1 Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
When April with its
sweet-smelling showers
2 The droghte of March hath perced to the
roote,
Has pierced the
drought of March to the root,
3 And bathed every veyne in swich licou
And bathed every
vein (of the plants) in such liquid
4 Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
By which power
the flower is created;
5 Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete
breeth
When the West
Wind also with its sweet breath,
6 Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
In every wood
and field has breathed life into
7 The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
The tender new
leaves, and the young sun
8 Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne,
Has run half its
course in Aries,
9 And smale foweles maken melodye,
And small fowls
make melody,
10 That slepen al the nyght with open ye
Those that sleep
all the night with open eyes
11 (So priketh hem Nature in hir corages),
(So Nature
incites them in their hearts),
12 Thanne longen folk to goon on
pilgrimages,
Then folk long
to go on pilgrimages,
13 And palmeres for to seken straunge
strondes,
And pilgrims to seek foreign shores,
14 To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry
londes;
To distant
shrines, known in various lands;
15 And specially from every shires ende
And specially
from every shire's end
16 Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende,
Of England to
Canterbury they travel,
17 The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
To seek the holy
blessed martyr,
18 That hem hath holpen whan that they
were seeke.
Who helped them
when they were sick. (Chaucer)
What's going on here? Well it's April, the wind is blowing,
flowers are blooming, birds are singing, and it's time for a pilgrimage. An assorted group of misfits join together at a pub to go on a pilgrimage to Canterbury and the site of Thomas a Becket's martyrdom. Chaucer gathers 29 pilgrims from a wide variety of backgrounds--Knight, Parson (pastor), Nun, Miller (sells grain), Plowman (farmer), and many others. Each pilgrim shall tell two tales on the way to Canterbury, and two on the way back -- the one who tells the best tale will earn a free meal upon return to the pub - the Tabard Inn. Canterbury Tales should have totaled 120 tales, but only 23 are written. Chaucer died before he could complete his magnum opus. Few poems have survived as long or garnered as much study as Canterbury Tales.
The poem defies genre - at times an estates satire, catalog, portraiture, fabliau (French fable). Chaucer draws readers into a bawdy, raucous, hilarious setting, against the backdrop of 14th century England and the Black Death - the plague that had decimated half the population. Possibly some of its immediate and enduring popularity testifies to our need for distraction and entertainment!
What would a modern-day Canterbury Tales look like? Where would such an odd assortment of folks all be going - maybe to a concert, or a political event, a 4th of July celebration, or the beach? What modern-day characters would comprise a 2019 Canterbury Tales - doctor, rap artist, student, priest, homeless mom, banker, nerd, athlete, drug dealer, chef?!?
If you'd like to read it for yourself, click Canterbury Tales General Prologue.
Next week we'll examine the Wife of Bath - a fascinating, independent woman who embarks on the pilgrimage to find husband number six - the first five died!
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Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Geoffrey Chaucer Page. Ed. General
Editor Larry D. Benson. Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2008. Web. 1 April 2019.
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