How to Read The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

It’s time to begin our pilgrimage to Canterbury with Geoffrey Chaucer as we engage with one of the most vibrant story compendiums ever penned.

Our reading will teach us about storytelling, comedy, romance, experience vs authority, class, men and women, the evolution of poetry, and the human condition.

Today we’re discussing how to appreciate the tales and bring ourselves fully to the father of English Literature.

Video Timestamps:

0:00 welcome to Chaucer’s England

2:00 how the Canterbury Tales was born

4:00 how to read the Canterbury Tales

5:00 what is the Canterbury Tales?

6:00 Chaucer’s frame narrative

7:00 pilgrimage as metaphor for life

7:30 Tabard Inn to Canterbury Cathedral

8:00 how long would the journey take?

9:00 Harry Bailey’s storytelling contest

10:00 how many tales are in the collection?

11:00 popularity of story compendiums

12:00 prologues of the Canterbury Tales

14:00 how the Canterbury Tales begins

15:00 juxtaposition, sequencing, patterns

16:00 from Knight’s Tale to Miller’s Tale

17:00 themes in the Canterbury Tales

18:00 Chaucer speaks universally

19:00 three estates social hierarchy

21:00 England’s population post-Black Death

22:00 peasantry in medieval England

23:00 social position of Chaucer’s pilgrims

24:00 Chaucer’s civil service career

25:00 how Chaucer becomes a poet

26:00 Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV

27:00 biography of Geoffrey Chaucer

28:00 society seen as unified body

29:00 the Peasants Revolt of 1381

30:00 Chaucer’s estates satire

31:00 Chaucerian characterisation

34:00 dramatic voice or full persona?

35:00 do we recognise the characters?

36:00 what were pilgrimages like?

37:00 Thomas Beckett’s Canterbury tomb

38:00 why did people go on pilgrimages?

40:00 seeking holy relics and pardons

41:00 the big business of pilgrimages

42:00 the character of the Pardoner

43:00 Great Schism in Medieval Europe

44:00 Chaucer on religious hypocrisy

45:00 taking a great vicarious pilgrimage

46:00 befriending one pilgrim as entrance

47:00 how I fell in love with Chaucer

48:00 appreciating the Wife of Bath

51:00 on experience vs authority

53:00 the Wife of Bath’s Prologue

55:00 the Wife’s relationship advice

57:00 Englishmen of Chaucer’s time

59:00 the Wife of Bath’s Tale

1:00:00 is Chaucer really that difficult?

1:02:00 writing before standardisation

1:03:00 understand the Great Vowel Shift

1:04:00 Middle English pronunciation

1:05:00 why did pronunciation change?

1:06:00 the cultural dominance of French

1:07:00 Chaucer’s English was revolutionary

1:08:00 medieval literacy and oral narrative

1:09:00 impact of dialects on readership

1:10:00 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

1:11:00 medieval versification traditions

1:12:00 what does Chaucer’s English sound like?

1:13:00 reading the General Prologue together

1:15:00 ‘whan that Aprille with his shoures soote’

1:17:00 what I think about Chaucer’s English

1:18:00 comparing with the Gawain-poet

1:19:00 reading Old English from Beowulf

1:20:00 making Shakespeare sound easy

1:21:00 practical tips for reading Chaucer

1:24:00 my hands-on reading approach

1:26:00 common Middle English words

1:29:00 Chaucer book club lecture series

1:33:00 your experience with Chaucer?

Resources:

• Editions: I recommend having both the original text and a Modern English translation on hand. The original is available in Penguin paperback, Everyman hardback, and also the Riverside Chaucer. And Peter Ackroyd has a brilliant Modern English prose retelling here, whilst Neville Coghill has a version in Modern English poetry here. I outlined how I recommend you move between them near the end of the above discussion, but do feel free to embrace the approach that works best for you.

• Biography: Peter Ackroyd also has a tremendous biography of Geoffrey Chaucer that is well worth reading here. It's slim, digestible, and fascinating.

• History: Liza Picard has a wonderful work called 'Chaucer's People: Everyday Lives in Medieval England' here, which also makes for engrossing reading. She brings great context to the characters we meet on the pilgrimage and brings Chaucer's world vividly to life.

• Audiobooks: I find that the best readings of Chaucer's tales come from Naxos. Here is their Middle English version for the Knight's Tale. And here is their Modern English version of the General Prologue and opening couple of tales narrated by great readers like Anton Lesser.

• Shakespeare: To get a feel for the sociopolitical climate at the time, treat yourself to the Hollow Crown series or listen to our lectures on Richard II and Henry IV. Also, the week after next we will have the lecture for the climax of the Shakespeare project: The Two Noble Kinsmen. This is very serendipitous as this play derives its plot from Chaucer's Knight's Tale.

• Bonus: We'll be talking about romance, so if you're interested in checking out a work that is exemplary of the mode from one of Chaucer's contemporaries, then you might find it interesting to pick up Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

• Film Appreciation: Just for fun, check out the 2001 film A Knight's Tale starring Heath Ledger. The movie takes loose inspiration from Chaucer and even has the poet himself as a character.

• Documentary: There's a splendid documentary about Chaucer and the English language's first masterpiece here. The production is a bit dated, but I think that adds to the charm and the information is enthralling.

Reading Assignment:

Our next discussion will involve a deep appreciation of the General Prologue and the Knight's Tale. This coming weekend, we will return to discussing Faulkner as we're alternating between them. And so we'll be appreciating Chaucer again the weekend after.

So join the pilgrimage, read slowly, meet the characters, flex your imagination, and tackle the work in the way that works best for you, making use of modern translations and audios, and enjoying the ride.

Questions for You:

1) What is your current relationship with Chaucer? Is this your first experience or are you returning to this masterpiece?

2) What themes from your wider reading would you like to pull into The Canterbury Tales?

3) What kind of story would you tell if you were on the pilgrimage?

4) What are you hoping to get out of your deep reading of Chaucer?

Happy reading, everybody!