geoffrey chaucer

The significance of The Canterbury Tales
Chaucer’s greatest work and the greater part of it was written in heroic couplets. A true-to-life picture of Chaucer’s time; It gives a comprehensive picture of Chaucer’s time. The gentle class--- the burgher( burgher(市民))--- the professionals Exposes and satirizes the evils of his time Presenting Chaucer’s humanistic views
The Prologue of the Wife of Bath’s Tale
• The wife of Bath speaking “Experience--and no matter what they say In books--is good enough authority For me to speak of trouble in marriage. For ever since I was twelve years of age, Thanks be to God, I’ve had no less than five Husbands at church door--if one may believe I could be wed so often legally!” (P.220)
• Born in 1343 as the son of a prosperous wine merchant in London. • Most probably educated in Oxford and Cambridge. • In 1357 Geoffrey is found in the service of Elizabeth, Countess of Ulster • In 1359,Went to France at 19 on one of the campaigns of the Hundred Years’ War. • Sent to Italy on diplomatic missions. • In 1373, Appointed controller of Customs at London. • In 1386, elected as MP but dismissed soon • Died in 1400, first poet buried in Westminster Abbey.
Some previous literary sources
• Boccaccio薄伽丘(Giovanni, 1313-1375, 文艺复 兴时期意大利作家, Decameron《十日谈》的作 者) • Dante 但丁(意大利诗人,1265-1321) • Ovid: Roman poet known for his explorations of love, especially the Art of Love (c. 1 b.c. ) and Metamorphoses (c. a.d. 8). 奥维德：公元前 43 年- 公元 17年罗马诗人，以其对爱的研究，尤其 是《爱的艺术》（公元前1年 )和《变形记》（公 元 8年）而闻名。
The prioress
The Knight
The Oxford Clerk
Chaucer
The
Wife of Bath
The Monk
The Squire
The Pardoner
Summoner
The Friar
行乞修道士
The Miller
• 夏雨给大地带来了喜悦， 送走了土壤干裂的三月， 沐浴着草木的丝丝经络， 顿时百花盛开，生机勃勃。 西风轻吹留下清香缕缕， The 田野复苏吐出芳草绿绿； 碧蓝的天空腾起一轮红日， 青春的太阳洒下万道金辉。 小鸟的歌喉多么清脆优美， 迷人的夏夜怎好安然入睡—— 美丽的自然撩拨万物的心弦， 多情的鸟儿歌唱爱情的欣欢。
The Prologue(开场白)
• In "The General Prologue ", Chaucer introduces the characters and establishes the framework of the poem. • The prologue supplies a miniature of the English society of Chaucer’s time.
Literary career
The French period 1360s-1372
– (The Book of the Duchess) 《公爵夫人之书》 (the Romance of the Rose) 《玫瑰传奇》
The Italian period 1372-1386
(Troilus and Criseyde ) 《特罗勒斯与克丽西德》
The English period 1386-1400
(The Canterbury Tales) 《坎特伯雷故事集》
His masterpiece and a represent源自文库tive works of the Middle Ages.
III. The Canterbury Tales
• Chaucer’s masterpiece. • One of the monumental works in English literature.
The Prologue(开场白)
• The thirty pilgrims range from the knight and squire and prioress（女修道院院长 ）, through the landed proprietor and wealthy trademan, to the drunken cook and humble plowman（农夫 ）. • There are also a doctor and a lawyer, monks of different orders and nuns and priests, and a summoner （法庭传讯者）, a sailor, a miller, a carpenter, a yeoman, and an Oxford scholar. • Finally, in the center of the group is the Wife of Bath, the owner of a large clothfactory.
Origin of The Canterbury Tales
• On a spring evening, Chaucer drops himself at the Tabard Inn in Southwark at the south of London Bridge. • Here he meets nine and twenty other pilgrims ready for a journey of 60 miles on horseback to Canterbury. • At the suggestion of the host of the inn, they agree to beguile the journey by story-telling. • Each is to tell two stories going and two returning. And the best story-teller shall be treated with a fine supper at the general expense at the end.
Father of English Poetry
Content
• I. Chaucer’s Life • II. Chaucer’s Literary Career • III. The Canterbury Tales • IV. Chaucer’s Contribution
Ⅰ. Life of Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400)
7.The Wife of Bath （巴斯城的妇女） 巴斯城的妇女）
• The wife of Bath shows Chaucer’s keen observation and his unsurpassed (无比的) talent for characterization. • She is the owner of a cloth factory, lighthearted, merry, somewhat vulgar (粗俗的), and exceedingly (非常) talkative. • It is a vivid sketch (概述) of a woman of the middle class, and a colorful picture of the domestic life of that class in Chaucer’s day.
The Canterbury Cathedral
The Canterbury Tales
1. It has 24 stories. 2.It is the description of the pilgrims （朝圣者 ）who tell stories. 3. It is about the life of ordinary people. 4. It gives vivid characters, with humor and satire.
Prologue
6.The Tales
The famous ones are the story of : 1) the wife of Bath（巴斯夫人）, 2) the Knight（骑士）, 3) the Pardoner Pardoner（卖赎罪卷者）, , 4) the Nun’s Priest（尼姑的教士）, 5) the Prologue（序诗）.
Historical background
• 1. the Hundred Years War (1337 – 1453) : awake national consciousness in England. French was gradually replaced by English native tongue. • 2. The Black Death(1348-1350) killed 30% to 60% of Europe's population • 3. the peasant uprising of 1381: the conflict between the peasants and feudal lords. • 4.1360-1400 the summit of Middle English Literature.
5.The Outline and the Prologue
Outline of the Story Tabard (泰巴客店 泰巴客店) 泰巴客店 29 (30) pilgrims, to Canterbury 24 stories written All major types of medieval literature The Prologue (序诗) a framework for the tales vivid sketches of typical figures from all walks of life The Prologue supplies a miniature(小画像) of 小画像) the English society of the time