Geoffrey Chaucer

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Geoffrey Chaucer

• 1343-1400

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Who Was He?

• Born in 1343 to a middle class family. His father
  was a wine merchant.
• Received some education and legal training.
• Served under three kings as a government
  official Edward III, Richard II, and Henry IV.
• Was an ambassador to France and Italy where he
  was introduced to and influenced by the
  literature of Europe, especially the poems of
  Dante and Petrarch, and Boccaccios Decameron.
• The first poet to be buried in Poets Corner in
  Westminster Abbey.

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The Father of English Poetry
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Literary Accomplishments

• Chaucer was the first to successfully write in
  the vernacular, the everyday English that was
  spoken in London, and not in French or Latin. He
  wanted literature to be accessible to all.
• 1369 wrote The Book of the Duchess in memory of
  his patrons wife (Blanche) who was married to
  John of Gaunt, the Duke of Lancaster and son of
  the king.
• 1386 published several allegorical poems while
  serving as a government official.
• 1387 Began writing The Canterbury Tales which is
  modeled after Boccaccios Decameron.
• His work illustrates the economic, political, and
  social conditions of his day.

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Literary Elements

• Chaucer broke away from the Anglo-Saxon
  alliterative device.
• Introduced the iambic pentameter ten syllables,
  with an unstressed syllable followed by a
  stressed syllable.
• da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM
• (weak STRONG / weak STRONG / weak STRONG / weak
  STRONG / weak STRONG)
• Shall I com - PARE thee TO a SUM mer's DAY
• Rhyme scheme the couplet,Two consecutive lines
  of poetry that rhyme, eg,
• When good King Arthur ruled in ancient days
• A king that every Briton loves to praise.
• Satirizes the clergy and the social hierarchy to
  expose hypocrisy and human frailty.
• Uses descriptive and vivid imagery to
  characterize his subjects.
• As well as indirect characterization How a
  character speaks, thinks, appears, acts, and how
  others view him.

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Characterization
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Character Development

• Chaucer develops his characters by their
• Action
• Dialogue
• Appearance
• Physiognomy a science that judged a persons
  temperament and character based on his or her
  looks.
• Clothing the description of garments helps to
  define each character.

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What is a Pilgrim?

• A pilgrim is a person who undertakes a journey
  (pilgrimage) to a holy site for religious
  purposes eg, Rome or the Holy Land.
• In Medieval times, pilgrimages were extremely
  important as a route to salvation. Pilgrims had
  the protection of the church and the churchs
  soldiers because traveling was dangerous.

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Who was Thomas Becket?

• Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury, was
  murdered by four knights of the royal household.
• The murder came after a prolonged quarrel between
  Thomas and King Henry II.
• The popularity of Canterbury as a place of
  pilgrimage (immortalized in Canterbury Tales)
  continued until the shrine was destroyed under
  Henry VIII in 1538.

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Canterbury Cathedral
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Thomas a Becket Shrine
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Knighthood

• A separate social class in European society.
• The crusades gave the knights a great deal of
  prestige as they became chivalrous Christian
  warriors.
• By 13th century, the code of chivalry emerged,
  demanding courage, military prowess, virtue, and
  service to God.
• A knight had to be wealthy in order to maintain
  his position and status.

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What is Canterbury Tales?

• A collection of stories in a frame story (story
  within a story) similar to Decameron.
• Chaucer planned for 120 stories, but completed
  only 22.
• Each pilgrim comes from a different trade, social
  class, representing different aspect of society.
• Pilgrims give different views of the world,
  different vocabularies, different images for
  truth.

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The Manuscript

• Written in Middle English between 1387 and 1400.
• 17,000 lines of poetry.
• Handwritten because the printing press had not
  yet been invented.
• Illustrated with graphics and calligraphy.

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The Canterbury Tales
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The Plot

• A group of pilgrims stay at the Tabard Inn on
  their way to the Shrine of Thomas à Becket in
  Canterbury.
• Chaucer describes the pilgrims in this company
  (29), each of whom practices a different trade
  (often dishonestly).
• The host of the Tabard, Harry Bailey, proposes
  that he join them as a guide and that each of the
  pilgrims should tell tales (two on the outward
  journey, two on the way back) whoever tells the
  best tale will win a supper, at the other
  pilgrims' cost when they return.
• The pilgrims agree and the next morning the
  company sets out, pausing at the Watering of St.
  Thomas, where all draw straws, and the Knight is
  thus selected to tell the first tale.
• Chaucer warns his readers that he must repeat
  each tale exactly as he heard it, even though it
  might contain frank language.

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The General Prologue

• Begins with a description of Springtime Opens in
  April, at the height of Spring when there is
  rebirth and fresh beginnings.
• The prologue serves to introduce the reader to
  the setting and the characters. Chaucer gives a
  good physical description of each character.
• He satirizes (uses wit to criticize a weakness)
  society and class structure, describing each
  profession to show how it fails the ideal.
• Illustrates the three-fold division of medieval
  life and ideal figures
• Those who fight (knights)
• Those who pray (clergy)
• Those who labor (plowman)

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Themes
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Courtly Love

• Flirtatious in nature, courtly love is the ideal
  love where the woman is adored by a love-stricken
  knight who becomes her faithful subject and aims
  to please her in everything.
• Unrealized love because it is adulterous and
  secretive, between a knight and a woman married
  to an aristocrat.
• Poetry, songs, and literature expressed the
  ideals of courtly love loyalty and submission to
  ones beloved, and willingness to risk ones life
  for the sake of the beloved.

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Social Hierarchy

• Ruling Class knight, squire
• Clergy monk, friar, prioress,
  parson summoner, pardoner
• Middle Class Franklin, Reeve, doctor,
• oxford student, wife of Bath,
• serjeant at law
• Trade Class guildsmen, cook, miller, host,
• manciple, merchant.
• Peasants skipper, plowman, yeoman

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The Corruption of the Church

• The Catholic Church was the only dominant church
  in England, Ireland and Europe.
• The church grew powerful because it preached that
  salvation can only come through the Church.
• At a time when the people were experiencing
  famine, disease and plague, the church was
  building expensive cathedrals, demanding tithes
  from the poor, and preaching against greed.
• Another source of this corruption were the sale
  of indulgences and the worldliness of some of
  church leaders. 

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Chaucers Tomb in Westminster Abbey
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The End
Sounds of Middle EnglishThe Canterbury Tales
Prologue