The Canterbury Tales Test Review
Comprehension
1. How does the Pardoner see his own work?
2. What prediction would you make based on the warning the tavern boy tells the
three rioters?
3. The way the rioters act towards the old man shows “what” about them?
4. What happens as soon as the rioters find the tree and the eight bushels of gold?
5. Why does the youngest rioter buy poison?
6. What does the Pardoner want to do once he finishes his tale?
7. In The Pardoner’s Tale, one moral that is addressed is the problem of greed.
What is another lesson learned?
8. How does the Pardoner manage to keep up his lifestyle?
9. What leads you to predict that the three rioters will soon meet death?
10. How does the old man respond to the rioters’ rude greeting?
11. At the end of The Pardoner’s Tale, what idea does the Pardoner use to try and
sell absolutions and relics?
12. Where/how did the narrator meet the pilgrims?
13. Who does the narrator seem to dislike the most?
14. How would the Friar be described?
15. What conclusion can be made about the narrators comment about education and
the Manciple’s qualities?
16. How does the narrator know the people at the inn?
17. What two characters are obsessed with money?
18. How could the group of pilgrims be described accurately?
Paraphrase
1. “At once three young rioters began/ To run, and reached the tree, and there they
found/ A pile of golden florins on the ground,/ New-coined, eight bushels of them
as they thought,/ No longer was it Death those fellows sought,/ For they were all
so thrilled to see the sight,/ The florins were so beautiful and bright,/ That down
they sat beside the precious pile.” (Pardoner’s Tale, lines 167-174)
2. “And so the Fiend, our common enemy,/ Was given power to put it in his thought/
That there was always poison to be bought,/ And that with poison he could kill his
friends./ To men in such a state the Devil sends/ Thoughts of this kind, and has a
full permission/ To lure them on to sorrow and perdition;/ For this young man was
utterly content/ To kill them both and never to repent.” (Pardoner’s Tale, lines
243-251)
3. “There is, in Avicenna’s long relation/ Concerning poison and its operation,/ Trust
me, no ghastlier section to transcend/ What these two wretches suffered at their
end./ Thuse these two murderers received their due,/ So did the treacherous
young poisoner too.” (Pardoner’s Tale, lines 290-295).
4. “So let me then propose for your enjoyment,/ Just as I said, a suitable
employment.” (Prologue, lines 795-796).
5. “Speaking of his equipment, he possessed/ Fine horses, but he was not gaily
dressed./ He wore a fustian tunic stained and dark/ With smudges where his
armor had left mark;/ Just home from service, he had joined our ranks/ To do his
pilgrimage and render thanks.” (Prologue, lines 75-80).
6. “And I don’t doubt, before the journey’s done/ You mean to while the time in tales
and fun./ Indeed, there’s little pleasure for your bones/ Riding along and all as
dumb as stones.” (Prologue, lines 791-794).
Matching (Who am I?)
1. “… loved the way of Chivalry”
2. “He had … in a glass a handful of pig’s bones”
3. “Saint Christopher in his breast made of silver sheen”
4. “He was some twenty years of age”
5. “and she was known as Madame Eglantine”
6. “Five times at church door she has been a wife”
7. “And always for the poor he loved to labor”
8. “for, being grounded in astronomy …”
9. “He paid his tithes in full when they were due”
10. “he was a master-hand at stealing grain”
11. “yet out it came to pleasure/ His lord with subtle loans or gifts of goods”
12. “An wouldn’t speak a word except in Latin/ When he was drunk”
13. “And gladly he would learn, and gladly teach”