Geoffrey Chaucer

[Khamûl]

There seems to have been some discussion of Chaucer over the General Messages, so I figured I'd start this thread.

I read some of The Canterbury Tales this past semester in British Lit and kinda enjoyed it. It's going to be cool because I'm actually going to Canterbury this summer. Anyway, this is the Chaucer thread. Discuss. :p

[Baby-K]

We also did the Canterbury Tales - I thought it was extremely boring & pretensious, it really did nothing for me & I would much rather have read some other classics.

[crickhollow]

I really do like the Canterbury Tales, but I just don't want to write a paper on them right now.

*wonders how long it will be before Huan finds this thread*

[Shadowfax]

I've read very little of Chaucer, but what I have read, I really love. I love studying the development of the English language, and do reading Middle English is really cool and interesting to me. I think that next year at school we're going to actually study selections from the Canterbury Tales, so I'm excited about that.:D

[crickhollow]

Yay for me! I'm finished w/ my paper! I wish I could say that I 'm done completely, but I have to keep reading the darn thing for my final in two weeks.

I'll love it again in the not-too-distant future, but I've just had Chaucer overload, I guess.

[Huan]

It took me THIS long to find this thread, Crickhollow! :) Unfortunately, I too have Chaucer overload, because I took a course in him from a professor who just COMPLETELY rubbed me the wrong way (figuratively speaking). I gotta know, what did you write your paper on? This last class, I couldn't think of ANYTHING to write. Chaucer scholars are very intimidating, and I just choked.
Speaking of which, Baby-K, you think Chaucer is boring and pretentious? You obviously didn't read the Miller's Tale. No story about a man being tricked into kissing a woman's naked "erse" could be called boring. It's Chaucer SCHOLARS whose writing is boring and pretentious.
Middle English is so beautiful. Sometimes I just walk around reciting the first fourteen lines of CT. "Whan that April with his shoores soote," etc. That must be a sign of some terrible psychosis.

[sun-star]

Chaucer's great.

But my real point is:

It's going to be cool because I'm actually going to Canterbury this summer

Do come, I guarantee you'll like it. It's my nearest city, and I promote it whenever I can :D

[Lalaith]

Sorry, to interrupt your conversation, but isn't this they guy they mentioned in "A Knight's tale"?

[Khamûl]

Yes, in the movie A Knight's Tale Geoffrey Chaucer is the gambling-prone announcer to Sir Ulrich von Lichenstein.

[Lalaith]

I think I gotta get one of his books.

[Shadowfax]

Originally posted by Lalaith
I think I gotta get one of his books. Be forewarned, though, he wrote in Middle English, which is rather different than modern English of today. Here's a sample, the beginning of his Canterbury Tales: Here bigynneth the Book of the Tales of Caunterbury.
Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne ..... It's really great though; don't think I'm trying to scare you away or anything!:)

[Lalaith]

Thanks for the warning, but hopefully they translated his work into German and then I'll buy a German edition.

[congressmn]

i luv archaic writing. i will read ot for just this reason.

[Shadowfax]

Originally posted by Lalaith
Thanks for the warning, but hopefully they translated his work into German and then I'll buy a German edition. You're welcome! And good luck finding a German edition.:)

[crickhollow]

If you're worried about the language, Harvard (http://icg.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/tr-index.htm) has a pretty good interlinear translation, but it really is worth it to read in the original Middle English.

My professor was a very pregnant, brilliantly red-haired scottish woman, and the class was all female (except for one brave soul)-- so we had a lot of fun.

I wrote my term paper on Chaucer's view of marriage, using the Wife of Bath's prologue and Tale, and the Franklin's Tale. The Wife of Bath is such a funny character.

My favorite line from the Millers Tale?

"Tehee!" quod she, and clapte the wyndow to," ;) :D

[azalea]

My husband was named after him.:cool:
I love The Canterbury Tales. I did the Middle English version of the first lines for the "first lines game," remember anyone?

[Huan]

I love that line too, Crickhollow; it's very fun to say aloud. Your paper topic sounds much more enjoyable than what I endured from that professor who so turned me off of academics; since I could never come up with a topic, he assigned me the "problem of intentionality" in Chaucer. Sounds fascinating, doesn't it?

[Diamond]

I had to read one Canterbury Tale for Honors Language Arts last year, and I ended up reading them all. :) Chaucer had a great talent for creating characters and putting them in precarious or ironic situations.

And AKT!Chaucer? I love Paul Bettany ::g::

Di

[crickhollow]

Originally posted by Huan
I love that line too, Crickhollow; it's very fun to say aloud. Your paper topic sounds much more enjoyable than what I endured from that professor who so turned me off of academics; since I could never come up with a topic, he assigned me the "problem of intentionality" in Chaucer. Sounds fascinating, doesn't it? *bleh* :p

"I weep for you," the walrus said,
"I deeply sympathise." ;)

[Huan]

Oh, and to put the punctuation mark on that, the godawful seven-page paper I turned in (graduate papers are expected to be between 13 and 25 pages) warranted me a C in the class. Because what was I gonna say about "the problem of intentionality" anyway?!! A C at the graduate level is the same as a failed class. Oh well. None of this is Chaucer's fault, now is it :) ? I think our man Geoffrey has been hijacked by the same tasteless careerist tenure-minded feminist/ marxist/ race-studies/ classist "academics" who have ruined Shakespeare the last thirty years. Obviously all this touches a nerve.

[Khamûl]

I checked out The Canterbury Tales from the library just because I wanted to read it. I've read the Miller's Tale so far. It was hilarious. :D

[Huan]

Well Khamul, that was certainly the tale to start with, if you ask me :) .

[Khamûl]

Are there any other especially good tales that I should read before I return it to the library?

[markedel]

I enjoyed chaucer this year too! The Miller's Tale was very funny, but then again, most of the Tale had the biting satiric tone I love so much.

[Elvengirl]

Chaucer is great. One that I love, is his tale of Chanticleer and Pertelote.

[Huan]

You should definitely check out the Wife of Bath's prologue and tale, and the Knight's Tale. The Merchant's Tale is bawdy and funny like the Miller's Tale, but kind of more sophisticated. Also read the General Prologue at the very beginning ("Whan that April with his shoores soote", etc.), just because it's one of the cornerstones of English literature and everyone should know it, though sadly, these days not everyone does.

[azalea]

I've always liked The Pardoner's Tale, you should read that one.:)

[Khamûl]

Ok... must read Wife of Bath's tale... My teacher told us about Chanticleer and Pertelote... must read the Knight's tale and the Merchant's tale...

We read the entire prologue in Lit class, then took an extensive test where we had to match characteristics to each of the pilgrims. That was a rough test, but I made the highest grade in the class. :) So, prologue -- check...

The Pardoner's Tale? Is that the one where the guys are drunk in the bar and decide to go after Death? Then the guy tells them that they will find him under a tree. If that's the one, we read it in class too.

[Elvengirl]

Originally posted by Khamûl
The Pardoner's Tale? Is that the one where the guys are drunk in the bar and decide to go after Death? Then the guy tells them that they will find him under a tree. If that's the one, we read it in class too.

Yes, that was a great one too.

[sun-star]

Anyone read Troilus and Criseyde? I read it this summer, along with the Canterbury Tales, and preferred it to the tales in some ways. Some passages are beautiful, and as a longer work there's more time for the story to develop. The frame of the tales can sometimes seem awkward, and this poem lacks that obvious artificiality.

[Lotesse]

One of these days, I intend to tackle Chaucer. My English cousin loves Chaucer - she's such an intellectual! :)

[Jabberwock]

I took an entire class on Chaucer in university and I really enjoyed it. It helped that the professor was very enthusiastic about it. I can see where something like Canterbury Tales would be daunting to a first year student. I've always loved language so I think what I got out if it aside from some entertaining little stories, is a good example of a linguistic treasure. Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight had the same sort of effect on me, though it wasn't quite so entertaining as it was interesting. I enjoyed Chaucer a whole lot more than Le Morte D'Arthur.

[Voronwen]

Middle English is so beautiful. Sometimes I just walk around reciting the first fourteen lines of CT. "Whan that April with his shoores soote," etc.
I agree about Middle English, with my whole heart!

Anyone read Troilus and Criseyde? I read it this summer, along with the Canterbury Tales, and preferred it to the tales in some ways. Some passages are beautiful, and as a longer work there's more time for the story to develop.

I absolutely LOVED Troilus and Criseyde!


(Yes... hopeless romantic, here! :o)