英美文学课件Part 3 The Canterbury Tales.pptVIP

The Canterbury Tales I. Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400) a. The “ father of English poetry”, one of the greatest narrative poets of England b. Born in London in or about the year 1340, died in 1400 c. His father, a prosperous wine merchant d. Said to have received education at Oxford and Cambridge The Canterbury Tales e. Well experienced, as a page to Elizabeth, countess of Ulster; → then rubbed elbows with the court and nobility; → in 1359, companied the English army to France; → in 1367, entered the service of King Edward III, as an embassador; → in 1373, received the post of a Comptroller of Customs in the port of London The Canterbury Tales → in 1386, elected member of parliament → dismissed from his office due to the intrigues of his enemies →in 1389, was appointed Clerk of the King’s works at Westminster and Windsor →died on the 25th, October, 1400, and buried in Westminster Abbey The Canterbury Tales f. His masterpieces: The House of Fame, The Legends of Good Women, The Canterbury Tales → All the best poems and histories in Latin, French and Italian were well known to Chaucer, and although he freely borrowed from them, he was never a servile imitator of foreign authors and had broad literary views of his own. The Canterbury Tales → Chaucer’s creative work vividly reflected the changes which had taken root in English culture of the second half of the 14th century. ① The foundations of the feudal system had already began to crumble. ② The glory of the Catholic Church was on the wane. ③ England was on the brink of great historic change. ④ Chaucer’s poetry traces out a path to the literature of English Renaissance. The Canterbury Tales Chaucer’s poem is distinguished for its profound delineation of character and truthful description of human relations. In contradistinction to the alliterative verse of the Anglo-Saxon poetry, Chaucer chose the metrical form which laid the founda