1. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Feature Menu
Introducing the Selection
Literary Focus: Characterization
Literary Focus: Frame Story
Reading Skills: Analyzing Style: Key Details

2. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Chaucer’s Canterbury Pilgrims (1810) by William Blake. Engraving.

3. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
For the most part, only the light characters travel. Who are you that have no task to keep you at home? —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

4. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Take a Tour
If you went on a tour today, what types of people would you meet? Do you think you might come across a “character” or two?
Chaucer’s characters are the kinds of people he would have known in real life and observed riding toward Canterbury on the old pilgrimage road.

5. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Chaucer used the East Midland dialect of Middle English. This dialect was the most common colloquial language at the time and became the basis for modern English.

6. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Twenty-nine pilgrims are on their way to the shrine of Saint Thomas à Becket in Canterbury.
The time is April, and the place is the Tabard Inn in Southwark (SUTH erk), just outside London.
London
Canterbury
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7. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Literary Focus: Characterization
Chaucer uses indirect characterization when he tells how each character
looks and dresses
This yeoman wore a coat and hood of green, And peacock-feathered arrows, bright and keen
speaks and acts
Her greatest oath was only “By St. Loy!”
thinks and feels
And gladly would he learn, and gladly teach.

8. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Literary Focus: Characterization
Chaucer also uses direct characterization, when he comes right out and tells us what a character’s nature is—virtuous, vain, clever, and so on.
There was a Friar, a wanton one and merry, A Limiter, a very festive fellow.
In all Four Orders there was none so mellow,
So glib with gallant phrase and well-turned speech.
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9. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Literary Focus: Frame Story
A frame story is a literary device that binds together several different narratives. It is a story (or stories) within a story.
In The Canterbury Tales, the pilgrims’ journey is the outer story.
The tales the pilgrims tell are stories within a story.
The tales themselves also have thematic unity.
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10. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Reading Skills: Analyzing Style: Key Details
Chaucer had twenty-nine characters to introduce, so he couldn’t develop any one character at great length. Instead, he provided a few well-chosen details that would make each character stand out vividly.

11. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Reading Skills: Analyzing Style: Key Details
As you read the Prologue, pay close attention to any details that help give you an immediate impression of a character.
Keep a pen and notebook handy to jot down key details of dress, appearance, and behavior.
Note that some details contradict what the characters think of themselves (or want others to think of them).
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12. Vocabulary

13. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
Previewing the Vocabulary
agility n.: ability to move quickly and easily.
eminent adj.: high-standing; great.
accrue v.: increase over time.
arbitrate v.: settle or decide by listening to both sides of an argument.
benign adj.: kind; gracious.
guile n.: sly dealings; skill in deceiving.

14. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
Previewing the Vocabulary
obstinate adj.: unreasonably stubborn.
frugal adj.: thrifty; careful with money.
duress n.: pressure.

15. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Vocabulary
Vocabulary Activity: Sentence Completion
Fill in the blanks with the correct vocabulary words.
frugal arbitrate guile accrue duress obstinate
1. It was difficult to _________ the disagreement because Anna and Joe were both so _________.
2. Because Pat is _________ , she has been able to _________ savings over time.
3. Under _________ the executives admitted that they had made their profits through _________ and deception.
arbitrate
obstinate
frugal
accrue
duress
guile

16. Meet the Writer

17. The Prologue to The Canterbury Tales Meet the Writer
Geoffrey Chaucer had two careers: He was not only a writer but also an important government official. Chaucer was so important, in fact, that when he was captured in France while serving as a soldier during the Hundred Years’ War, the king himself contributed to the ransom.
More About the Writer