Nowhere within so brief a compass can we realize either the life of the fourteenth century on one hand, or on the other the dramatic power in which Chaucer stands second only to Shakespeare among English poets. "Even more delightful than any of the tales told by Chaucer's pilgrims is the tale which he tells us about them all: the story of their journey to Canterbury. Coulton (writing in 1908) nicely expresses the admiration his generation of critics felt for the framing narrative: The narrative frame of the Canterbury Tales - the account of the pilgrims and their squabbles as they move along the Road to Canterbury toward the end of their journey - was once the most admired part of Chaucer's work. Heere in this place, sittynge by this post, Tales of best sentence and moost solaas. That is to seyn, that telleth in this caas That ech of yow, to shorte with oure weye,Īnd which of yow that bereth hym best of alle. "This is the poynt, to speken short and pleyn, The number of pilgrims' tales and their ordering differs between the copies, and debate continues to rage about what Chaucer intended. The poem as we know it is the product of 15th-century scribes. The poem survives in 92 manuscripts, but no manuscript of the work dates from Chaucer’s lifetime. The Canterbury Tales is traditionally dated to 1387 (although some tales appear to have been written before then). Whereas Chaucer’s original plan presumably envisaged over 100 stories, only 24 survive. The Prologue describes a ploughman among the company, for example, whose tale is nowhere to be found. The pilgrims never reach Canterbury, the return journey is not described, and not all the pilgrims who appear in the poem's prologue end up telling a tale. Tragically, The Canterbury Tales is unfinished. Chaucer presents us with medieval society in all its glory, from the pompous Knight to the revolting Pardoner, via the chatty Wife of Bath and the weird, nerdy Clerk. ![]() They tell each other tales in an orderly fashion, and the work lacks the boisterousness and social diversity of Chaucer’s Tales. The Decameron describes a group of young aristocrats who are journeying through the countryside, avoiding plague-stricken Florence. There are key differences between the two works, however. The Canterbury Tales is sometimes compared to The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), a tale-collection written in the mid 14th century. This interaction between the individual tales and the frame narrative is a layered and masterful exercise in characterisation – and one of the great joys of the work. The effect is a shimmering variation which reflects the social world depicted by Chaucer. This formal variation is matched by contrasts in genre and tone: racy fabliaux sit cheek by jowl with sombre descriptions of Christian martyrdom. There is often a shift in form: ‘The Monk’s Tale’ is written in rhyme royal (a seven-line form), ‘The Friar’s Tale’ is in rhyming couplets and ‘The Parson’s Tale’ is in prose. When the pilgrims begin to tell their stories, however, there is a change of gear. In the links between the tales, the pilgrims bicker and chatter in a way that brings the characters to life. In this way, two narratives are operating at the same time within the work. ![]() The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories held together by a framing device (the story of the pilgrimage). What is distinctive about The Canterbury Tales? ![]() The result is regarded as a masterpiece of medieval literature, and The Canterbury Tales holds a central place in the English literary canon. To pass the time on the journey, they decide to each tell two tales to the assembled company on the journey there and the journey home. Written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century, The Canterbury Tales tells the story of a group of 31 pilgrims who meet while travelling from the Tabard Inn in Southwark to the shrine of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |