2012-3-22 1
Chapter Ⅲ The Age of Chaucer
1350-1400
2012-3-22 2
1,Historical background,
? (1) The Hundred Years War,The result of the war
was an awakening of national consciousness in
England,And the French language was gradually
replaced by English native tongue,
? (2) The peasant uprising of 1381,It was the
result of the conflict between the peasants and
feudal lords,
? (3) 1360-1400 The summit of Middle English
literature,
2012-3-22 3
2,The two contemporaries of
Chaucer,
? John Wycliff,
The,Father of English prose”,He translated
the Bible into Middle English,
? William Langland,
The Vision of Piers Plowman,An allegory,
2012-3-22 4
3,Geoffrey Chaucer (ca,1343-1400)
? Life,
Born urban middle class； In the service of the
ruling class； The diplomatic mission that sent
Chaucer to Italy in 1372 was a milestone in his
literary development,He had direct contact with
the Italian Renaissance,Perhaps he acquired
manuscripts of works by Dante,Patriarch,and
Boccaccio,
2012-3-22 5
4,The Canterbury Tales,
? (1) The Canterbury Tales is one of the
landmarks of English literature,perhaps the
greatest work produced in Middle English;
? The structure of The Canterbury Tales is
indebted to Boccaccio's Decameron;
2012-3-22 6
(2) The significance of The
Canterbury Tales,
? a,It gives a comprehensive picture of Chaucer’s
time;
? b,The dramatic structure of the poem is highly
commended;
? c,Chaucer’s gentle satire and mild irony made
him a pioneering English humorist writer;
? d,Chaucer wrote in the London dialect of his day,
In so doing Chaucer greatly increased the prestige
of the English language,
2012-3-22 7
5.,The General Prologue”
? Summery,
? As April comes,the narrator begins a pilgrimage
to Canterbury from the Tabard Inn at Southwerk,
Twenty-nine people make the pilgrimage toward
Canterbury and the narrator describes them in turn,
The Host,a bold and merry man,suggests that on
their way to Canterbury each pilgrim tell two tales,
and on the way back two more,They draw lots to
decide who will tell the first tale,
2012-3-22 8
? In The General Prologue,Chaucer sets up the general
structure of the tales and introduces each of the characters
who will tell the tales,The characters who tell each of the
tales are as important as the characters in the tales that they
tell; a significant portion of the action of The Canterbury
Tales takes place within the prologue to each of the tales,
The General Prologue in essence serves as a guide,
Chaucer only lived to write 24 tales,Some of the stories
that remain are only fragments which have either been lost
or were never completed by the author,
2012-3-22 9
6,Character Analysis,
? Chaucer’s pilgrim narrators represent a wide
spectrum of ranks and occupations,The great
variety of tales is matched by the diversity of their
tellers; tales are assigned to appropriate narrators
and juxtaposed to bring out contrasts in genre,
style,tone,and values,These pilgrims exist almost
entirely in terms of their profession,Chaucer gives
only a few of them character names,
2012-3-22 10
?The pilgrim narrators represent a
wide spectrum of ranks and
occupations—diversity
?The Prioress
?The Wife of Bath
2012-3-22 11
?The Parson
?The Plowman
?The Pardoner,
?The Host
2012-3-22 12
Notes (1)
? prioress,(Madam Eglantyne)
A nun in charge of a priory or ranking next
below the abbess of an abbey,
小女隐修院院长或大女隐修院副院长
? parson,
An Anglican cleric with full legal control of a
parish under ecclesiastical law; a rector,
教区牧师英国英车圣公会牧师, 在基督教法律
下拥有对一个教区的完全的法律控制权；教区
长
?
2012-3-22 13
Notes (2)
? pardoner,
A medieval ecclesiastic authorized to
raise money for religious works by
granting papal indulgences to
contributors,
出售免罪符的人中世纪获准出售教会的赦
免书而为宗教事务筹钱的神职人员
Chapter Ⅲ The Age of Chaucer
1350-1400
2012-3-22 2
1,Historical background,
? (1) The Hundred Years War,The result of the war
was an awakening of national consciousness in
England,And the French language was gradually
replaced by English native tongue,
? (2) The peasant uprising of 1381,It was the
result of the conflict between the peasants and
feudal lords,
? (3) 1360-1400 The summit of Middle English
literature,
2012-3-22 3
2,The two contemporaries of
Chaucer,
? John Wycliff,
The,Father of English prose”,He translated
the Bible into Middle English,
? William Langland,
The Vision of Piers Plowman,An allegory,
2012-3-22 4
3,Geoffrey Chaucer (ca,1343-1400)
? Life,
Born urban middle class； In the service of the
ruling class； The diplomatic mission that sent
Chaucer to Italy in 1372 was a milestone in his
literary development,He had direct contact with
the Italian Renaissance,Perhaps he acquired
manuscripts of works by Dante,Patriarch,and
Boccaccio,
2012-3-22 5
4,The Canterbury Tales,
? (1) The Canterbury Tales is one of the
landmarks of English literature,perhaps the
greatest work produced in Middle English;
? The structure of The Canterbury Tales is
indebted to Boccaccio's Decameron;
2012-3-22 6
(2) The significance of The
Canterbury Tales,
? a,It gives a comprehensive picture of Chaucer’s
time;
? b,The dramatic structure of the poem is highly
commended;
? c,Chaucer’s gentle satire and mild irony made
him a pioneering English humorist writer;
? d,Chaucer wrote in the London dialect of his day,
In so doing Chaucer greatly increased the prestige
of the English language,
2012-3-22 7
5.,The General Prologue”
? Summery,
? As April comes,the narrator begins a pilgrimage
to Canterbury from the Tabard Inn at Southwerk,
Twenty-nine people make the pilgrimage toward
Canterbury and the narrator describes them in turn,
The Host,a bold and merry man,suggests that on
their way to Canterbury each pilgrim tell two tales,
and on the way back two more,They draw lots to
decide who will tell the first tale,
2012-3-22 8
? In The General Prologue,Chaucer sets up the general
structure of the tales and introduces each of the characters
who will tell the tales,The characters who tell each of the
tales are as important as the characters in the tales that they
tell; a significant portion of the action of The Canterbury
Tales takes place within the prologue to each of the tales,
The General Prologue in essence serves as a guide,
Chaucer only lived to write 24 tales,Some of the stories
that remain are only fragments which have either been lost
or were never completed by the author,
2012-3-22 9
6,Character Analysis,
? Chaucer’s pilgrim narrators represent a wide
spectrum of ranks and occupations,The great
variety of tales is matched by the diversity of their
tellers; tales are assigned to appropriate narrators
and juxtaposed to bring out contrasts in genre,
style,tone,and values,These pilgrims exist almost
entirely in terms of their profession,Chaucer gives
only a few of them character names,
2012-3-22 10
?The pilgrim narrators represent a
wide spectrum of ranks and
occupations—diversity
?The Prioress
?The Wife of Bath
2012-3-22 11
?The Parson
?The Plowman
?The Pardoner,
?The Host
2012-3-22 12
Notes (1)
? prioress,(Madam Eglantyne)
A nun in charge of a priory or ranking next
below the abbess of an abbey,
小女隐修院院长或大女隐修院副院长
? parson,
An Anglican cleric with full legal control of a
parish under ecclesiastical law; a rector,
教区牧师英国英车圣公会牧师, 在基督教法律
下拥有对一个教区的完全的法律控制权；教区
长
?
2012-3-22 13
Notes (2)
? pardoner,
A medieval ecclesiastic authorized to
raise money for religious works by
granting papal indulgences to
contributors,
出售免罪符的人中世纪获准出售教会的赦
免书而为宗教事务筹钱的神职人员
