Chaucer answer key
1. Father of English poetry
2. Middle English
3. 10 syllable line of poetry with five stressed syllables and five unstressed. It resembles the
sound of the human heart beat.
4. 24
5. The Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey
6. 55 miles southeast
7. Thomas a Becket
8. April
9. Tabard Inn
10. suburb of Southwark
11. poet staying in the inn who decides to join the pilgrimage (Chaucer himself??)
12. 29 + the narrator
13. Harry Bailey
14. the knight
15. “Just home from service, he joined our ranks/To do his pilgrimage and render thanks.”
16. 20
17. He can fight, ride a horse, sing, play musical instruments, write poetry, and obey his
father.
18. an attendant to the knight and squire; he is trained to use the longbow
19. St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers
20. prioress
21. Madam Eglantyne
22. French
23. fine white bread
24. peasants ate coarse black bread; refined white flour was extremely expensive and very
few people, let alone dogs, were fortunate enough to eat it
25. coral trinket; in the Middle Ages, coral was thought to help the wearer find love
26. Love conquers all
27. the chaplain of her cell (convent) and three other priests
28. hunting
29. fine gray fur and a wrought-gold pin
30. “He was a fat and personable priest:”
31. a saddle horse
32. friar who is given begging rights for a certain limited area
33. easy, not strict and demanding
34. hair pins and pocket knives
35. a person with loose morals
36. The friar does not help the “slum-and-gutter dwellers” but prefers to serve the “rich and
victual-sellers [the innkeepers]” in order to make a tremendous profit.
37. Hubert
38. He is in debt.
39. religion and theology
40. Oxford University
41. 20 books including one on Aristotle
42. buy books
43. estate law
44. St. Nicholas or Santa Claus
45. happiness is the most important goal in life; this happiness comes from the luxuries in life
including fine food and drink
46. Dartmouth, England
47. a dagger
48. He makes them walk the plank.
49. The Maudelayne
50. hot and dry, hot and moist, cold and dry, cold and moist
51. he sells quake medicines
52. 5
53. scarlet red
54. gapped-teeth
55. 7 – three times to Jerusalem; Rome, Italy; Boulogne, Italy; St. James of Compostella; and
Cologne, Germany
56. one tenth of a person’s income, paid as a tax to support the church
57. a stave (what a shepherd carries)
58. Gold represents the leaders of the church, and iron represents the peasants. If the priests
are corrupt (rusted), then what hope can the lowly peasants (without the moral superiority
of the church leaders) possibly have?
59. The Parson truly knows, teaches and follows the gospels of Christ. He is generous and
able to sacrifice for his followers. He protects his “flock” like a shepherd (allusion to
Christ). Unlike his urban counterparts, he is holy and virtuous. The Friar possesses no
morals or virtues and is greedy for a profit; the Monk dislikes religious study and enjoys
the luxuries of the rich (hunting and good food); and the Nun considers herself a noble
Gentlewoman (Lady) rather than a bride of Christ.
60. the plowman
61. Both dislike taking money from others, both live in peace and charity and both truly love
God.
62. red beard, black nostrils
63. filthy tavern stories
64. He holds his thumb on the scale when he weighs the flour, thus overcharging his
customers.
65. bagpipes
66. buyer of provisions; this Manciple buys provisions for a law school
67. an estate manager
68. shaved head above his ears like a priest
69. He is ruthless when he comes to collect the serfs’ taxes to the master.
70. one who serves summons to appear in church court
71. his face is bright red and covered with pus-filled boils
72. He uses mercury, sulfur, lead ointments, tartar creams and boric acid
73. disgusting ones! Garlic, onions, strong wine
74. He does not know Latin; he has memorized only a few random phrases
75. He told the sinners that any curse from the Archdeacon was harmless and they had
nothing to fear. He would accept bribes but in exchange, he could blackmail the sinners
in his community.
76. the Pardoner
77. the Pardoner is of nobility
78. one who dispenses Papal pardons; that is, he sells pardons authorized by the Pope to
exonerate people from their sins
79. “yellow as wax,/Hanging down smoothly like a hank of flax” hangs down in thin rat-tails
80. small voice of a goat (unusually high for a man)
81. A gelding is a castrated horse; the narrator implies that the Pardoner may have been
castrated.
82. a pillowcase he claims is the veil of the Virgin Mary, part of St. Peter’s sail, pig bones he
claims are the bones of the apostles
83. He must tell the tales exactly in the manner of the speaker; that is, it is not Chaucer who
is crude, vulgar, hypocritical, pious, etc. It is the pilgrim/speaker.
84. A bit fat, merry-hearted, bold in speech yet tactful and wise
85. a district in London
86. The contest: Each pilgrim will tell two tales on the outward trip and two more tales on the
return trip. The pilgrim who tells the best tell will get a free dinner when they return from
Canterbury.
87. Harry Bailey
88. draw lots