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Following successful completion of this lesson, students will be able to:
- Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts
- Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats
- Develop interpretive analysis skills through an examination of poetic devices
- Enhance reading comprehension through the use of audio and visual aids and interactive questions
- Interpret the poem by writing interpretive statements supported with specific details from the text
- Create a parody following Chaucer’s style
The above objectives correspond with the following Alabama Course of Study Objectives:
CCRS 2Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.,
CCRS 3Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).,
CCRS 4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or langauge that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.),
CCRS 6Analyze a case in which grasping point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated a text from what is really meant (e.g.,m satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement). ,
CCRS 7Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare.),
CCRS 9By the end of Grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the end of the Grades 11-College and Career Readiness (CCR) text complexity band independently and proficiently. ,
CCRS 20Write informative or explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. ,
CCRS 20dUse precise language, domain-specific vocabulary, and techniques such as metaphor, simile, and analogy to manage the complexity of the topic. ,
CCRS 21Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique , well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. ,
CCRS 21bUse narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.,
CCRS 27Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.,
CCRS 38Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on Grade 12 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.,
CCRS 38cConsult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning, its part of speech, its etymology, or its standard usage., and
CCRS 40Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.. |
Introduction
Middle English
Again, you are going to read a poem; however, it is much longer than Beowulf. It is roughly 17,000 lines. The poem is arranged in stanzas, and Chaucer uses heroic couplets with iambic pentameter.
Even though Chaucer chose to write his tales in English, his language is far removed from the English we speak today. When we refer to Chaucer's language, we call it Middle English. You will read the first eighteen lines of "The Prologue," known as "The Hymn to Spring." It's simply a celebration of the beginning of spring when everything and everyone is enjoying the good weather.
The Hymn to Spring
Go to the site Luminarium Recording of the General Prologue and listen to the first eighteen lines of "The Hymn to Spring" in The Canterbury Tales written in Middle English. Follow along as you listen to the words. You will be surprised how different our language sounds when compared to the Middle English.
| Old English |
Modern English |
Whan that aprill with his 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 sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
(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 caunterbury they wende,
The hooly blisful martir for to seke,
That hem hath holpen whan that they were seeke. |
When April with his showers sweet with fruit
The drought of March has pierced unto the root
And bathed each vein with liquor that has power
To generate therein and sire the flower;
When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath,
Quickened again, in every holt and heath,
The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun
Into the Ram one half his course has run,
And many little birds make melody
That sleep through all the night with open eye
(So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)-
Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage,
And palmers to go seeking out strange strands,
To distant shrines well known in sundry lands.
And specially from every shire's end
Of England they to Canterbury wend,
The holy blessed martyr there to seek
Who helped them when they lay so ill and weak. |
Middle English vs. Modern English
Note how the words have evolved. For instance:
- the spelling of whan has become when
- shoures has become showers
- soote has become sweet
You'll see more as you read the translation.
Introduction