TABLE OF CHAUCER'S PRINCIPAL WORKS. "The Romaunt of the Rose," a translation from a French poem begun by Guillaume de Lorris and continued by Jean de Meun. "The A. B. C." The version of a prayer to the Virgin, from the French. "A Complainte of the Deathe of Pitie." "The Boke of The Duchess": an Elegy on the Duchess Blanche (wife of John of Gaunt), who died 1369. "The Parliament of Foules." "The Complainte of Mars." "Troilus and Crysseide." "The Legende of Goode Women." "The House of Fame.' "The Canterbury Tales." * Among the short poems, "Complaint to his Purse," "The good Counseil," and "Advice to Adam Scrivener," are well known. Twenty-five of "The Canterbury Tales were written and some of these are not complete. The entire series, had the poem been finished and each pilgrim fulfilled the compact, would have consisted of one hundred and twenty-eight tales. LANGUAGE AND VERSIFICATION. The difficulties of reading Chaucer have been greatly overrated. Some, indeed, have thought that in order to popularize his works it is necessary to turn them into Modern English. But while such a version would probably be more widely read, it would undoubtedly be devoid of much of the quaint humor and peculiar charm which only Chaucer's own words can give. The use of the glossary will soon render the student familiar with unusual words, and the few following explanations of spelling and pronounciation may help him to enjoy the rhythm and rhyme, which cannot be appreciated without some slight knowledge of fourteenthcentury English. * Some of these Tales were written earlier as separate poems, and afterward included in the series. One of the first things we notice in reading Chaucer is that many words have a final e which has since been dropped. This final e was almost always pronounced as a separate syllable; as in the words " Aprille," "swoote" (pronounced A-pril-lé, swō-té), etc. To understand the reason for this, we must go back in the history of the language before Chaucer's time. The early English, or Anglo-Saxon, was what is called an inflected language; that is, the grammatical relation between words was indicated by a change of ending, not, as with us, by auxiliary words. The effect of the Norman Conquest was to greatly hasten the dropping of these endings, their force being supplied by prepositions; but in the fourteenth century this change was not fully completed, and the final e, pronounced as a separate syllable, was a remnant of the old inflections. Besides these words of Anglo-Saxon origin, there are a number of words derived from the French, in which the final e is retained and generally pronounced as in French verse. The beginner, who is not reading Chaucer as a critical student of his language, should first acquaint himself with Chaucer's metre, and then be guided by his ear in deciding whether the final e should be pronounced. Thus we find that the metre of the Prologue, like blank verse, is dedecasyllabic, or ten-syllabled, having five feet, each accented on the second syllable; hence in order to preserve the metre, certain final e's are sounded, others dropped. Take for example these opening lines: "Whan that | April - | le with | his schowr | es swoote The drought of Marche | hath per - | ced to | the roote* Of whiche | virtue | engen - | dred is the flour." -Prologue. * The final e in swoote and roote is not required for the metre. It should, however, be lightly sounded, and rather adds to the melody of the verse. In general, however, it may be said the final e is pronounced except, (a) when it precedes a vowel, or (b) before the following words, beginning with h; viz., he, his, him, hem, hire, hath, hadde, have, how, her, here; in these cases it is elided. Pronounciation.-A is always pronounced broad, as in ah; e is like a in China. In determining the meaning, the reader will find it a help to pronounce the word, and be guided by the sound rather than the spelling. In many cases the word will then be easily recognized; thus, syngynge, peynede, fisch, quyk, though unfamiliar to the eye, are readily recog nized by the ear. No attempt has been made here to direct the student's attention to more than a few essential points; fuller rules on this subject will be found in the introduction to Morris's edition of the Prologue, and Knight's Tale, or in Professor F. J. Child's "Essay on Chaucer." Tales. THE CANTERBURY TALES. The latest and most famous work of Chaucer is a collection of separate stories, supposed to be told by pilgrims who agree to journey in company to the tomb of The Canterbury St. Thomas à Becket at Canterbury. In a general prologue we are told how these pilgrims met at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, the district opposite to London on the other side of the Thames; how they agreed to be fellow-travelers; how the jolly inn-keeper, "Harry Bailly," proposed that each pilgrim should tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two returning. There are, by way of interlude, prologues to the several stories thus told, which bind the whole series more firmly together, and recall to us the general design. The idea of stringing distinct stories on some thread of connection is not an uncommon one. Shortly before Chaucer, Boccaccio had written his Decamerone, a collection of stories linked together by a very simple expedient. In it a number of gay lords and ladies leave Florence during the plague, and, sitting together in a beautiful garden, they amuse themselves by telling the tales that form the main part of the work. If Chaucer, as many suppose, found the suggestion for the plan. of the Canterbury Tales in the Decamerone, there is no doubt that he greatly improved on his original. Chaucer's work is founded on a pilgrimage, one of the characteristic and familiar features of the life of the time. With rare tact he has selected one of the few occasions which brought together in temporary goodfellowship men and women of different classes and occupations. He is thus able to paint the moving life of the world about him in all its breadth and variety; he can give to stories told by such chance-assorted companions a dramatic character and contrast, making knight, priest, or miller reveal himself in what he relates. The Prologue. The chief interest the prologue has for us lies in the freshness and truth with which each member of the little party of pilgrims is set before us. As one after another of that immortal procession passes by, the dainty smiling Prioress, the Merchant with his forked beard and beaver hat, we know that history does not mean dust and dates, but life, and we ourselves seem fourteenth-century pilgrims riding with the rest. It is a morning in the middle of April, as we with the jolly company, thirty in all, with Harry Bailly as "governour," take the high-road to Canterbury. The spring that refreshes us in the first words of the prologue is all about us. "Whan that Aprille with his schowres swoote The drought of Marche hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertue engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breethe So priketh hem nature in here corages :— There rides the Knight, who has fought in fifteen mortal battles, always honored for his bravery. His hauberk is stained, for he has just returned from a voyage; in his bearing he is meek as a maid. "He nevere yit no vileinye ne sayde In al his lyf, unto no maner wight. He was a verray perfight gentil knight." With him ther was his sone, a yong squyer, A lovyere, and a lusty bacheler, With lokkes crulle as they were leyd in presse. And wonderly delyvere, and gret of strengthe. He cowde songes make and wel endite, Juste and eek daunce, and wel purtreye and write. He sleep no more than doth a nightyngale. And carf byforn his fader at the table." After the Knight and the Squire, rides their one attendant, with round head and brown face, clad in the green |