(b) Whan
that Aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the
The droghte of March hath perced to the
Geoffrey Chaucer
(1342-1400) - The Canterbury Tales
The invocation of spring with which the General Prologue
begins is lengthy and formal compared to the language of the rest of the
Prologue. The first lines situate the story in a particular time and place, but
the speaker does this in cosmic and cyclical terms, celebrating the vitality
and richness of spring. This approach gives the opening lines a dreamy,
timeless, unfocused quality, and it is therefore surprising when the narrator
reveals that he’s going to describe a pilgrimage that he himself took rather
than telling a love story. Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote, The
droghte of March hath perced to the, A pilgrimage is a religious journey undertaken for penance and grace. As
pilgrimages went, Canterbury was not a very difficult destination for an
English person to reach.
The Canterbury Tales, It was, therefore, very popular in fourteenth-century England, as the narrator mentions. Pilgrims traveled to visit the remains of Saint Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in 1170 by knights of King Henry II. Soon after his death, he became the most popular saint in England. The pilgrimage in The Canterbury Tales should not be thought of as an entirely solemn occasion, because it also offered the pilgrims an opportunity to abandon work and take a vacation.
The Canterbury Tales, It was, therefore, very popular in fourteenth-century England, as the narrator mentions. Pilgrims traveled to visit the remains of Saint Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in 1170 by knights of King Henry II. Soon after his death, he became the most popular saint in England. The pilgrimage in The Canterbury Tales should not be thought of as an entirely solemn occasion, because it also offered the pilgrims an opportunity to abandon work and take a vacation.
The Canterbury Tales, In line 20, the narrator abandons his
unfocused, all-knowing point of view, identifying himself as an actual person
for the first time by inserting the first person—“I”—as he relates how he met
the group of pilgrims while staying at the Tabard Inn. He emphasizes that this
group, which he encountered by accident, was itself formed quite by chance
(25–26). He then shifts into the first-person plural, referring to the pilgrims
as “we” beginning in line 29, asserting his status as a member of the group
The Canterbury Tales.
The narrator ends the introductory portion of his prologue by
noting that he has “tyme and space” to tell his narrative. The
Canterbury Tales, His comments
underscore the fact that he is writing some time after the events of his story,
and that he is describing the characters from memory. He has spoken and met
with these people, but he has waited a certain length of time before sitting
down and describing them. His intention to describe each pilgrim as he or she
seemed to him is also important, for it emphasizes that his descriptions are
not only subject to his memory but are also shaped by his individual
perceptions and opinions regarding each of the characters. He positions himself
as a mediator between two groups: the group of pilgrims, of which he was a
member, and us, the audience, whom the narrator explicitly addresses as “you”
in lines 34 and 38.
On the other hand, the narrator’s declaration that he will
tell us about the “condicioun,” “degree,” and “array” (dress) of each of the
pilgrims suggests that his portraits will be based on objective facts as well
as his own opinions. He spends considerable time characterizing the group
members according to their social positions Whan that Aprill with his
shoures soote, The droghte of March hath perced to the…
The Canterbury Tales, The pilgrims represent a diverse
cross section of fourteenth-century English society. Medieval social theory
divided society into three broad classes, called “estates”: the military, the
clergy, and the laity. (The nobility, not represented in the General Prologue,
traditionally derives its title and privileges from military duties and
service, so it is considered part of the military estate.) In the portraits
that we will see in the rest of the General Prologue, the Knight and Squire
represent the military estate. The clergy is represented by the Prioress (and
her nun and three priests), the Monk, the Friar, and the Parson, Whan
that Aprill with his shoures soote, The droghte of March hath perced to the…
The other characters, from the wealthy Franklin
to the poor Plowman, are the members of the laity. Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote, The
droghte of March hath perced to the, These
lay characters can be further subdivided into landowners (the Franklin),
professionals (the Clerk, the Man of Law, the Guildsmen, the Physician, and the
Shipman), laborers (the Cook and the Plowman), stewards (the Miller, the
Manciple, and the Reeve), and church officers (the Summoner and the Pardoner).
As we will see, Chaucer’s descriptions of the various characters and their
social roles reveal the influence of the medieval genre of estates satire.
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