Edward Gillingham
A2 English Lit. (The Canterbury Tales)
“How effective is Chaucer in establishing the General Prologue of “the Canterbury Tales”? (Line 1 – 43)
The General Prologue is developed through the conflict Chaucer presents between nature and life. Both his description of the scene and of the characters of which he writes, is seen to mirror this contrast and thus it can be seen as one of the many literary devices he uses to make the piece effective. I will show how these devices, the language he uses and the tone it creates allow his success in making the passage efficient.
Chaucer opens the General Prologue with a description of the return of spring. He describes the April rains, the burgeoning flowers and leaves, and the chirping birds. The invocation of spring is lengthy and formal compared to the language of the rest of the Prologue. The first lines situate the story in a particular time and place, but the speaker does this in cosmic and cyclical terms, “Zephirus…with his sweete breeth.” Chaucer is seen to use such descriptive terms as a celebration of the vitality of spring, using such lexis as: “inspired…engendred…bathed”, and qualifies this with images such as: “smale fowles maken melodie.” This approach gives the opening lines a dreamy, timeless, unfocused quality, and it is possibly surprising therefore, when he reveals that his true subject is not so much the joys of spring, but that of people going on a pilgrimage. Chaucer suggests that it is the energising of the senses, and the awakening of life at this time of year that causes people to feel the desire to go on a pilgrimage: “thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages.” He further describes how many devout English pilgrims set off to visit shrines in distant holy lands, but even more choose to travel to Canterbury to visit the relics of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, where they thank the martyr for having helped them, “…whan that they seeke”. With such an opening, one can therefore find evidence of the marriage of the two elements of nature and life. It can be seen that Chaucer’s literary efforts at this point are geared towards the depiction of natural events having a sub-conscious bearing upon the actions of people, and thus outlines that, although, as the reader will come to see, the characters have very different approaches and motivations for partaking in the journey, they do share a sense of direction and enthusiasm towards a common goal.
