“The Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales 1 Name ____________________________________ Mrs. Unger English IV AP/GT Date _________________

“The Prologue” to

Activities: 1st Activity: Read “The Prologue” from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, pages 140-162. 2nd Activity: Answer the critical thinking questions on this handout. The Canterbury Tales

1. What is the main point of lines 1-18? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 2. Why might the urge to go on a pilgrimage hit people in spring? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 3. How did Thomas à Becket’s life end? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 4. Give just the facts. Using the information in the textbook above the Prologue, answer the following:  The Prologue is Chaucer’s brilliant picture of what? _____________________________________________________  The Prologue is the concise portrait of what? _____________________________________________________  The Prologue presents characters who appear how? _____________________________________________________ Using the information from the Prologue, answer the following:  In which hostelry did the narrator-poet stay? ____________ (line ___)  How many pilgrims arrived? ____________ (line ___)  What adjective is used to describe the pilgrims? ____________ (line ___25)  What does that adjective mean? _______________  What are stations in life? ________________________  What are stages in life? ________________________  Therefore, the storytellers represent whom? ____________  How do many of the people on the tour travel? ____________  How does this part of the poem begin as opposed to the rest of the poem? What is this part named? ________________________  Who do the authorities in literature actually suspect the poet-pilgrim narrator to be? ____________  Why do the pilgrims tell stories? ________________________

“The Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales 2 

How is the motivation for telling their stories similar to Mary Shelley’s writing of Frankenstein? ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________

5. Compare the original with the translation in lines 19-26. Which rhymes are preserved, even though pronunciations differ today? Remember to put the line numbers in parentheses. ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 6. How difficult a time did the narrator-poet have with becoming friends with the pilgrims? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 7. HISTORICAL CONNECTION: The Knight is a brave and distinguished man for fighting in wars which spanned forty years. During this period, the West followed the Church’s lead and condemned the enemies as infidels or pagans, those who did not believe in Christ. Also, the Knight, as Chaucer portrays him here, is an anachronistic figure, for the feudal order with its emphasis on chivalry had all but disappeared by Chaucer’s time. What does anachronistic mean? ___________________________________________ 8. What qualities does the Knight possess that are perhaps different than one would expect from a veteran soldier who had been fighting for forty year? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 9. Those qualities of the Knight are told directly by Chaucer. In the following lines, Chaucer used indirect characterization. What does he reveal indirectly and how does he accomplish that? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 10. How does the Squire contrast with his father? Why is he so different? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 11. How well trained is the Squire? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

“The Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales 3 12. Who is the next character introduced by the narrator? How indicates that he is more accustomed to being in the forests than in the big city? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 13. Which female character is introduced next? [A prioress is in charge of the nuns.] Which characteristic describes her in name, voice, and table manners? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 14. When she swears to St. Loy, the narrator-poet is showing some humor because St. Loy was the patron saint of goldsmiths. What kind of jewelry does she wear? Which would be characteristic of her station in life and which would be uncharacteristic? Why? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 15. Who goes along with her from her cell? Who else accompanies her as well? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 16. The Monk may not be a bad man but he is not a good Monk. Why? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

17. Why is it ironic that the Monk is fat? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 18. Unlike monks, who lived in monasteries, friars went into the world as beggars to preach, help the poor, and cure the sick. How does Chaucer characterize the Friar? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 19. In lines 259-264, what is the poet’s tone? How does he exhibit that attitude and why? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

“The Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales 4 Briefly describe each of the following characters. 20. The Merchant ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 21. The Oxford Cleric ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 22. The Serjeant at the Law ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 23. a Franklin ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 24. A Haberdasher, a Dyer, A Carpenter, a Weaver, and a Carpet-maker ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 25. A Cook ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 26. A Skipper ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

27. A Doctor ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 28. The Wife of Bath ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

“The Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales 5 29. The Parson ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 30. A Plowman ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 31. A Miller ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 32. A College Manciple ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 33. A Reeve ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 34. A Church-Court Summoner ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 35. A Pardoner ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 36. Our Host ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________