2. Whan that Aprill with his shoures
soote
The droughte of march hath perced
to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich
licour
Of which vertu engendered is the
flour;
Whan zephirus eek with his sweete
breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
Tendre croppes, and the younge
sonne
Hath in the ram his halve cours
yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
(so priketh hem nature in hir
courages);
THE CANTERBURY TALES: THE
GENERAL PROLOGUE
ORIGINAL
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 canterbury they
wende,
The hooly blisful marttir for to
seke,
That hem hath holpen whan that
they were seeke
4. When that April with his shower sweet
The Drought of March has Pierced to
the root
And Bathed every vein in such liquid
Of which power created the flower;
When zephyr (the west wind)also With
his sweet breath
Inspired has In every forest And feild
Tender crops, and the young son
Has In the Ram his half course run
And small fowls make melody
That sleep all the night with open eye
So ? Them nature in her heart
Then long folk to go on pilgrimages
And pilgrims to seeking foreign
shores
To distant shrines, known In various
lands
And specially from every shire’s end
Of England to Canterbury they travel
The holy blessed martyr for to seek
That them has hope for when they
were sick
THE CANTERBURY TALES: THE
GENERAL PROLOGUE
TRANSLATION
6. The rhyme scheme in this poem
consists of herioc couplets*
definition : AA BB CC DD
Alliteration
Imagery
Metaphors
POETIC FEATURES
7. Some French words throughout the Canterbury
Tales are :
Perced
Veyne
Licour
Vertu
Engendered
Flour
Inspired
Tendre
Cours
Melodye
Priketh
Nature
Corages
Pilgrimages
Palmeres
Straunge
Ferne
Specially
LEXICONS
8. Spelling and pronunciation has
changed from Middle English to
Modern Day English.
SIGNIFICANT POETIC FEATURES
9. SYNTAX
ME :Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimage
PDE: The people longed to go on trips
ME: The holy blissful matter for to seek
PDE: The holy bilissful matter for to see
12. ME: Shoures
ME: Droughte
ME: Veyne
ME: Nyght
ME: Sonne
ME:Kowthe
MdE: Showers
MdE: Drought
MdE: Vein
MdE: Night
MdE: Son
MdE: Known
THE GREAT VOWEL SHIFT
Editor's Notes
According to the definition in the book Lexicons are a languages inventory of words either native or borrowed. This passage from GeofferyChaucers “ The Canterberys” tales contains an abundance of French vocabulary. The assimilation of French forms into English is shown by the English derivational and inflectional affixes which are attached to the borrowings such as prik-eth, special-ly, engender-ed, courage-s, pilgriimage-s. Despite all the French every function word in this passage remains English, with the exception of the Old Norse pronoun they borrowed in the late Old English Period.
According to the text book Phonetics are f
According to the book synax is the loss and leveling of inflections in Middle English accompanied two important changes in grammer: the increased use of peripharasis and the development of more fixed word order. Chaucer makes this difficult sometimes with longen after the subject of folk you have to read the full sentence before you can understand it but he does so to keep his rhyming couplets in tack.
