Comparing Modern English and Middle English Poem:

Wordsworths The Thorn and Chaucer's Wife of Bath Tale

By
Nofa Susanti
nofa.widiantoro@gmail.com

The poem "The Thorn" by William Wordsworth and "Wife of Bath Tale"
by Geoffrey Chaucer seem very different literary works. "The Thorn" is written in
Modern English romantic poet William Wordsworth, of middle-aged men and
women experience facing emotional disorders. "Wife of Bath Tale" written in
Middle English, tells the story of the human figure into authority, and women into
two classes. Materials to understand both this work recognizes the common
underlying theme of sex and gender and how this affects the perspective theme in
both poems.
William Wordsworth's "The Thorn," tells of the difficulties women dealing
with loss and grief outstanding. The poem begins with a large, wretched, old, gray
spines standing upright on top of the mountain. Also at the top of the mountain is
a muddy pool of water, piles of moss, and what is understood to be the tomb of a
baby. At this location, a confused woman in red robes cried out. Woman, Martha
Ray, crying and crying day and night, sitting beside the thorn. Previously, Martha
experience great happiness when in a relationship with a man named Stephen Hill.
However, on their wedding day, before their vows, Stephen left him. Martha was
pregnant with their baby, but what happens in infants is not known. Villagers in

the city intrigued by the presence of the baby; some say it hung, others say he
drowned in a pool, but nobody knows if the baby was born alive. However, the
villagers believe that the baby was buried under fair moss is placed on top of the
mountain. Martha sits on top of the mountain next to the thorn injuries and
assumed tomb and crying babies. One curious and brave people up the mountain
to find Martha sat on the ground crying, "Oh misery! Oh misery!". In "The
Thorn," is found in the collection of poems "Lyrical Ballads," nature put into
poetry. I believe thorns is grieving Martha presence. Having dumped and left
pregnant, overwhelming sadness Martha and subsequent loss expressed through
the constant cries. Spines are short, dark, old, and gray is confused Martha and
sadness. Beautiful mossy area to be grave reference Wordsworth baby, a beautiful
baby Martha Ray was pregnant. A question that arises when reading "The Thorn"
was indeed Martha Ray kill the baby? I do not think that Martha kill the baby and
I believe something happened to the baby while still in the womb. Wordsworth
incorporate nature into all the characters and all aspects of his poetry making it
possible for the reader to make the connection to poetry through their daily
contact with nature.
On the other hand, The Wife of Bath's Tale tells the story of the knight in
the court of King Arthur who raped a woman in a wheat field. According to the
law, he should be put to death, but the queen mediator, and punish the knight to
tell her to go looking for answers to the question "what is most desired by
women?". The queen gave a year to find it. If he fails to satisfy the queen with the
answer, the knight will die. He was looking for, but every woman he met states of

different things, from the wealth of up to praise. One year later, on his way back,
he met an old woman. She said will tell the answer to the question if the knight
promised to do anything desired by the woman. The knight agree, then they
returned to the palace. He answered in front of the queen that what is most desired
by women is the power of their husbands, and the queen receives the answer as
the correct answer. "The Wife of Bath" is revealed on sexual exploitation and how
to use the sexual power to get what women want. So, by doing exactly this he
confirms a negative point of view of women and proving that women are
manipulative. Although the action is sometimes based on the reasons for the
uprising against male dominance in society. Wife of Bath discuss marriage and
virginity. In "The Wife of Bath Tale," That woman must have the will and to get
what he wants when he wants it. In this Prologue, it appears that only women use
sexual attributes to obtain the same status he.
Quote "every rose has its thorns" stands out for me in the poem "The
Thorn". Under this beautiful hill moss, which the author uses to emphasize the
beauty of the temple 2-3, is a dead baby, who were killed or died during
childbirth. And the fact that something so very beautiful to hide something so
tragic, confirming quote. poetry itself into a verbal note that the principle narrator
mind, how he sees the world around him, what united body awareness and
transformed by imagination, and how the perception of these objects move
through the telling of the story. In this case, in accordance with the idea of
Wordsworth's poetry poetry as a passion in the poem, as a dramatic exchange
between two characters, enacting a kind of "history or science of feeling"

language. Thorny tree, as an object in the landscape, the representation of the

essential mystery captain feels towards the environment, the natural form in which
electrifies the imagination of the poet. while the poem "The Wife of Bath" written
in English medieval contain words combined with French, German, and English.
For example the line "Ye woot wel what I meene of this, Pardee!", "Pardee"
means "by God", from the French language "par Dieu". That is why poetry is
difficult to understand the English language now. There are many words that
belong to the Bible, not surprising since Chaucer was a child he was a good
Christian. With all of the above, the author has been amazed with the values of
social life in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer to be analyzed and understood. As the
words "Mars"; "Venus" is found in some parts of his works. Not only that,
Chaucer is amaizing translator, majoring in several languages is not possible that
some of his works were written in Latin Franceor.
Feminism author sometimes in their work place women in a situation that
women are under men as seen in the poem "The Thorn", making it sound like an
unfair work for every woman's temple. As a feminist researcher researchers
should use the standpoint of "reading as a woman" means that the writer should
look at feminism in literature in different terms and different side view. The author
has reviewed the understanding of feminism in some opinions. The author has
shown that feminism really interesting to learn about the relationship with the
literary works in the medieval period. More importantly, the authors have
indicated that the anti-feminism found in Chaucer's poems, especially "The Wife
of Bath Prologue", an aspect of Chaucer's poems are worth investigating because

of the poem is seen that women have started to show their existence. women are
demeaned by men demanding their rights back. Anti Feminism is an ideology that
is broadly defined as opposition to feminism or some aspects of feminism. The
definition of anti-feminism have varied across time and cultures, and has attracted
both men and women. Antifeminism may be driven by the general hostility
toward women's rights, the belief that feminist theories of patriarchy and the
losses suffered by women in society is wrong or excessive, or that feminism as a
movement to encourage misandry and trying to harm or oppress women.
So, in many ways, both poems represent the viewpoint of the author from
different English language period. When each seen through the perspective of
each suit, parallelism message poetry 'becomes clear. First, the standpoint of the
victims describe the perceived hopelessness and loneliness caused by
miscommunication between the objectives of men and women. Second, separate
the audience serves as a control between the two extremes of utter femininity and
masculinity. Finally, when looking through the imagined perspective of fraudsters
men think, readers showed human heartlessness. Upon consideration of the end of
this reader, a major theme in each poem presented is that both authors see women
as victims of male-dominated society.