Born to a London family with and, but no. Limited. Was a brilliant as well as

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1 12 th grade Name Geoffrey Chaucer Born to a London family with and, but no Limited Estimated birth date: Was a brilliant as well as Became an in the government, a woman of rank, and was sent on diplomatic missions. Had considerable Was a government official first and a second 1386 lost when his patron left the country Most critics believe this is when he began the CTs 1389 patron returns, gives C. a Died Buried in First writer entombed in Not because of literature, but because of Canterbury Cathedral was the site of a shrine to

2 Pilgrims believed of Becket s shrine could heal sickness Other reasons Archbishop of Canterbury (Thomas a Becket) excommunicated bishops who supported King Henry II s idea that the State could try clergy for crimes. Henry cries, 4 of his knights race to Canterbury and Becket at the altar of the church on. This battle between church and state for primacy would continue until Henry VIII broke with Rome. Vocabulary: Characterization- Direct characterization- Indirect characterization- Solicitous- Garnished- Absolution- Commission- Sanguine-

3 Avouches- Prevarication- Society and Class 1. The aristocracy- 2. The upper class- 3. The middle class- 4. The virtuous lower class- 5. The degraded lower class- THE PROLOGUE 1. What month is it? 2. Where are the people going? Why? 3. What is the name of the inn? 4. How many pilgrims stopped at the inn? 5. Where has the speaker decided to go with the pilgrims?

4 6. What will the speaker tell us about the pilgrims? 7. What are the qualities of the knight? 8. What equipment does the knight have? 9. In what condition is his clothing? What do #6 & #7 tell us about the knight? 10. What does the squire look like? What does he wear? How old is he? 11. How are the squire and knight related? 12. What are the talents of the squire? 13. How does he spend his time? 14. How is the yeoman dressed? 15. Describe his appearance.

5 16. What do the details about the nun (eating, manners, dress etc) tell us about her? 17. Nuns were not supposed to keep pets because the money required for their care was meant for the poor. Based on this bit of information, what can you infer about the Prioress? 18. What does the Monk do in his spare time? 19. How does the Monk feel about cloistering? 20. Like the nun, a monk is a member of a religious order who has taken vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. How do the details of the Monk s character suggest, without directly saying that this Monk is not serious about his vocation? 21. Because peasants in the Middle Ages did not always have enough to eat, obesity was a sign of success and affluence. Why is it ironic that a monk is fat? 22. Unlike monks, who lived in monasteries, friars went into the world as beggars to preach, help the poor, and cure the sick. One of the friar s duties was to

6 hear people s confessions and to absolve or forgive them with a penance, or penalty of prayer, or doing good works. How does Chaucer characterize this Friar? 23. Use the chart on page 128 What does the lilywhite neck of the friar tell us about the friar? 24. How does the Friar earn his living? 25. What does the semi-cope reveal about his income? 26. What is the poet s attitude about the Friar? Knight? Squire? Nun? Monk? List them in the chart below on the appropriate side. Likes/Approves Doesn t Like/Disapproves 27. How is the Merchant dressed? 28. What secret does the merchant keep secret? 29. How is the Oxford Cleric portrayed?

7 30. Why is the Oxford Cleric poor? 31. The Serjeant at the Law was one of the select group of lawyers who served as the king s legal advisors. What attitude does the narrator have toward the Serjeant? What evidence do you have? 32. NOTE: Medieval Britons usually ate only two meals a day: a mid-morning dinner and an early-evening supper. The Franklin, however, also eats sop for breakfast, a mixture of wine, almond milk, ginger, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and the spice mace poured over good bread. Is Chaucer using direct characterization, explaining who the Franklin is to the reader? OR is he using indirect characterization, using details to let the reader draw conclusions about the character? 33. What details about the Franklin s appearance and actions do we know? 34. What inferences can you draw about the Franklin?

8 35. NOTE: Guilds were organizations of trades-people who taught their trade to apprentices, or trainees. The associations such as the Goldsmith s Guild or the Fishmongers Guild, were a powerful economic force, controlling the quality and price of the goods they produced or sold. During this period, members of guilds often wore a special uniform and were upwardly mobile (in their social standing). 36. What do you think the poet thinks of these Guildsmen and their wives? 37. Chaucer does not mention the Cook s open sore until after describing the Cook s delicious specialties. What is the effect? 38. Dartmouth, a coastal shipping town on the English Channel, was known for its piracy and for the brutality of its sailors, a fact that Chaucer s readers would have known. What can you infer about the Skipper? 39. Nice has multiple meanings. Here, the word means subtle, requiring discernment. Why is the use of this meaning ironic, given the Skipper s treatment of his prisoners of war? 40. How does the Chaucer s characterization of the Doctor convey a negative attitude?

9 41. What is the Wife of Bath concerned about when she goes to church? What does this suggest about her? 42. Based on the description in the text, what words or phrases would you use to describe the Wife of Bath? 43. What type of tale do you think the Wife of Bath will tell? 44. Chaucer describes the Parson as poor. From what you know of Chaucer s values so far, do you think he will approve or disapprove of the Parson? Why? 45. NOTE: cursing to extort a fee refers to the corrupt practice of threatening people with excommunication unless they paid a fee. 46. What two metaphors are used in the description of the Parson? 47. What kind of priest is the Parson? 48. What type of person is the Plowman?

10 49. Chaucer praises the Plowman, the Parson, and the Cleric. What qualities do these men share? In what ways do they differ? SHARE DIFFER 50. What jobs did these pilgrims do? Reeve Manciple Pardoner Summoner 51. How much did the Miller weigh? What is that equal to in pounds? 52. The Miller is compared to a fox, sow, sow s ear, and a furnace door. What do the comparisons suggest about the Miller? 53. Chaucer plays on a medieval saying, An honest miller has a golden thumb. This expression implies that most millers overcharge their customers by putting their thumbs on the scale. What does this tell us about the Miller?

11 54. Could wipe their eye means that the Manciple could make fools of his masters or could defraud them. What do you think is Chaucer s opinion of the Manciple? 55. What does the Reeve look like? How does he dress? 56. How well does the Reeve do his job? What does this information tell you about the character of the Reeve? 57. In his portrayal of the Summoner, how does Chaucer appeal to the reader s sense of sight? 58. How does the Summoner deal with people who keep a mistress? 59. How does the phrase noble varlet convey Chaucer s attitude toward the Summoner? 60. Birds of a feather is a commonly used expression in English, it refers to people who have quite a bit in common. What might the Pardoner and Summoner have in common?

12 61. Long hair was a violation of the rule that men who worked for the Church should wear their hair tonsured (short, with a shaved spot at the top, as a symbol of humility). What other details does Chaucer mention that suggest that the Pardoner is a less-than-savory character? 62. RELICS In religious terms, relics are the remains (bones, hair, garments, and so on) of a holy person. Saying a prayer with the relic in hand was thought to bring an indulgence, or limited respite from the pains of purgatory after death. Some relics were fake, but believers willingly bought them and provided a steady income to the sellers. 63. Has Chaucer told you all about the pilgrims shortly, in a clause? 64. What entertainment does the Host suggest the pilgrims participate in during the journey? 65. How many tales will each pilgrim tell? 66. What will be the reward for the best tale?

13 The Nun's Priest's Tale Parody- Mock-heroic style- Apply epic language to Use the combination of lowly and impressive descriptions to develop amusing,. A fable is a brief tale that Vocabulary Capital- Timorous- Derision- Maxim- Stringent- Cant-

14 1. What animals does Chaucer catalog as belonging to the poor widow? 2. What does Chaucer mean when he says, "she eet ful many a sklendre meal"? 3. Although the widow has gout, this doesn't prevent her from doing what fun activity? 4. Note that the widow keeps her yard "enclosed al aboute" (i.e., in a circle) and surrounded by a fence of sticks and a ditch. This ordered, circular structure is intended to remind us of what structure in The Knight's Tale? 5. What is the name of the widow's prize rooster? 6. There is no match in all the surrounding land for Chauntecleer when it comes to one talent. What talent is that where he has no peer? 7. Chauntecleer is obviously well educated! How does he determine when it is time to crow? 8. How many paramours does Chauntecleer have? 9. What is the name of the fairest hen in the henyard? 10. What power do birds and beasts have in the old days, according to the Nun's Priest?

15 11. What nightmare does Chauntecleer have that makes him groan and cluck in his sleep? 12. What is the beast that Chauntecleer sees in his sleep? (Hint: Examine the description to figure it out.) 13. What is Pertalote's reaction to seeing her handsome knight Chauntecleer terrified of a dream? 14. Pertalote explains her theory of dreams. What do they mean and from where do they come, according to her? 15. What figure from classical antiquity does Pertalote quote as an authority to prove that dreams are meaningless? 16. What remedy does Pertalote offer to "purge" (hint!) Chauntecleer of his nightmares? 17. How does Chauntecleer say he will prove "al the revers" of Cato's doctrine? 18. In Chauntecleer's first story, where has the body been hidden? How does his companion learn of its location? 19. In Chauntecleer's second story, what source does he cite for its origin in lines ?

16 20. In the second story, the two travelers sailing by boat are warned in a dream about what? How does the dreamer react to this warning? 21. In lines , Chauntecleer lists six more examples in which dreams proved to be prophetic. Who are these six people and what is each one's story? 22. After arguing with his wife, Chauntecleer quotes the Latin proverb, "In principio, Mulier est hominis confusio." ("In the beginning, woman was the destruction [or confusion] of mankind." However, he offers a quite different translation to Pertalote. What does he tell her the Latin means? Why do you suppose he has altered the translation? 23. After "winning" the argument with Pertalote, what does Chauntecleer assert about his fear of dreams? 24. The next day, how many times does Chauntecleer "feather" (i.e., have sex with) Pertalote? 25. The Nun's Priest describes our rooster as he "looketh as it were a grym leoun"--stealing a line from Homer. What's the humor of his epic hero-style description? 26. According to the Nun's Priest in lines , there is a difference between his own attitude toward women and Chauntecleer's attitude. What is that difference?

17 27. Think for a moment about the Nun's Priest and his job as a confessor to a group of Nuns in a nunnery. What is the connection between our storyteller and Chauntecleer? 28. When Chauntecleer first spies the fox, what does he do? 29. The fox comes up with a cunning lie. Why does he say he has come to see Chauntecleer? 30. How does the fox Russel get Chauntecleer to stretch out his neck and close his eyes? 31. When the Nun's Priest calls out, "Allas, his wyf [Pertalote] ne roghte nat of dremes!" what is the irony here? Who else (in addition to Pertalote) ignored the warning of the dream? 32. In an irony reversal of theodicy, the narrator asks why Chauntecleer had to die potentially. What god does the narrator pray to here? Why is that deity particularly appropriate for a rooster? What services has the rooster rendered in honor of this divine being? Why does the day Friday seem especially inappropriate for this? (Hint: Look up the etymology of Friday and see what divine being it is linked to--the Norse equivalent of the deity addressed in line 4532.)

18 33. The fate of Chauntecleer and the accompanying lamentation is compared to the Iliad, the Aeneid, Hannibal's attack on Rome and the Roman destruction of Carthage, Nero's destruction of Rome, and so on. What is the intended effect of applying these comparisons to the possible death of a chicken? 34. What three humans chase the fox in an attempt to rescue Chauntecleer? Who follows them in pursuit in line 3382? Who joins them in lines ? Who joins in the hot pursuit in line ? Finally, what group of insects joins the pursuit? 35. If we wanted to do a theological reading of the poem, we have three beings in charge of the circled, ordered, wall enclosure who own or who are in control of the other creatures therein. What would these three women represent? Why three of them? If we continue with this line of reasoning, the trickster Daun Russel would be who or what spiritual being? What is the significance of the entire farm (including ducks and bees) pursuing the fox to rescue Chauntecleer? 36. How does Chauntecleer trick the fox into opening his mouth so Chauntecleer can escape? 37. As soon as the fox opens his mouth, how does Chauntecleer ensure he will not be easily seized again? (i.e., to what place of safety does he fly?) 38. How does the fox attempt to lure Chauntecleer down again? 39. What is Chauntecleer's response?

19 40. The rooster earlier made a moral point about events in lines However, he offers a better moral to the story in lines What moral does Chauntecleer offer? 41. The fox, however, sees a different moral to the story. What moral or lesson does Russell draw from past events? Which moral do you like better-- Chauntecleer's or Russell's?