ENGL 252 Dr. Debora B. Schwartz English Department, California Polytechnic State University Backgrounds to Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales Required Background readings:  the biographical note on Chaucer, pp. iii-iv in your textbook Selected Canterbury Tales, tr. J. U. Nicolson (Dover Thrift Editions). the Norton Anthology introduction to Chaucer (biographical headnote), to the Canterbury Tales, to the General Prologue, and to the close of the Canterbury Tales (Parson's Prologue and Chaucer's Retraction) (.PDF file, 3 pp., on e-reserve in the Library resources section of Blackboard). contextual primary reading: Chaucer's ballad "Nobility" (.PDF file, 1 p., on e-reserve in the Library resources section of Blackboard). The Medieval Estates (online reading). Background Information Read the short biographical introduction in your textbook, pp. iii-iv, as well as the Norton Anthology (=NA) introductions to Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales (.PDF file, 3 pp. , on e-reserve in the Library resources section of Blackboard).  What languages did he read/speak and how was he likely to have learned them?  What was Chaucer's social class? (consider his father's profession).  How did he come into contact with the aristocracy?  What were his various professional activities?  (see NA intro pp. 76-7).  Chaucer's sensitivity to issues of class and what one might call nobility of character (as distinct from nobility of birth) are expressed in his ballad "Nobility" (.PDF file on e-reserve in the Library resources section of Blackboard; to access the text in Chaucer's Middle English, click HERE).  Note that while the Middle English term gentilesse ('nobility') is the root of the modern term "gentleman," which originally meant someone of aristocratic birth, Chaucer defines it somewhat differently:  true nobility, for Chaucer, is a function of noble behavior rather than noble birth.  The importance of this distinction to Chaucer -- born into the middle class but who worked throughout his life at and for the royal court  -- is clear; the theme recurs e.g. in the Wife of Bath's Tale (which we will be reading this quarter) and the Franklin's Tale (which we will not).  Chaucer's interest in issues of social class is also reflected in his choice of the genre known as Estates Satire for the General Prologue.  Read carefully through the online reading on The Medieval Estates; you are responsible for this material on both quizzes and exams.  Know the meaning of the term "frame narrative" and what Italian work (author and title) was a model of this genre (if not a source) for Chaucer (see NA intro p. 79).  Know what is meant by the "fragments" of the Canterbury Tales (see NA intro p. 80).  Know which works begin and end the Canterbury Tales  collection.  Know what is meant by Chaucer's "Retraction" (see final page of NA .PDF file, as well as the text itself, available on e-reserve in a separate .PDF file along with the Parson's Prologue).  Know which of our Chaucer readings was an early work which predates the Canterbury Tales collection, the title under which it was originally known, and what Italian work (author and title) was its primary source.   How many Canterbury Tales were originally planned? How many of the projected tales were actually written? In what sort of verse were our readings from the Canterbury Tales originally written, and what was its metrical form? (Know the correct term and be able to define it in terms of the number of syllables and the stress pattern. Hint: this information is found under "Text Info" on the course calendar; if the terms are unfamiliar, consult the online reading Shakespearean Verse and Prose for information about rhythm and meter.)  You are also responsible for Norton Anthology editor's note about the Parson's Prologue (referred to as the "Introduction to the Parson's Tale," NA pp. 192-3, on the last page of the .PDF file); this introduction should help you understand the Parson's Prologue and Chaucer's Retraction, the two final pieces in the Canterbury Tales collection (available in a separate .PDF file which is also on e-reserve in the Library resources section of Blackboard).  On the close of the Canterbury Tales, see also the the end of the General Prologue Study Guide. In addition to the answers to the questions raised above, by the end of our Chaucer unit you should know: DATES: the years of Chaucer's birth and death and the years during which Chaucer worked on the Canterbury Tales. the significance of the following WORKS: the medieval Italian poet Boccaccio's The Decameron and Il Teseida ("The Story of Theseus"); the medieval French dream vision The Romance of the Rose; Chaucer's "Palamon and Arcite"; Chaucer's Retraction. CONCEPTS:  what is meant by the three traditional (and three "feminine") "Medieval Estates"; which pilgrims represent each of these "Estates"; which four pilgrims represent idealized potraits of the Church, the Aristocracy, the Peasantry, and arguably of intellectuals (a new sub-class of the Clergy with which Chaucer may have identified); and which satirical portaits target individuals who use their status within the Church for personal gain. GENRES: which readings are (and the definition of) the  following genres: "frame narrative," "Estates satire," "fabliau," "Literary Confession," "Penitential Treatise" (not to mention our old friend, the "romance").  the significance of the following PLACES and SETTINGS:  General Prologue: the village of Southwark, the Tabard Inn, the town of Canterbury, the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket at Canterbury Cathedral; Knight's Tale: Athens, Thebes; Miller's Tale: Oxford; Wife of Bath's Prologue: Oxford, Denmark to Ind[ia]; Parson's Prologue: Heavenly Jerusalem. CHARACTERS:  you should be able to identify and distinguish between the following characters and know the role each plays in the readings. General Prologue: Chaucer the Pilgrim, the Host (Harry Bailly), Saint Thomas à Becket, the Knight, the Squire, the Prioress (Madame Eglantine), the Monk, the Friar, the Clerk, the Wife of Bath (Alison), the Parson, the Miller (Robin), the Pardoner; Knight's Tale: Theseus (or Thesëus), Hippolyta, Emily (or Emilia), Palamon, Arcita (or Arcite), "Philostrates" (who uses this alias and when/why), Venus, Mars, Diana; Miller's Prologue: Robin, Oswald; Miller's Tale: John, Alison, Nicholas (or Nicholay), Absalom; Wife of Bath's Prologue: Alison (of Bath), Jenkin, the three "good" and two "bad" husbands (know what makes the "good" ones "good"; which one was unfaithful; which one she married for love; which one beat her; which one read to her from the "Book of Wicked Wives"); Wife of Bath's Tale: the Elf Queen, King Arthur, the raped maiden, the rapist knight, Arthur's Queen (i.e. Guinevere), the mysterious old woman ("old wife"). Concerning the close of the Canterbury Tales, you should know:  how the theme of pilgrimage is used at the end of the work; how Chaucer's use of the theme of pilgrimage has changed realtive to the General Prologue; the symbolic value of that change; the time of day that is evoked in the Parson's Prologue; the symbolism associated with that time of day; the possible connection between this symbolism and Chaucer's "Retraction."  Contents of this and linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 1999-2009 Click here for specific Study Questions for the General Prologue Click here for Study Questions for the Knight's Tale Click here for specific Study Questions for the Miller's Tale Click here for Study Questions for the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale Return to ENGL 252 homepage Return to Dr. Schwartz's Teaching Page Return to Dr. Schwartz's homepage Send me mail!