearsall, The
Canterbury Tales (1985), 235, 238
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Larry Scanlon, The Authority of Fable Allegory
and Irony in the Nuns Priests Tale, Exemplaria
1 (1989) 43-68
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For Chaucers literate audience, each of these
characteristicsbeast fable, debate, Catonian
assertion, Latin translation, and a string of
variously told narrative proofswould have been
poignantly evocative, triggering a collage of
bittersweet personal memories from their early
years of grammar school linguistic and literary
training. I want to emphasize that Chaucers
parodic evocations of the classroom are not
designed to satirize the foundations of the
medieval liberal arts curriculum for any
perceived imperfections in its pedagogical
principles or literary precepts. Rather, Chaucer
takes his readers back to basics in order that
they might reexperience, now at a more
sophisticated level, both the profundities and
baffling complexities of literature. Thus, by
casting his ars poetica as an Aesopian beast
fable, Chaucer is reopening that interlinear
spaceinvoking his readers memories of a time
when they were most intimately engaged in the
craft of literary analysis, imitation, and
production. In the very same gesture, Chaucer
zeroes in on the fundamentals of literature
itself.   Peter Travis, Disseminal Chaucer
Rereading The Nuns Priests Tale (University of
Notre Dame Press, 2010), pp. 52-53, 55.