Name: Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
Uploaded: 2016-12-07T01:28:56.000Z
Duration: 6 min 3 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

So here are the first eighteen lines of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, and I know that this

probably looks funny to you. This is written in Middle English, and I wouldn't make you

read it yourself for this class, but I wanted you to see it so you'd have an idea of the

language spoken by the common people during Chaucer's time. It looks a lot like our own

English, but I know there are words that you won't recognise.What I think is interesting

about this is that Chaucer writes this series of tales sort of as a frame tale. The storyline

is that all these people have gotten together, and they're going to go on a pilgrimage to

Canterbury. It was something that people did, and he talks about that they did it in the

spring. This opening set of lines reflects perfectly the Great Chain of Being that people

then believed in. Chaucer gets radical later on, but in this, his opening, maybe the stuff

that the authorities would look at first? Who knows. In this, he's very traditional.

He starts with nature. Nature is sort of at the bottom of the totem pole, and gradually

starts... this works its way up. Not because nature is weak; he doesn't think that, but

it's just one of those background things to the world. So, simple, April. This is April,

the month, just like you're used to.. Showers, like spring showers. These things are at the

root of things. Let me read you what this says, this first step on the Great Chain of

Being: Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote

The droughte of Marche hath perced to the roote,

And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour;

I'm going to stop here. This is flower, like a daisy or a rose; he's moving up a step in

this Great Chain of Being, from the things that are not living, the April showers - which

are very sweet, by the way, soote is sweet. These have pierced the drought of March all

the way down to the root, the roote, and this water has bathed every vein of those flowers

in such liquor, such wonderful liquid, of which absolutely engendered or created is

the flower. Moving up. Here we have one more little unliving

thing; Zephirus, the east wind, comes in softly: Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth

Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes,

Suddenly here come our crops, so our plants are growing.

and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne,

Spring is really coming. This is an astrological reference. The sun is halfway through the

Ram; it's really getting into spring. And then here come the birds. They're another

step up. We have the plants, so inanimate, doesn't really move life forms, another step

up to the smale fowles, the little birdies: And smale foweles maken melodye,

Can you just hear them? "Tweet, tweet. Tweet, tweet"

That slepen al the nyght with open ye, They sleep all night with their eyes open.

You know why? Because: So priketh hem Nature in hir corages,

And that means nature has been poking them so much in their hearts that they're so excited

that they sleep all night with their eyes open. They don't really sleep. They're too

excited. So when Nature's all excited, suddenly we move a big step up this Chain of Being.

People get excited, too. FIrst of all, just regular people. Folk:

Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, Our regular folk want to get out and do something.

And what's the safe way, what's a socially acceptable thing to do to get out and play

in the springtime? A pilgrimage. Absolutely. And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,

Some more of these people. We're looking for strange lands, some adventure, but again,

socially acceptable adventure. To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;

Things that are known in all these other, sundry, or varied lands.

And specially, from every shires ende Especially, from the backside of beyond, places

like where I'm from. The ends of the shires, or the counties of England.

Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende, They go to Canterbury, especially from all

the little places and the little shires of England, all these pilgrims are going to go

to Canterbury. It's a big deal, a big pilgrimage. And why? One more step up the Chain of Being.

Better than regular people, obviously, the saints, the martyrs, right? They're going

to go to seek: The hooly blisful martir for to seke,

Because he's helped them when they were sick: That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.