General Prologue
(The Canterbury Tales)
1: Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
2: The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
3: And bathed every veyne in swich licour
4: Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
5: Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
6: Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
7: Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
8: Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne,
9: And smale foweles maken melodye,
10: That slepen al the nyght with open ye
11: (so priketh hem nature in hir corages);
12: Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
13: And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
14: To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
The poem opens with a passage about spring, the
season when people long to get out and about after the
rigors of winter. Chaucer does not only give the
essence of the season itself, but a vivid realization of
its effect on human beings:
‘When April with his showers sweet with fruit
The drought of March has pierced unto the root
And bathed each vein with liquor that has power
To generate therein and sire the flower;
When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath,
Quickened again, in every holt and heath,
The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun
Into the Ram one half his course has run,
And many little birds make melody
That sleep through all the night with open eye…
 The company of pilgrims (29+1)meeting
together at the Tabard Inn in Southwark for
the journey to Canterbury. The journey
usually took 3-4 days, though it could be
done in less. The shrine of St. Thomas, who
had been murdered in 1170 and canonized
three years later, was the major place of
pilgrimage
 At the end of the General Prologue, Chaucer
says that he has described the ‘estate’ of all
the pilgrims and his prologue is not merely a
collection of portraits, but something that
goes much further
 Literature that described the characteristics
qualities and failings of the members of the
various ‘estates’, the trades, professions and
ways of life of fourteenth-century people
 Thus, in describing the pilgrims, Chaucer
was not merely inventing a group of
interesting characters, or portraying actual
people that he knew, but drawing upon a
well-established but rather stereotyped
mode of writing and transforming it, to give
us the highly individualized group of people
who make up the company assembled at the
Tabard Inn
 In order to give a more comprehensive view
of his society, Chaucer presents a very large
company of pilgrims, and selected
representatives from high up on the social
scale (the Knight and his son, the Squire),
and from both religious and secular life
 He has women as well men, poor as well as
rich, learned and ignorant, and simple
countrymen as well as sophisticated, worldly
pilgrims
 Clothing
 Attitude
 The way a story is told
 Response to other’s stories
 The knight = highest class
 The most admirable member in the society
 Fight for religious ideals rather than
personal
 Disregards the look of his appearance
 Participate in 15 crusades
 Description shows Chaucer admires him
* Refer to the hardcopy of TCT (General
Prologue)
 His steeds (horse) were good but he was not
gay (merry)
 He wore a short close-fitting sleeveless
padded garment (jupon) made from cloth
suitable for menswear (fustian) under his
discolored sleeveless coat (habergeon)
 Clothing indicated he comes straight away
from battlefield to join pilgrimage
 The squire = the knight’s son
 Young lover, 20 years old
 Romantic ideal rather than chivalry
 Loves dressing up, singing, dancing, playing
flute
 Has high respect towards the father
* Refer to the hardcopy of TCT (General
Prologue)
 The prioress (nun) = religious sect
 Female superior in a convent
 Beautiful lady dedicated to worldly romance
 Charming and courteous – has good table
manners, dresses well, speaks French,
charitable, compassionate
 Loves wordly material – wears a brooch
inscribed “Love Conquers All Things”
* Refer to the hardcopy of TCT (General
Prologue)
 Described as physically attractive – not gross
and bloated
 Loves good food but not a glutton
 Adorns fine clothing and loves hunting
* Refer to the hardcopy of TCT (General
Prologue)
 A trader = businessman
 Secular group rather than religious
 Traditionally associated with fraud and
dishonesty
 Chaucer’s Merchant wears a “mask” to hide
the status of his dealings
* Refer to the hardcopy of TCT (General
Prologue)
 An admirable figure
 Not so attractive appearance – bony lad,
half-starved, ragged clothing
 Not concern of monetary matters
 Prays for food and anyone who could
support his studies
 Even his horse is not fed well
* Refer to the hardcopy of TCT (General
Prologue)
 A very experienced older woman but one
who is still ready for love if anyone will give
her a chance
 A seamstress by occupation
 She was married five times and had many
other affairs in her youth, making her wellpracticed in the art of love
* Refer to the hardcopy of TCT (General
Prologue)
 Which discussed women’s faults and failings
and the appropriate attitudes towards them
that men should adopt = hatred of women
 Such writing often denounced women for
pride and bad temper
 Chaucer portrayed his elderly woman as
knowing all about love
 After Chaucer has introduce all the pilgrims, he
excuses himself in advance for any displeasure
that he may cause by attempting to report
accurately the uncensored words of his
companions, and he also apologizes for not
introducing the pilgrims in exactly the correct
order.
 The host, Harry Bailey is then introduced
* Refer to the hardcopy of TCT (General
Prologue)
 The Master of Ceremony
 The judge
 The arbitrator
 The alarm clock
 The rule setter for the contest
 The prize giver
* The one who draws the shortest straw, shall
tell be the first story-teller
SONNET