GEOFFREY CHAUCE, THE CANTERBURY TALES

Geoffrey Chaucer was born in about 1343, into an emerging family of merchants. he received a fine education
studying the classics: theology, law, astronomy and medicine; and grew up in close contact with the royal family.

He Travelled to Italy where he became interested in Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio; he worked as a Controller of the
Customs in the Port of London.

He died in 1400 and was the first poet known by name to be buried in Westminster Abbey, in Poets’ Corner.

His language, the dialect of his native London, gradually became standard English, thus becoming the basis of Modern
English; he coined about 2,000 words and phrases; in his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, he was able to give a
portrait of the English society of his time.

His poetry had 3 periods:

- The French Period poems modelled on French romance styles and subjects: The Romaunt of the Rose (before
1373) and The Boke of the Duchesse (ca 1369).

- The Italian Period a greater maturity of perception and skill in the manipulation of the metres. Influenced by
Boccaccio.

- The English Period marked by greater realism; includes his masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales.

ENGLISH PERIOD, THE MOST IMPORTANT, The Canterbury Tales:

The Canterbury Tales is set in spring and tells the story of thirty people - men, women, monks, artisans, merchants and
also the narrator himself- who are going on a pilgrimage, they are travelling to Canterbury to the shrine of Becket.
They meet at the Tabard Inn in London.

The host of the Inn suggests that every pilgrim should tell two stories while going to Canterbury and two stories back.
There will be a prize for the best story as well as a penalty for anyone who gives up.

structure and style: The Canterbury Tales is a long narrative poem. Chaucer used rhymed couplets made up of iambic
pentameters. The work consists of a General Prologue where the pilgrims are introduced, and twenty-four tales. The
tales are preceded by a prologue and sometimes followed by an epilogue.

They are narrated by different pilgrims but the reporting pilgrim is Chaucer. He tells us directly and ironically what he
sees and what he thinks about it. The tales have realistic elements, but also strong ideal and moral. Realism is the
most distinctive feature of Canterbury Tales. Chaucer used the medieval convention of exaggeration, caricature and
grotesque. It is the frame of the pilgrimage which gives reality to Canterbury tales. The pilgrimage is a key metaphor
for life; we are all pilgrims on the way of the heavenly city.

setting: The point of departure, London, is very human and linked to worldly pleasures, while the destination,
Canterbury, is holy. It is the symbol of celestial city, the end of life, and the journey of the pilgrims becomes an
allegory of the course of human life. However, the work remained unfinished, and Canterbury is not reached by the
pilgrims.

fourteenth-century english society: By the 14th century a new middle class, both rural and urban, existed. Merchants
had more power financiers based in the ports and town. In fact, they lent money to the King for mercenaries. The
freemen who owed land earned more from food prices and those who farmed sheep made money from wool. Cloth-
making was the country’s chief industry, but the artisans and tradesmen in the town were also butchers, bakers,
shoemakers, tailors and carpenters.

They organised themselves in groups called ‘guilds’. They were supported by the payment of their members,
controlled the quality of goods, regulated prices and wages and laid down the rules concerning apprenticeship. They
organised fairs where their members sold their products.

characters: Chaucer wanted to give a portrait of the English society, including representatives of feudal society,
members of the clergy and middle classes. He didn’t portray the aristocracy or peasants. This is because no nobleman
would have travelled with commoners; on the other hand, lower- class people could not afford the expense of such a
trip. In the “General Prologue” Chaucer didn’t follow the social hierarchy of presentation of the time and mixed
female and male characters to underline the new importance that women were assuming within the growing middle
classes.

The new factor in The Canterbury Tales is individualisation: the character exists because he has reactions and is in
movement. The descriptions of the pilgrims vary in length, point of view and tone.

Chaucer listed and described tools, clothes and personal qualities. The names given to the pilgrims refer to their
profession and suggest a society in which work conditioned the personality and world view of each individual.

language: By the time Chaucer wrote his works in England three languages were spoken: Latin, used by the clerical
world, French, used by the aristocracy and Anglo-Saxon, spoken by the common people. More and more English had
replaced the Norman French and English was requested both for instruction and literary works. That’s why Chaucer
using the Old English (dialect of his native London) is regarded as the first secular poet and his language is the basis of
Modern English.

theme: The main theme is that of the journey in the form of pilgrimage. It is done in spring metaphor of rebirth. In this
season human energy and desire are awakened by spring.