Worksheet 9

• Literatuur
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 4

The Canterbury Tales

part 1

new QR codes

The introduction video

www.britannica.com: 

religious legend, courtly romance, racy fabliau, saint’s life, allegorical tale, beast fable, medieval sermon, alchemical account, and, at times, mixtures of these genres. The stories and links together offer complex depictions of the pilgrims, while, at the same time, the tales present remarkable examples of short narratives in verse, plus two expositions in prose. The pilgrimage, which in medieval practice combined a fundamentally religious purpose with the secular benefit of a spring vacation, made possible extended consideration of the relationship between the pleasures and vices of this world and the spiritual aspirations for the next.

The use of a pilgrimage as the framing device enabled Chaucer to bring together people from many walks of life: knight, prioress, monk; merchant, man of law, franklin, scholarly clerk; miller, reeve, pardoner; wife of Bath and many others. The multiplicity of social types, as well as the device of the storytelling contest itself, allowed presentation of a highly varied collection of literary genres: 

And some more 

information on the Prologue: 

Your Assignment: 

Do a retelling of one of the tales

We will pretend 

to be the pilgrims. We will sit by the fire in the evening and tell each other stories. Pair up and choose a story: 

1:

General Prologue, 

The Knight’s Tale, 

The Miller’s Tale, 

The Reeve’s Tale, 

The Cook’s Tale, 

The Man of Law’s Tale, 

The Friar’s Tale,

2:

The Summoner’s Tale, 

The Clerk’s Tale, 

The Merchant’s Tale, 

The Squire’s Tale, 

The Franklin’s Tale, 

The Second Nun’s Tale, 

The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale, 

3:

The Physician’s Tale, 

The Pardoner’s Tale, 

The Shipman’s Tale, 

The Prioress’s Tale, 

The Tale of Sir Thopas,  

The Monk’s Tale, 

The Nun’s Priest’s Tale, 

4: 

In case we run short of tales

The Tale of Melibeus (in prose),

The Manciple’s Tale, 

and The Parson’s Tale (in prose)

Website for study

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/the-canterbury-tales/