The Canterbury Tales Test 1 Review
Geoffrey Chaucer
Know about Chaucer life—Read page 142 in your textbook & look at lecture notes
Why did the pilgrims go on the journey to Canterbury?
Why did Chaucer write the Canterbury Tales?
Who does Chaucer condemn or make fun of with writing the Canterbury Tales?
Know that the people are not exactly as you would think someone of their profession and
status would act and behave, and also that they do not represent everyone of the
time period.
Characters
Know the descriptions of the following including their behaviors and appearance
(realistic and ironic):
 Monk

Nun (Prioress)

Knight

Squire
“The Prologue”
Know what will happen on the journey: They meet at the Tabard Inn; Will tell tales on
the journey; Winner will get a free meal.
How does the narrator describe each pilgrim?
What is the significance of spring at the beginning of “The Prologue”?
What are the pilgrims going to visit?
“The Pardoner’s Tale”
Know what the Pardoner’s job is and what he is more concerned with doing?
Know the importance of Death in the tale.
Know the moral of the tale and the Pardoner’s message.
Know what happens to each character.
Satire
Be able to find realistic and ironic traits for the Nun, Squire, Knight, and Monk based on
passages from “The Prologue”.
Know why Chaucer is using satire when writing about the pilgrims.
Quotes: Know the following quotes and what each one means:
Quote 1:
When in April sweet showers fall/And pierce
the drought of March to the root, and all/The
veins are bathed in liquor of such power/As
brings about the engendering of the
flower,/When also Zephyrus with his sweet
breath/Exhales an air in every grove and
heath/Upon tender shoots, the young sun/His
half-course in the sign of the Ram has
run,/And small fowl are making melody/That
sleep away the night with open eye/(So nature
pricks them and their hearts)/Then people long
to go on pilgrimages/And palmers long to seek
the stranger strands/Of far-off saints, hallowed
in sundry lands,/And specially, from every
shires end/Of England, down to Canterbury
they wend/To seek the holy blissful martyr
quick/To give his help to them when they
were sick.
Quote 2:
Thrice in the lists, and always killed his
man./This same distinguished knight had led
the van/Once with the Bey of Balat, doing
work/For him against a heathen Turk;/He was
of sovereign value in all eyes./And thought so
much distinguished, he was was…/He was a
true and gentle-knight./Speaking of his
equipment, he possessed/Fine horses, but was
not gaily dressed./He wore a fustian tunic
stained and dark/With smudges where his
armor had left his mark;/Just home from
service he joined our ranks/To do his
pilgrimage and render thanks.
Quote 3:
And she had little dogs she would be
feeding/With roasted flesh, or milk, or fine
white bread./And bitterly she wept if one were
dead/Or someone took a stick and made it
smart;
She was all sentiment and tender heart./Her
veil was gathered in a seemly way, /Her nose
elegant, her eyes glass-gray;/Her mouth was
very small, but soft and red,/Her forehead
certainly, was fair of spread,/Almost a span
across the brows, I own;/She was indeed by no
means undergrown.
Quote 4:
Aye, and as loud as does the chapel
bell,/Where my lord Monk was Prior of the
cell./The Rule of good St. Benet or St.
Maur/As old and strict he chose to ignore;/He
let go the things of yesterday/And took the
more spacious way.
Quote 5:
“The curse of avarice and cupidity/Is all my
sermon, for it frees the pelf./Out come the
pence, and specially for myself,/For my
exclusive purpose is to win/And not at all to
castigate their sin./Once dead what matter how
their souls may fare?/They can go on
blackberrying, for all I care!...”
Short Answer
1. Describe how gold symbolizes Death in the story?
2. “’Do no more harm to an old man than you,/Being now young would have another
do/When you are old’” Translate the quote from above and explain it’s significance.
3. Why do you think this story would be the pardoners most profitable?
4. Describe how Chaucer uses external physical descriptions to tell the reader about the
character’s internal flaws. Use specific examples.
5. Which character in the “Prologue” does Chaucer seem to have the highest regard for?
Use evidence to support your opinion.
6. What does the “Prologue” do to help the reader understand the tales that compromise
the poem The Canterbury Tales?
7. Describe how the setting and the season contribute to the theme of The Canterbury
Tales.