Analysis of The Canterbury Tales; PROLOGUE

Geoffrey Chaucer 1343 (London) – 1400 (London)



Whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth

Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open eye-

So priketh hem Nature in hir corages-
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 Caunturbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for the seke
That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.
Bifil that in that seson, on a day,
In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay,

Redy to wenden on my pilgrymage
To Caunterbury, with ful devout corage,
At nyght were come into that hostelrye
Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye
Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle

In felaweshipe, and pilgrimes were they alle,
That toward Caunterbury wolden ryde.
The chambres and the stables weren wyde,
And wel we weren esed atte beste;
And shortly, whan the sonne was to reste,

So hadde I spoken with hem everychon
That I was of hir felaweshipe anon,
And made forward erly for to ryse
To take our wey, ther as I yow devyse.
But nathelees, whil I have tyme and space,

Er that I ferther in this tale pace,
Me thynketh it acordaunt to resoun
To telle yow al the condicioun
Of ech of hem, so as it semed me,
And whiche they weren, and of what degree,

And eek in what array that they were inne;
And at a knyght than wol I first bigynne.
A knyght ther was, and that a worthy man,
That fro the tyme that he first bigan
To riden out, he loved chivalrie,

Trouthe and honour, fredom and curteisie.
Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre,

And therto hadde he riden, no man ferre,
As wel in Cristendom as in Hethenesse,
And evere honoured for his worthynesse.

At Alisaundre he was, whan it was wonne;
Ful ofte tyme he hadde the bord bigonne
Aboven alle nacions in Pruce;
In Lettow hadde he reysed, and in Ruce,
No cristen man so ofte of his degree.

In Gernade at the seege eek hadde he be
Of Algezir, and riden in Belmarye;
At Lyeys was he, and at Satalye,
Whan they were wonne; and in the Grete See
At many a noble arive hadde he be.

At mortal batailles hadde he been fiftene,
And foughten for oure feith at Tramyssene
In lystes thries, and ay slayn his foo.
This ilke worthy knyght hadde been also
Somtyme with the lord of Palatye

Agayn another hethen in Turkye,
And everemoore he hadde a sovereyn prys.
And though that he were worthy, he was wys,
And of his port as meeke as is a mayde;
He nevere yet no vileynye ne sayde

In al his lyf unto no maner wight;
He was a verray parfit gentil knyght.
But for to tellen yow of his array,
His hors weren goode, but he was nat gay.
Of fustian he wered a gypoun,

Al bismotered with his habergeoun;
For he was late ycome from his viage,
And wente for to doon his pilgrymage.
With hym ther was his sone, a yong Squier,
A lovyere and a lusty bacheler,

With lokkes crulle, as they were leyd in presse.
Of twenty yeer of age he was, I gesse.
Of his stature he was of evene lengthe,
And wonderly delyvere, and of greet strengthe.
And he hadde been somtyme in chyvachie

In Flaundres, in Artoys, and Pycardie,
And born hym weel, as of so litel space,
In hope to stonden in his lady grace.
Embrouded was he, as it were a meede,
Al ful of fresshe floures whyte and reede;

Syngynge he was, or floytynge, al the day,
He was as fressh as is the monthe of May.
Short was his gowne, with sleves longe and wyde.
Wel koude he sitte on hors, and faire ryde,
He koude songes make, and wel endite,

Juste, and eek daunce, and weel purtreye and write.
So hoote he lovede, that by nyghtertale
He slepte namoore than dooth a nyghtyngale.
Curteis he was, lowely, and servysable,
And carf biforn his fader at the table.

A Yeman hadde he, and servantz namo
At that tyme, for hym liste ride soo;
And he was clad in cote and hood of grene,
A sheef of pecok arwes bright and kene
Under his belt he bar ful thriftily-

Wel koude he dresse his takel yemanly,
Hise arwes drouped noght with fetheres lowe-
And in his hand he baar a myghty bowe.
A not -heed hadde he, with a broun visage,
Of woodecraft wel koude he al th


Scheme AABBC CDDEE FFFFA AGGAH IIEEH HAAAA DDFFF FDDJB DDXXB FB BFF DDFFB JEEFJ DDXFE EFFAA AABGD DIIBB FFCCX AFFAA AHAAA AHHHX JFDDH HKKIC
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111 011111101 011001011 11111010 1111111 01010100101 0110011 10011111 01111 111011101 11110011 1111111000 0111111 1111011 0100110011 111111 0111101 111111101 11011101 01101111 111111 1111011 11010111 11010001 111111 0101011 1011101 01001011 0111111 010101111 11110111 1111111 011010111 1110111111 11111101 01110111 111111 111101 111111111 011101101 0101011101 010111111 0111010101 110111110 1101111 101101 110110111 011110111 1101101 011111 11111111 11111011 11101 01111001 111111101 011011111 1101001 1111011 110100011 1100101111 11011111 0111111 01101111 111011110 110111 1010101 0111011 0111010111 0111111101 1111111 0111101101 1101111 111111101 111111111 111101 11111 11111111 0111111 1111110110 0100101 111110101 1101111111 111011111 010010111 0111101 010101 011111111 011101101 11111001 11111101 11111101 1111110111 111111101 111111011 1111011 101101101 1111111 1111101 111101 0111101010 0111011 11111111 0111010111 01111101 10111111 1111111 1111111 001111011 0111110110 11111111
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 4,214
Words 821
Sentences 24
Stanzas 23
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 110
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 147
Words per stanza (avg) 36
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 29, 2023

4:06 min read
125

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer, known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey. more…

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