ENGL 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Interstate 93, Poetic Justice, National Technical Research Organisation
31 May 2016
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Document Summary
Norman invasion : intro of french culture. French and latin = language of aristocracy, of law. English of 14th c. = middle english. Chaucer seen as start of english tradition. Chaucer seen as epitome of english, but he"s very european. Content and form of his poems = french and italian. Chaucer"s poetry has rhymes (rhymes = french and italian) Chaucer comes to develop rhyming couplet of iambic pentameter. Medieval society = hierarchical: fighters (aristocracy, knights, those who pray (monks priests, those who work. Individual is defined by place/role in community. The knight and squire ; the prior ; the workers ---- the prioress, wife of bath : women. Structure of prologue makes us think (it will have to be hierarchical) Order breaks down as the story goes on ; at the end the host praises story ; then says the monk should go next. Then the miller says he has a story. Chaucer"s characters are defined by their profession.
