With careful attention to the language and style, discuss the effects of the writing in this passage. How far do you think the passage is characteristic of the tale as a whole?

Domenico Clores English Homework Mrs. Best The Nun's Priest's Tale With careful attention to the language and style, discuss the effects of the writing in this passage. How far do you think the passage is characteristic of the tale as a whole? In the opening 3 lines of the passage chauntecleer is described in detail. The poetical techniques implied by Chaucer create an image of the chicken, 'winges gan to bete'; this indicates an image of action, subsequently it reiterates that he is still in fact a chicken. Furthermore the use of a semantic field prevails the medieval romance story. The words, 'traisoun, espie, ravished and flaterie' all identify the situation chauntecleer is in. In the following section, the audience is addressed, thus you can see that the style of writing has changed somewhat. The narrator, the priest interrupts his own story in making reference and issuing warnings. You can see this very clearly; the section begins, 'allas', the negative discourse marker builds up tension showing something is about to happen. In addition this part ends with, 'beth war' meaning beware, again reinstating the warnings that are issued. There is also reference to religious connotation; 'by my feith' this emphasizes how he has gone off track somewhat. In the next bit chauntecleer is described in detail, Chaucer pays specific attention to his body parts. 'stood hie upon

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Write an essay on the variety of ways in which Chaucer treats the subject of love.

Write an essay on the variety of ways in which Chaucer treats the subject of love. Within ten stories in the Canterbury Tales, men and women on the way to, or in marriage provide the ostensible subject, with six tales expounding largely on love and its counterpart in marriage. In comic tales, sexual activity is constantly relished, especially in the Miller's Tale and the Reeve's Tale, where love is defined and motivated by animalistic physical desire and relationships clouded with lies and deceit. In contrast, romances like the Knight's Tale and the Franklin's Tale have a high ideal of relaxed and trusting harmony, "Thus been they bothe in quiete and rest", relying also on the poetics of courtly love. Then we have the blend of characters who hold views from all parts of the scale, like the amorous Wife of Bath who affirms the above view of harmony in marriage, but feels her sexual organ is for use than moral control- commitment is intertwined with twisted Biblical fact to be a hindrance in love rather than a necessity of it. Chaucer not only introduces us to the various traditions and angles of love (formal courtly love to cynical fabliaux), but also examines the contrast in relationships, and the motivations of love within the tales. By doing so, he makes us realize that love is not a single compartment of perspectives, but like real life, is embedded with different angles

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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The Canterbury Tales.

Amber Saunders G. Coleman English IV November 09, 2001 Analysis Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales. In one of the many tales, "The Pardoner's Tale," Chaucer used element such as characters, moral, and symbolism to link the story together. Which created a very excellent literary work. The main characters of the story were the three rioters. They were shown as lazy drunks because they sat in the taverns and drank all day. Greed captured the lives of these men. It evan. went so far as to killing them. They had pledged their life to one another and were set out to kill death. "They made their bargain, swore with appetite, These three, to live and die for one another As brother-born might swear to his born brother. And up they started their drunken rage . . . 'If we can only catch him, death is dead!'" The three rioters are anonymous and the narrator gives no distinctive characteristics which gives the Pardoner opportunity to condemn a vast arrangement of sins. Death was shown as character with human qualities. The old man that points the rioters in the direction tells the rioters that he wishes to die, he claims that he walks on the ground, his 'mother's gate,' and asks to return to earth in the form of a decayed corpse. However, for the old man this is only his second choice. He would rather change bodies with a young man, but he could not find anyone

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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The satirically reasonable voice of Desiderius Erasmus.

In the swirl of the Reformation with the cacophony of the voices of both Protestants and Catholics alike, there was the satirically reasonable voice of Desiderius Erasmus. He was unquestionably the prophet and king of the intellectual revolution with religious overtones. Through his many writings and letters Erasmus poured beliefs and views on to the world stage with relentless fervour. In his Colloquies especially in A Pilgrimage for Religion's Sake, one gets a clear picture of the level of contempt that Erasmus held for the corrupt state the Church had descended into and his wishes to return to original Christianity, like the "primitive Church," and be free from "formalism and superstition." . In the extract the criticism while satirical is in fact a damning and incisive attack on superstitious, illogical, and money centred practises such as that of pilgrimage and the cult of relics and saints. Whether or not these harsh criticisms are justified is debatable, when one considers Erasmus' own ambiguousness and that of contemporary historians. Erasmus' mind is the key to understand truly what he meant by A Pilgrimage for Religion's Sake. He had no interest in mysticism and was an advocate of the philological thought. Thus he disliked the place superstition had in society. His mind was a "heartfelt aversion to everything unreasonable, insipid, purely formal, with which the

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Medieval Medicine In Geoffrey Chaucer's " The Canterbury Tales".

Omar Hernandez Teresa Gibson English 2332 June 27, 2003 Medieval Medicine In Geoffrey Chaucer's " The Canterbury Tales" we learn how physicians use to practice medicine. In the Prologue Chaucer talks about how physicians would use the humor system, astrology to diagnosis and treat their patients, and also shows that there was a huge difference between a surgeon and a physician during these times. Chaucer describes the medical practitioner as "He knew the cause of every malady, were it of hot or cold, of moist or dry,...The cause being known, down to the deepest root, (Chaucer 14)". In medieval times medicine was quite different than modern day western medicine. Nowadays, there is almost always a cure for whatever the problem may be. If not there will be an extensive amount of research that will take place in order to find a cure. One of the ways that physicians would diagnosis patients was with the use of the humor system. This system was based on the four humors, blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile (Gibson). All of these are directly related to four earthly elements, earth, air, water, and fire (Gibson). Earth paired with black bile, air with blood, water with phlegm, and fire with yellow bile (Gibson). Each of these pairs brought upon a certain amount of balance in order maintain health. "Melancholy, like earth, was cold and dry. Phlegm, like water,

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Examine the psychological power of the tale of the three rioters as narrated by Chaucer's Pardoner

Examine the psychological power of the tale of the three rioters as narrated by Chaucer's Pardoner First of all, the Pardoner sets the scene of his tale. Once upon a time in Flanders there was a group of young people who gave themselves up to debauchery and to gambling. They frequented brothels and taverns, where they danced to music and played at dice at all hours of day and night and where their excessive eating and drinking in that devil's temple they worshipped the devil himself. All the time they swore great and wicked oaths on the different parts of Christ's body, as if they were themselves tearing Christ's body to pieces over and over again, and as if they thought the Jews had not torn him enough. They were amused by each other's sins. All the dancing girls, market-girls, singers, prostitutes, and sweet-sellers who came into that place were really working for the devil, to draw the revellers into lechery, which is part of gluttony. The pardoner now claims inaccurately that the Bible supports him in saying that sexual sin is linked with drunkenness. The reader cannot reach The Pardoner's Tale itself without seeing it as intimately connected with the character and purposes of its teller. The opening scene of debauchery in the tavern links back to the theme of the Pardoner's own drinking. Indeed, he mentions having just had a drink of ale at the end of his prologue. It

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Chaucer's Pardoner's tale Analysis on lines 520 through to 602

Chaucer's Pardoner's tale Analysis on lines 520 through to 602 Chaucer's depiction of everyday life demonstrates the mockery, or even disregard for kindness, honesty and the other virtues that balance the sins prone to human error and judgment. With impiety being flaunted openly in society, this shows times of rebuke and alarm in the church, even man's faith in God's ruling. The connotation of the extract given is simply the ease of sin and how good men can without difficulty be undone by moments of weakness and foolery. He moulds the inner thoughts and desires of his characters intimately, summarising their nature rather than their movements and opinions. The rapidity of pace deciphers the verses as the tone strengthens the moral undertones. His anger shows through, particularly from lines 531 to 540 resulting in the highlighting of Chaucer's main frustration, - avoidable wickedness - whereby they lose themselves and everything they hold dear. The sins that cause the most damage to man are pride, wrath and gluttony. These sins, along with others, diminish souls and ultimately the prospect of eternal life and happiness in heaven. The narrative is in the first person, believed to be Chaucer's own voice and how he views people who openly sin. Chaucer's moralistic beliefs are being highlighted through the denotation of the pardoner's character's actions. The pardoner seems

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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By a close examination of these lines and one other extract of your choice, consider how effectively Chaucer exploits the biblical and classical references.

By a close examination of these lines and one other extract of your choice, consider how effectively Chaucer exploits the biblical and classical references The Merchant's Tale is a typical contemporary fabliaux which follows the story of an old man searching for a wife and finding one, who is ultimately unfaithful to him. Chaucer exploits a variety of different contemporary religious beliefs and traditions in order to increase the humour and undertones of the poem. Januarie's discussion of Heaven and Hell leads to the idea of marriage providing a Heaven on Earth. It is said that a wife is a husband's "paradis terrestre, and his disport", but at the introduction of the idea of a paradise, the reader can begin to contemplate the introduction of a serpent at a later point (Damyan). Chaucer uses heavy irony as Januarie worries about experiencing his only Heaven on Earth. It becomes evident that May is anything but his Heaven. Her behaviour with Damyan in the pear tree runs parallel with the story of Adam and Eve and the temptation of the apple tree as Damyan has become the serpent in Januarie's paradise of wedded bliss. The Biblical allusions that are used in the Tale have the effect of broadening the moral behind the story and emphasising the Merchant's cynicism of love and marriage. By using the irony of the Biblical stories along with the thoughts of Januarie, a contemporary

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  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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Chaucer: The general Prologue to the "The Canterbury Tales"

Chaucer: The general Prologue to the "The Canterbury Tales" Select two or three portraits from The General Prologue and discuss Chaucer's use of variety of detail in comparing and contrasting the characters. In your answer you should consider the following aspects: * The nature of the characters presented * Different kinds of emphasis in the descriptions * The sense of a varied medieval society The knight, the prioress and the doctor of physics are three characters presented very differently in the General Prologue. The knight is defined in terms of his virtues and actions to defend the faith, far more than by his appearance and words. He has fought honourably both for his earthly Lord and for the Lord of all Christians campaigning along the whole frontier- "Ful worthy was he in his Lordes were." It is interesting to see that Chaucer has begun with the pilgrim who has the highest social status, and is the top of the hierarchy. Despite of his prowness and his undefeated record, he was humble and had an idealised moral standard- "Truth and honour, freedom and courtesy." He is a character who is skilful and decent as he respects the laws. He is well-mannered and upright- "To riden out, he loved chivalrie." He never spoke fowl language about any person and thus was good-natured- "He never yet no vileynie." He behaved himself very modestly- "and of his porte as meeke as is a

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Geoffrey Chaucer.

Lisa Monrose Mr.Cartwright English IV 9Nov2002 Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer's English literature and writing was so strong that he has been called "the father of English poetry." He borrowed work from Boccaccio, Dante, and Petrach. People like Spencer, Keats, Tennyson learned about verse forms by reading some of Chaucer's work. ( Bloom 41).Geoffrey Chaucer's date and place of birth are not known, but it is said that Chaucer was born in his father's home in London. The house is located on a street called Thames that is somewhere near the west bank of the Wallbrook. His father is seen to have done business with the royal court. In 1357 the first real record of Chaucer says that he was a page in the household of the Countess of Ulster, she was the wife of Prince Lionel. From this time on Chaucer on Chaucer is believed to be associated with the royal family. By the 1380's Chaucer was very well known for his poetry; his fame got all the way to France, where the poet Eustache Des champs learned about Chaucer's work, he sent some of his poems to Chaucer, whom he thinks is a "great translator" as well as the expert of the English tongue. Chaucer was well educated, but it is not known if he went to a university or not. Chaucer was in France because he was taken prisoner during one of King Edward III campaign, which eventually failed. This

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Linguistics, Classics and related subjects
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