The Canterbury Tales Prologue - Middle English Reading

I read the opening to the general prologue of the Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer, in its original language. Words are below if you'd like to follow along.

1: Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
2: The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
3: And bathed every veyne in swich licour
4: Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
5: Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
6: Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
7: Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
8: Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne,
9: And smale foweles maken melodye,
10: That slepen al the nyght with open ye
11: (so priketh hem nature in hir corages);
12: Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages,
13: And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes,
14: To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
15: And specially from every shires ende
16: Of engelond to caunterbury they wende,
17: The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
18: That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• chaucer
• middle english
• canterbury tales
• prologue

[stamjh]

In spite of the offputting prologue to the prologue (the first 30 seconds of the video) I persevered and was rewarded for my perseverance. The reading sounds convincing in the sense that there is little or no trace of the speaker's own accent, which is not the impression I get from listening to the other versions of this on YouTube. Well done!

[Sestet]

@stamjh ... I suppose a left-handed compliment is still a compliment. :) Thanks.

[Sestet]

Now now, gentlemen. We're all here to enjoy the language and the poetry, are we not?

[alifeofreason]

Can you read Paradise Lost?

[Sestet]

@alifeofreason I don't see why not. I can't imagine it'd be a particularly deep linguistic exercise, since Milton wrote in Early Modern English (which sounds just like heavily accented Modern English), but he has always been a personal favourite of mine.

[knerkpop25]

A pleasant surprise to encounter an American who is'nt as ignorant as shit regarding the culture they inherited from us . So much so , in fact , that I can even forgive you for employing the phrase 'English nerd' .

[Sestet]

@knerkpop25 I'm flattered, but feel obligated to inform you that I'm Canadian. ;)

[Pancakebooks]

What I like more than this video are the nerd fights (oops, did I say that word again?) between the Brits and the Yanks. Wut, u no like bad gramer? America, fuck ya!

[rjs1111]

Well done! (from an English teacher)

[csm1025]

How about The Wife's Lament? I read it in high school but I would love to hear it in it's original language!

[LOLUK]

Please make more videos! I'm a english nerd like you, currently doing a degree, I'm something of a medieval novice (modernism's more my thing, but medieval's fascinating nonetheless), and would love to hear more of your readings!! :-)

[stamjh]

It was a compliment, the reading was excellent but I nearly didn't get to it. Next time I hope to give you a right-handed compliment!

[jmo922]

Woah:D how'd u memorize this? I need to learn in by Monday! I wish I was an "english nerd"(:

[strauss12345]

I have no adverse feelings about the English whatsoever. In fact, I greatly admire the English people. I had no plan to "launch into a tirade against the English" or to employ "such cheap Americanisms as 'nerd' and whatever'". Even if I did say the words "nerd" or "whatever", that would merely be part of my language, and you are a rude snob to say otherwise. You are the one who lacks any iota of imagination: you only prove this to be so by making stereotypical comments about Americans.