Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales - Prologue - Full Introduction (lines 1-42)

Lots of renditions of the Prologue out there, but few of them ever go past line 18. I like the full introduction because the narrator inserts his personal experience in and makes it clear that this is *his* point of view of the personages and events, and in so doing, he lends a tone of conversation rather than recitation.

My Middle English isn't 100% perfect, but it's my hope that upon hearing this somewhat more natural pace, presentation, and tone, students who are learning the prologue will understand that it's a real and a good and a human story, not a just an assignment. Enjoy!

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The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Prologue

Whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open eye-
So priketh hem Nature in hir corages-
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;
And specially, from every shires ende
Of Engelond, to Caunturbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for the seke
That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.

Bifil that in that seson, on a day,
In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay,
Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage
To Caunterbury, with ful devout corage,
At nyght were come into that hostelrye
Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye
Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle
In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,
That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde.
The chambres and the stables weren wyde,
And wel we weren esed atte beste;
And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste,
So hadde I spoken with hem everychon
That I was of hir felaweshipe anon,
And made forward erly for to ryse
To take our wey, ther as I yow devyse.

But nathelees, whil I have tyme and space,
Er that I ferther in this tale pace,
Me thynketh it acordaunt to resoun
To telle yow al the condicioun
Of ech of hem, so as it semed me,
And whiche they weren, and of what degree,
And eek in what array that they were inne;
And at a knyght than wol I first bigynne.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• prologue
• canterbury tales
• chaucer
• middle english
• pronunciation
• narration
• linguistics
• language
• poetry
• poem
• memorize
• memorization

[AwesomeGwenKim]

omg can someone read this shit in their normal accent and stop tryna sound fancy and shit

[maria12345666]

????????????

[nnunununn]

she's a talker

[theShawtwins]

yes

[AkeemBAZAAR]

GO OFFF Miss Trill