chaucer

• Though essentially still a medieval writer,
Chaucer bore marks of humanism and anticipated a new ear to come. He was one of the greatest poets of the late Middle Ages and has often been called the father of English poetry. His best-known works are The Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde. Chaucer greatly increased the prestige of English as a literary language and extended the range of its poetic vocabulary and meters. He was the first English poet to use the seven-line stanza in iambic pentameter known as rhyme royal and the couplet later called heroic.
man,
• Who from the day on which he first began • To ride abroad had followed chivalry,
• Truth, honor, freedom and all the courtesy. • He had done nobly in his sovereign’s ear, • And ridden into battle, none more far • As well in Christendom as in heathen
• characterization and description,
revealing a picturesque panorama of the 14th- century society. The most famous parts are : “The General Prologue”, the tales of “The Knight”, “The Franklin”, “The Pardoner”, “The Nun’s Priest”, “The Wife of Bath” and “The Parson”.
• As brings about the engendering of the
flower,
• When also Zephyrus with his sweet breath
• Exhales an air in every grove and heath • Upon the tender shoots , and the young
engages)
• 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 shire’s end • Of England, down to Canterbury they
places
• And ever honored for his noble graces. • ……………………………
• Three times in the lists, as always killed
his foe.
• This same distinguished knight and been
斥其它格律的地步。
•原文：
• When in April the sweet showers fall • And pierce the drought of March to the
root, and all
• The veins are bathed in liquor of such
power
•作品简介(Brief introduction
of The Canterbury Tales)
• The Canterbury Tales is a collection of
stories told by a group of 29 pilgrims from Southwark to Canterbury to visit the shrine of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.
• The work leaves unfinished, and only 24
were written.
• The pilgrims cover a wide range of
characters in the England at that time, and the tales are realistic and rich in
• The prologue and most of the tales are
written in heroic couplet.（英雄双韵体）
• 英雄双韵体为五步抑扬格诗行，对句成韵，形成
aa,bb,cc… 的韵律。17世纪后期，因为对句在英雄 （即史诗）诗歌和英雄剧中频繁出现，形容词 “英雄的”一词便应用而生。这种诗体是经杰弗 里.乔叟（在《好女人传说》和大多数《坎特伯雷 故事集》中的故事集中）引入到英国的诗歌创作 中的，并且一直流传下来。从约翰.德莱顿直到塞 缪尔.约翰逊，在这漫长的时期里，英雄双韵体一 直是所有英诗创作的主导形式，包括亚历山大.蒲 柏在内的一些诗人对这种韵体的运用几乎到了排
also
• At one time with the lord of Palatia • Against another heathen in Turkey; • ……………………
• His language
• (1) Chaucer’s language, now called Middle
• The General Prologue describes the
meeting of the pilgrims in the Tabard Inn is Southwark. Twenty-one of them are vividly described. The host of the inn suggests that the group ride together and
•The General Prologue
• The Prologue provides a framework
for the tales. Every figure is drawn with the accuracy of a portrait. It is no exaggeration to say that the Prologue supplies a miniature of the English society of Chaucer’s time. That is why Chaucer has been called “the founder of English realism”.
space,
• Before my story takes a further pace,
• It seems a reasonable thing to say • What their condition was, the full array • Of each of them, as it appeared to me, • According to profession and degree, • And what apparel they were riding in; • And at a Knight I therefore will begin. • There was a knight, a most distinguished
•作者生平简介
• Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English
poetry, was born in the rising middle class family in London in the early 1340s. He held different positions at court and in the King’s service and he traveled abroad on many occasions on diplomatic missions to France. He died in 1400 and was buried in the Westminster Abbey, thus founding the “Poet’s Corner”.
wide;
• They made us easy, alห้องสมุดไป่ตู้ was of the best, • And, briefly, when the sun had gone to
rest,
• I’d spoken to them all upon the trip • And was soon one with them in fellowship, • Pledged to rise early and to take the way • To Canterbury, as you heard me say. • But none the less, while I have time and
sun
• His half-course in the sign of the Ram has
run,
• And the small fowl are making melody • That sleep away the night with open eye • (So nature pricks them and their heart
wend
• To seek the holy blissful martyr, quick • To give his help to them when they were
sick,
• It happened in that season that one day
• In Southwark , at The Tabard, as I lay • Ready to go on pilgrimages and start • For Canterbury, most devout at heart, • At night there came into that hostelry • Some nine and twenty in a company • Of sundry folk happening then to fall • In fellowship, and they were pilgrims all • That towards Canterbury meant to ride, • The rooms and stables of the inn were
• one another with stories. He describes
that
each pilgrim will tell two stories on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back. Whomever he judges to be the best storyteller will receive a free meal at Bailey’s tavern.