The Canterbury Tales

[b:The Canterbury Tales|2696|The Canterbury Tales|Geoffrey Chaucer|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1261208589s/2696.jpg|986234] is one of those books often mentioned in any survey of classic literature, and certainly with good reason. The structure of the book itself (stories within stories) predates [b:A Midsummer Night's Dream|1622|A Midsummer Night's Dream|William Shakespeare|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327874534s/1622.jpg|894834] rather notably and [a:Geoffrey Chaucer|1838|Geoffrey Chaucer|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1202588994p2/1838.jpg] is with necessity a force of wit to be reckoned with.

[a:Geoffrey Chaucer|1838|Geoffrey Chaucer|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1202588994p2/1838.jpg]'s writing still seems fresh, and more of the stories in this collection hold up to the passing of time rather than fall flat from it. The snippets of the original poetry included in quotes make me want to read it in the original, in spite of what difficulties there may be, and the notes in the back helped expediate understanding when the language did get confusing.

Chaucer's social commentary was hilarious, and his characters were all rather notable. His use of doggerel for humor was extremely effective, and his views towards women's rights remarkable for their time. Hell, The Wife of Bath's prologue regarding men is still rather remarkable to read.

All in all, an excellent collection and one I look forward to reading again. ( )

The first time I encountered this was when my sister had to read it from English class. I tried my hand at it, decided it wasn't for me, and forgot about it until nearly ten years later when the same English teacher in the same school handed me the exact same book. (Shouldn't write in books, sis, especially ones that don't belong to you.) Now, searching on GR for that first version I encountered, I'm appalled that the damn thing was from the 1950s. How many grubby teen hands that must have passed through -- which would make for a more interesting story to me than the one inside the covers.

I was confronted with it again some years later, albeit a different, newer edition that I had to pay through the nose for at the university bookstore. It didn't get any better. I've tried reading in in the original language, in a translation of modern English (which, weirdly, bored me even more) and even, heaven forbid, the Spark Notes. In none of these attempts have I understood why some people think this is the greatest thing ever written.

I like the idea of it far more than the thing itself. ( )

This is of course the famous (and famously incomplete) collection of tales told by a group of pilgrims en route to Canterbury. For this 21st-century reader, it was a mixed bag: some really funny bits (fart jokes!) and some tremendously dull bits (preachy prose!). This is an “almost liked it, but not quite”. I think I’ll get a bit more out of it once I read some commentary and background.

Thoughts on each of the individual tales follow.

The Knight’s Tale is interesting in that it tells a very King Arthur-ish story with characters from Greek mythology; however, the telling was long and boring.

The Miller’s Tale was probably my favourite—it was just as funny as I’d been led to believe. No wonder this is the tale that gets taught in high schools. I knew it wouldn’t end well for Absalom when the story said that he was “squeamish of farting”.

The Reeve’s Tale played nicely off the previous story, by having the reeve tell a story that gets his revenge on the miller (who featured a reeve in *his* tale), but boy howdy is this tale totally disdainful of the idea of women being able to give consent. Also, rather raunchy.

The Cook’s Tale was disappointing because it ended so abruptly. I was reading on Serial Reader and ended up downloading the ebook from Project Gutenberg *and* reading the Wikipedia summary to confirm that that really was it, and not just a formatting error.

The Lawyer’s Tale has an interesting rhyme scheme and a good rhythm. The story is all right, if rather depressing for a 21st-century reader.

The Wife of Bath’s Tale has a great prologue: hilarious and an awesome character. Her tale is well told, although I’ve heard a variation of it before, probably in the Roger Lancelyn Green retelling of King Arthur. I think Gawain or Lancelot is the one tasked with that quest.

The Friar’s Tale is obviously forgettable because I finished it one day and by the next day I had to look it up on Wikipedia before being able to formulate any thoughts about it. Basically the friar is not crazy about summoners! Will be interested to hear what tale the summoner comes up with.

The Summoner’s Tale turns the tables and demonstrates just how much the summoner hates friars: his tale involves all friars going to Hell and living inside the Devil’s arsehole. Yikes. Also, fart jokes!

The Clerk’s Tale is the most unfeminist thing I’ve ever read. Awful.

The Merchant’s Tale: EW old guy marrying much younger woman! Also there was a random interlude that seems to have involved Hades and Persephone, but I’m not sure, because the punctuation was unclear. This tale also features some startlingly 21st-century language: “He banged you!” (CHAUCER, how rude.)

The Squire’s Tale was another one where I had to look it up online to see if it really did end as abruptly as I thought. There seems to be a few of those. Did Chaucer write the tales separately as inspiration hit, rather than in the order we have?

The Franklin’s Tale gets points for being about Bretons.

The Physician’s Tale makes me wonder what is WITH all of these male pilgrims getting their jollies by telling stories about women having their “virtue/chastity” jeopardized? UGH outdated societal expectations.

The Pardoner’s Tale made me picture the pardoner like the stereotypical fat friar, growing rich over other people’s fear of God.

The Shipman’s Tale: yep definitely on the naughty side

The Prioress’s Tale is OF COURSE prejudiced against Jewish people :(

The Tale of Melibee is SO BORING. It’s just Prudence quoting Cicero and Seneca in prose. I skimmed.

The Monk’s Tale was much easier to digest after The Tale of Melibee, given that it is a bunch of short extracts about various historical figures.

The Nun’s Priest’s Tale is about Chanticleer and the Fox, which was cool on that level—it’s the sort of story you hear about in popular culture but don’t really grasp until you see it in its original context. Also, this tale gave me a flashback to this movie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock-a-Doodle

The Second Nun’s Tale is another one I had to look up in order to be able to recall the details. Not interesting.

The Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale was all right; it was certainly more energetic than the previous tale.

The Manciple’s Tale is a fable about crows and how they came to have black feathers. As a fable, it is not bad.

The Parson’s Tale is super boring and told in prose, so I skimmed it. ( )

I could listen to and read this repeatedly and still find more to love I think. ( )

one of the masterpieces of world literature. This is my original book