Geoffrey Chaucer
-old English
(anglo-saxon)à (450-1100)
-1066 Norman
Invasion
-French was
spoken in “Angland” and English became a 2nd class language for 300
years
-1100-1500
Middle Ages
-1500-1660
Early Modern English
-Chaucer is
“middle class”
-Alot of
-1340 Chaucer
is born in
àGrew up in an area of
-Chaucer’s
father (John Chaucer) was a “Vinter”, a wine seller
-1340’s was the
time period where people wanted to be in
-1348 Black
Death (Bubonic Plague) in the month of June
àled to a large inheritance for the Chaucers
-17yrs old
Chaucer became a server or page in the court
-Chaucer became
highly ranked in the court, becomes busy with travels and what not
-Chaucer
squired for Edward the 3rd, Richard the 2nd and Henry the
4th.
Parliament of Fowls
-Chaucer was in
high power, he has court duties which includes writing
-Richard 2nd
is the King and trying to marry Anna of Bohemia, he is not her only suiter
though
-First mention
of St. Valentine ’s Day and love, February 14th, theories that
Chaucer started Valentine’s Day.
-Everything
Chaucer does is trying to connect everything in the world
-Under Edward
the 3rd, the power diminishes and people begin speaking English
-Richard the 2nd
allows the English language to be spoken in the court.
-Le Roman de la Rose (1237-77) (Romance
of the rose), by Guillame de Lorries (1215-78) (started it) and Jean de Meun
(1250-1305) (finished it); has to do with courtly love and greatly influenced
Chaucer
-Dante
Alighieri (1265-1321) La Divina Commedia (1300)
The Divine Comedy; major masterpiece of Italian Literature
-Francesco Petrerca (Petrarch) (1304-74)
-Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-75) Decayeron (1350)
-
-Virgil (70-19
BC) Aneid
-Ovid (43 BC-18
AD) Metamorphoses/ Ars Amatoria
-The big dream
vision is the Romance of the Rose,
also Cicero
-University
before 17th century is training for the church, leads to medicine or
law…this was in the English speaking world which were considered trades. You
could not study to be a doctor or lawyer in the English speaking countries at a
university.
-Chaucer was a
gov’t official, did not have a lot of latin skills, was really good with
Italian or French. He pretends to have read some of the works because the
manuscripts were extremely costly.
-Rime Royal,
ABABBCC, is a rhyme scheme, Chaucer got this from Boccaccio, it is slightly
different but not by much
stanza 1- he is talking about love in an abstract sense
extra letters
that come up in slightly modern English- “thorn” and “yogh” “eth” (Islandic
alphabet still uses them)
-Parliament of
Fouls is an example of Chaucer’s wit, his cleverness with language and words.
He can make his readers find his characters reliable
-Archery is
important to English society
-boxwood is
good for pipe instruments
-olive branch
of peace
-meadows are
important to us because it’s a natural, cleared and soothing piece of land
-the narrator
is sleeping, and dreaming
-double
negatives come up often (POF: line 122)
-the birds are
assigned different meanings as well, they relate in ways to humanity. The
sparrow was originally a English bird, very horny
-semi political
satire
-Rhetoric: the
art of persuasion; was highly systematized in the old
Jan 18th
-trivium:
grammar, logic, and rhetoric
-quadrivium:
arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy
- the falcon
and falconry are noble pastimes, enjoyed by the upper class; tercel is a male
falcon and formel is the female falcon
-the women of
the middle ages were under the same category as furniture and livestock for
men, when her husband dies though, she will then own everything in his
possession upon death. This happens in
-the creation
of valentine’s day in the parliament of falcons
jan 23
-Chaucer uses a
lot of sound effects
-the pilgrimage
with all the characters, is to go see the shrine of st.thomas beckett at the
-a pilgrimage
is a form of tourism and fun as well as a spiritual and self-observing aspect
of this
-pilgrimages
appeal to people across the social spectrum
-the three
classes are an industrial revolution idea
-the three
characters on the front of the book, are the prayers, fighters and workers,
which is the system of the middle ages
-if you had
money you could retreat to a castle during the black plague, and no one would
leave, so tales would be told
-the Cantebury
tales are not completely finished
-1476 is when
-ellesmere;
heugwyrtà written by same scribe, however
very different, written around 1400’s (chaucer’s death)
-the cantebury
tales started with the knight and prayer because they r on top in society
-knightly ages
begins
-the crusading
city of aka falls in
-the knight
that Chaucer writes about has fought on both sides of the crusades
-Chaucer’s
knight is a mercenary? Chaucerean Irony
-Chaucer makes
this knight look ideal
-The knight is
either going to pay thanks to god for keeping him alive, OR he did something
very bad and is going to get forgiveness
Jan 25th
(starting from
line 85 )
-mede and
meede= meadow (orthography error, it makes a difference depending on where the
scribe is from)
-talking about
a squire
-talking about
adolescent and its stereotypical deadly sin of adultery
-talking about
the stereotypical sin of wrath
-the knights
clothing is risqué and a sign of social status
-the jacket
exposes the whole bottom half that is covered with tights
-this period of
time, men dressed very flamboyantly
-long and wide
sleeves is (monk or grimreaper sleeves) a sign of social status
-that over
interest in fashion by the knight is morally wrong and judged by peers, it was
also subject to laws by king Henry 3rd that governed who could wear
what according to their station in society (attempt to regulate class on
clothing)
-the squire
falls perfectly under the stereotype of the successful young man who can write,
dance, play music and joust well
-this guy
barely even sleeps, he is always trying to get with the ladies, but yet he is
very respectful and even cuts before his father at the table which is also a
sign of trust
-Chaucerian
Irony
(picking up in
line 118)
-talking about
the Prioresse (priestess/nun)
-someone who is
heading up a community of nuns
-rosary with a
crown of hay
-4 monks and 4
nuns
-she cleans
herself so well
-sounds more
like a noble lady than a nun
-talks more
about her social status than spirituality
-1st
son inherits everything from kin, the 2nd son either joins the
clergy or the army (usually clergy)
-daughters are
sent to nunnery
-line 121 is
bad for a nun to be, its almost like when a knight wins a tournament for her he
will be in her bed later to take his “winnings”
-her table
manners are connected to gluttony; she should actually worry more about god
than table manners
-concerned to
see nobly born and display her manners in court
-she is so
charitable and kind that she has pets whom she takes more than good care of
(gives them better food than what most English peasants eat)
-Paris Hilton
as a nun
-bacon was a
common poor food, not eaten in stripes, used as flavouring
-insulting and
dehumanizing
-affective
piety: to get people to focus on the sufferings of Christ on the cross, so they
understand the true sacrifice and suffering
-blueish grey
eyes are “hot”, lips as small red
-representations
of noble women, is normally started with something that holds her hair back and
shows her forehead, which is really “hot”; nuns are supposed to be so
conservative that you cannot see her forehead; she is deliberately sexualizing
herself
-the rosary is
not actually a rosary by to ambiguous to know
-the nun is
incredibly worldly
picking up on
line 545
-The Miller’s Tale
-big man, into
wrestling and always wins a ram
-stereotype of
miller is that they are thieves
-coarse
individual (rough around the edges)
-redhead
(associated with the devil)
-had a wart on
the side of his nose with a bunch of hair on it
-peasantry
depiction
-bag pipe
player
-thumb of gold
means he places his thumb on the scale to make it seem he milled more than he actually
did
-the whole
premise of the Canterbury tales is that who ever tells the best story will get
dinner on the rest of the others
-the miller
interrupts (cries in pilate’s voice as an annoying and pain in the ass, loud
and demanding)
-the miller is
lower himself throughout the story
-fabliau:
French telling poetry, violent and noble centralization (
-oxford is
setting
-a scholar and
carpenter; young wife both carpenter and wife had lots of money and were well
off. This young girl was beautiful and nice, highly eroticised
Jan 30
Miller’s
Tale (pg 69)
-woot (to know),
nam (am)
-everideel
(everything)
-biforn
(before)
-he felt up the
girl a lot because he knows he is not going to get anything else later on
-Nicholas is
playing a harp like instrument
-the clergyman
is described as extremely fancy
-nicholas is
the same stature as the clergyman
-absolon is not
in the full developed category of manhood
-barbers and
insurgents had the same role
-absolon is a
hairstylist and dresses really fancy, very particular about his appearance
-absolon likes
to sing and dance as well and could sing in a very high pitched voice
-could be a
unique because upon the removal of the testicle, the boy my never gte his manly
voice
-he does not
like farts but likes Alison
-an in built
misogyny that he admires a woman too much
-absolon is too
woman like
-nicholas made
john think that the flood was coming so he hid, and he woo’d Alison
-absolon
interrupted and Alison told him if he didn’t leave she would throw a rock at
him
-lemon means
love or mistress, to be someone’s lemon is to be a sex partner but sweet
someone at the same time
-she finally
calls him over to kiss him and she sticks her ass out at him and he kisses her
ass
-very unclean
ass, he grabbed anything he could to clean his mouth
-he grabs a hot
iron and comes back for another kiss, so Nicholas stuck his butt out the window
but then wakes up john as Nicholas is screaming for water because absolon burns
him.
-the audience
expects a/the fabliau to have a certain amount of violence that is comic to an
extent
-the
carpenter’s wife was fucked since the carpenter was holding her back, and
Nicholas was burnt, absolon never got to kiss her..
The Reeve’s
Prologue
-the reeve
(Oswald) was not happy with the miller’s tale because he was a carpenter
-he says, he
could tell dirty stories if he wanted to but he is old
-says he is a
creepy old man, says he may really want to but he won’t be able to
-when we are
burned up and the ashs are tossed the four embers of sin still lie in the ashs
-greed,
bragging, lust
-metaphor as
life as a wine barrel; as we are born, the tap is struck into the barrel and
his is almost empty
-the reeve is
preaching in a weird way, the host won’t have any of it, he tells the reeve to
stop preaching and tell the tale
-the two
students coming up from the north, it makes them a bit rough looking
-clean shaven
(suggests he is clerical but is actually not) and haircut like a monk
-been stealing
many different things of value from his gov’t and then selling it back to it
-brook= small
creek
-the students
are trying to rip of the miller and the miller is trying to rip off the
students by giving them bran instead of flour
-the miller
unties the horse and while they chase it, he rips them off the flour
-people used to
live with their animals
-the miller had
a room that was separate for the whole family and their own beds
-swyve= to fuck
-the miller
aand his wife are sleeping, the students decided to fuck the daughter of the
miller
-basically it
ends with the miller getting beaten, the wife and daughter get raped, the
clerks alyen and john take the horse and flour which was baked aand aalso eat a
fine meal on the miller’s bill
**Chaucer is
actually a persecuted rapist by a lady who we do not know was either raped by
him or she was just carrying his child**
-we know this
because he started having to make more money and had requests to loan money and
etc.
The Man of
Laws (Lawyers) prologue
-the man of law
is doing a lot of judicial law and as well as some real estate law
-much of our
current real estate law is set up in old
-he buys a lot
of land
-a suggestion
in the text that he is possibly a shifty character and may sometimes cheat
people
-the man of law
has all the cases and major precedents from a long time ago to the present
memorized
M.O.L. tale
-inns of court
are places in
-chaucer likes
astronomy therefore places it in the tale; science is a hobby for him
-(reality) the
host has said to the man of laws that it is okay to represent external reality
-verbal
contracts are supposed to be honoured no matter what
-the man of law
interjects to give the audience warning and examples (exemplum)
-Chaucer
discusses asian lifestyles and foods; not many English people had the
experience with asian culture but all
-man of law
tells the tale like he is pleading a case but giving statute and precedent
-the man of law
-John Wycliffe
was a theology prof at
-the church is
believed to not be in the not the vernacular
-the book is
“clear “ enough, translated, it will be fine
-jankin is a
name for the priest and lollere (very dangerous thing to be called)
The Wife of
-the woman has
been to
-she has widely
spaced teeth. That is a sign of sexual availability
-she has been
married three times before
-she has a
large hat and expensive accessories and clothing
-very
luxuriously decorated
-knew a lot
about love
-has her own
business and lives in bath
-surpasses
-she owns a
factory (a bunch of people) of cloths
-she is
independent and has gotten there by being a gold digger
-since she was
12 she was married five times, not odd
back then, pretty regular back then
-she believes
experience is not authority
-students and
scholars love her a lot because she says experience may not be authority but it
is enough for me; this is not sensible for her to say because if it were true,
she should not have been married as many times as she has
-she has
evidently listened to sermons however, probably did not know how to read, as
many people did not
-she said that
god said “to have a lot of sex, and I know how to do that”
-she says she
has been schooled by five man, he has been schooled by one
-anon= at the
moment
-friars were
universally despised
-portage= soup
-she did the
same thing that her husbands did before, she signed off on all her property
-eek, eke= and/also
-“trough”,
legally binding to tell someone the truth
-gentilese, the
natural ability to be kind, courteous, and good; gentile-hearted (kindness
elevated to nobility); the knight had to learn gentilese even though he was
supposed to have it;
Feb 27
Francians
(1223)
Augustinians
(1256)
Dominicans
(1216)
Carmelites
(1226)
-Friar is
corrupt, to pay him off will get you forgiven for almost any sin
-
Midterm
-
translation; passage from
something covered
-
something with not a lot of
place names, something that uses a lot of common words
-
word by word, and transliterate
-
RACER for essay on Chaucer
March 12
-jolly, rosy
cheeked
-epicureans,
usually charged with excess
-eats too much,
but gets along with everyone
-tries to be
funny
The Retraction
-English
literature is a writing of a single separate self, who stands individual to a
society of masses
-this could be
Chaucer’s way of making sure he does not get into trouble from writing this
-much
questioning surrounds the retraction
-repentance and
penitence is a large belief in the middle ages
-Chaucer breaks
down his work into different categories:
àromances
àdream visions
àfabliaux
àsecular outputs
-highly
philosophical
-writes a lot
of saints
-content is the
important difference, not so much the way it is written
-he is writing
between more than secularism and religion
-this is a
window to see how he saw what he had done
-we see the
cantebury tales as a novel, however it is debateable
-
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