Transcript Chaucer

Geoffery Chaucer
Subject: English literature in Age of Chaucer
Objectives: help the student to know about Geoffery Chaucer, the
person, his points of views, the artistic features of his works and the
characteristics of the selected works.
Focus:1. His The Canterbury Tales’ social significance.
2. Artistic features of his works
3.The discussion of the selected work: the Canterbury Tales
Difficult Points: Romance, ballad, heroic couplet.
Procedures:
1. A brief introduction to the biography. (30 min.)
2. .Artistic features of his works. (15min.)
3.
The Main points of the selected works. (30min.)
Relevant exercise. (15min.)
The introduction of Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer, the “father of English Poetry” （ John Drydon
called him in 17 century） and one of the greatest narrative poets
of England, was born in London in or about the year 1340. His
father was a prosperous wine merchant. The future poet is said to
have studied at Oxford and Cambridge. He served as page to
Elizabeth, countess of Ulster. Thus he came to rub elbows with the
court and nobility. In 1359 he accompanied the English army to
France. In 1367 he entered the service of King Edward II, who
sent him on several embassies to Flanders, France and Italy. In
1373 Chaucer received the post of a comptroller of Customs in the
port of London.
He had to work in the customs House all day long, and only night-time
was left to him to write poems. In 1386 he was elected member of
Parliament. But in December of the same year he was dismissed from his
office as comptroller due to the intrigues of his enemies. He seems to
have known poverty at that time. However, in 1389 he was appointed
Clerk of the King’s works at Westminster and Windsor, and the new King
Henry IV granted him a pension(抚恤金). The poet died on the 25th of
October 1400, and was buried in Westminster Abbey (威斯敏斯特教堂)
Chaucer’s creative work vividly reflected the change which had taken root in English
culture of the second half of the 14th century. The foundation of the feudal system had
already begun to crumble（collapse）. The people’s uprising of 1388 raised the
question as to the abolition of feudalism. The glory of the catholic church was on the
wane(衰落). England was on the brink (边缘) of a great historical change. And it is at
this historical moment that Chaucer’s poetry traces out a path to the literature of English
Renaissance. True, in some aspects of his work Chaucer is still bound to the traditions
of the Middle Ages and not few of his poems are written in the manner of the French
poets who enjoyed great popularity among the nobility.
Apart from original poems, he translated various works of French authors,
among them the famous “romance of the Rose（玫瑰传奇）”, he is still
attracted by the form of vision so favoured in the Middle Ages “The
legend of Good Women,（好女人的传说）” “the house of Fame（声誉之
堂）” ‘the parliament of fowls（百鸟会议）”----- a caustic（讽刺的）,
allegorical （讽喻的） satire on English parliament.
Chaucer’s works can be divided into three stages:
The first stage: 1360—1372 influenced by French language, he imitated French poems,
sometimes translated French poems himself, the outstanding works is The Book of the
Duchess (致公爵夫人书) , elegy（挽联） for John of Gaunt, in which there was a lot
of conventional romance(习惯文学语).
The second stage: 1372-1386 influenced by Italian language, the famous works id
Troilus and Cryseyde (it came from Boccacio’s works)
The third stage: the last 15 years of his own life, the Canterbury Tales( 1387-1400), it
includes Prologue and 24 legends.
All the best poems and histories in Latin, French and Italian were well known to
Chaucer, and although he freely borrowed from them, he was never a servile imitator
of foreign authors and had broad literary views of his own.
the “Canterbury Tales” and its
significance:
One of the most famous works in all literature. The plan of the work is
magnificent: to represent the wide sweep of English life by gathering a
motley company together and letting each class of society tell its own
favorite stories. Though the great work was never finished, Chaucer
succeeded in his purpose so well that in “the Canterbury Tales” he has
given us a picture of contemporary English life, its work and play, its
deeds and dreams, its fun and sympathy and hearty joy of living such
as no other single work of literature has ever equaled.
The prologue is a splendid masterpiece of realistic portrayal, the first
of its kind in the history of English literature.
The social significance of the
works
In his masterpiece the Canterbury Tales, Chaucer gives us a true-to-life
picture of the society of his time. Taking the stand of the bourgeois, he
affirms men and opposes the dogma of asceticism preached by the
church. As a forerunner of humanism, he praises man’s energy, intellect,
quick wit and love of life. His tales expose and satirize the evils of his
time. They attack the degeneration of the noble, the heartlessness of the
judge, the corruption of the Church and so on.
Living in a transitional period, Chaucer is not entirely devoid of
medieval prejudices. He is religious himself, there is nothing
revolutionary in his writing, though he lived in a period of peasant
uprising. While praising man’s right to earthly happiness, he sometimes
likes to crack a rough joke and paint naturalistic pictures of sexual life.
These are chaucer’s weak points. But these are, however, of secondary
The features of Chaucer’s
writing
Chaucer wrote in vivid and exact language. His poetry is full of vigor an
swiftness. Chaucer’s contribution to English poetry is that he introduced
from France the rhymed couplet of iambic pentameter(which is called the
Heroic couplet) to English poetry, instead of the old Anglo-Saxon
alliterative verse. Chaucer is the first great poet who wrote in the current
English language. He wrote his poetry by using the East Midland dialect
of England, the dialect of London. So he did much in making the dialect
of London, the foundation for modern English speech and establishing
English as the literary language of the country. Chaucer’s style in the
Canterbury Tales is remarkably flexible. His prose, like his
vocabulary, is easy and informal. Chaucer is a great satirist, but he is
almost never bitter when he pokes fun at the foibles and weakness of
people.
Some terms about poems
Romance : it is a literary genre popular in the middle ages (5th century to 15th
century) , dealing , in verse or prose, with legendary, supernatural, or amorous
subjects and characters. The name refers to Romance language and originally denoted
any lengthy composition in one of those languages. Later the term was applied to
tales specifically concerned with knights, chivalry, and courtly love.
Ballad , it is a lyric poem generally of three eight-line stanzas with a concluding
stanza of four lines called an envoy. (结尾诗节),with some variation, the lines of a
ballad are iambic or anapestic tetrameter rhyming ababbcbc; the envoy, which forms
a personal dedication to some person of importance or a personification, rhymes bcbc.
The last line c of the first stanza is repeated as a refrain throughout. Another pattern
often employed consists of a ten-line stanza, in pentameters, rhyming ababbccdcd,
with an envoy of five lines rhyming ccdcd. The ballad became popular in England in
the late 14th century .
the heroic couplet (英雄双韵体) there are ten syllables in each line, iambic
pentameter, one rhyme in every two lines.(每行十个音节，抑扬格，两行一押韵)
《坎特伯雷故事集》序译文
夏雨给大地带来了喜悦，送走了土壤干裂的三月，
沐浴着草木的丝丝经络，顿时百花盛开，生机勃勃。
西风轻吹留下清香缕缕，田野复苏吐出芳草绿绿；
碧蓝的天空腾起一轮红日，青春的太阳洒下万道金辉。
小鸟的歌喉多么清脆优美，迷人的夏夜怎好安然入睡—
美丽的自然撩拨万物的心弦，多情的鸟儿歌唱爱情的欣欢。
香客盼望拜谒圣徒的灵台，僧侣立愿云游陌生的滨海。
信徒来自全国东西南北，众人结伴奔向坎特伯雷，
去朝谢医病救世的恩主，以缅怀大恩大德的圣徒。
那是个初夏方临的日子，我到泰巴大旅店投宿歇息；
怀着一颗虔诚的赤子心，我准备翌日出发去朝圣。
黄昏前后花灯初上时分，旅店院里涌入许多客人；
二十九人来自各行各业，不期而遇都到旅店过夜。
这些香客人人虔心诚意，次日要骑马去坎特伯雷。
客房和马厩宽敞又洁净，店主的招待周到而殷勤。
夕阳刚从地平线上消失，众人同我已经相互结识；
大家约好不等鸡鸣就起床，迎着熹微辰光赶早把路上。
可是在我叙述故事之前，让我站用诸位的一点时间，
以我之见似乎还很必要，把每人的情况作些介绍。
谈谈他们从事什么行业，社会地位属于哪个阶层，
容貌衣着举止又是如何，那么我就先把骑士说说。
骑士的人品出众而且高尚，自从军以来就驰骋于疆场，
待人彬彬有礼，大度而豪爽，珍惜荣誉节操和骑士风尚。
为君主效命创辉煌战绩，所到国家之远无人能比，
转战于基督和异教之帮，因功勋卓著屡屡受表彰。
他攻打过亚历山大里亚；在普鲁士庆功宴上有他，
这位佼佼者多次坐首席；从立陶宛直达到俄罗斯，
同级的骑士都大为逊色；攻克阿给西勒有他一个，
还出征到过柏尔马里亚，夺取列亚斯和萨他里亚；
他还多次游弋于地中海，跟随登陆大军将敌打败。
十五次比武他大显身手，为捍卫信仰而浴血奋战；
在战场上三次杀死敌将，高贵的武士美名传四方。
他还侍奉过柏拉希亚国君，讨伐另一支土耳其异教军；
没有一次不赢得最高荣誉，他骁勇善战，聪慧而不痴愚。
他温柔顺从像个大姑娘，一生无论是什么地方，
对谁都没讲过半个脏字：堪称一个完美的真骑士。
他有一匹俊美的千里马，但是他的衣着朴实无华；
盔甲的底下是结实的布衣，上上下下到处是斑斑污迹。
他风尘仆仆刚从战场赶来，片刻未休息就急忙去朝拜。