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British Poetry

Notes The Knight’s son, who is about twenty years old, acts as his father’s squire, or apprentice. The pilgrims
applaud the Knight’s Tale, and the pleased Host asks the Monk to match it. Before the Monk can utter
a word, however, the Miller interrupts. Drunk and belligerent, he promises that he has a “noble” tale
that will repay the Knight’s. The Host tries to persuade the Miller to let some “bettre” man tell the
next tale. The narrator apologizes to us in advance for the tale’s bawdiness, and warns that those who
are easily offended should skip to another tale.

9.1 General Prologue

“When April comes with his sweet, fragrant showers, which pierce the dry ground of March, and
bathe every root of every plant in sweet liquid, then people desire to go on pilgrimages.” Thus begins
the famous opening to The Canterbury Tales. The narrator (a constructed version of Chaucer himself)
is first discovered staying at the Tabard Inn in Southwark (in London), when a company of twenty-
nine people descend on the inn, preparing to go on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. After talking to them,
he agrees to join them on their pilgrimage.
Yet before the narrator goes any further in the tale, he describes the circumstances and the social
rank of each pilgrim. He describes each one in turn, starting with the highest status individuals.
The Knight is described first, as befits a ‘worthy man’ of high status. The Knight has fought in the
Crusades in numerous countries, and always been honored for his worthiness and courtesy.
Everywhere he went, the narrator tells us, he had a ‘sovereyn prys’ (which could mean either an
‘outstanding reputation’ or a price on his head for the fighting he has done). The Knight is dressed
in a ‘fustian’ tunic, made of coarse cloth, which is stained by the rust from his coat of chainmail.
The Knight brings with him his son, The Squire, a lover and a lusty bachelor, only twenty years old.
The Squire cuts a rather effeminate figure, his clothes embroidered with red and white flowers, and
he is constantly singing or playing the flute. He is the only pilgrim (other than, of course, Chaucer
himself) who explicitly has literary ambitions: he ‘koude songes make and wel endite’.
The Yeoman (a freeborn servant) also travels along with the Knight’s entourage, and is clad in coat
and hood of green. The Yeoman is excellent at caring for arrows, and travels armed with a huge
amount of weaponry: arrows, a bracer (arm guard), a sword, a buckler, and a dagger as sharp as a
spear. He wears an image of St. Christopher on his breast.
Having now introduced the Knight (the highest ranking pilgrim socially), the narrator now moves
on to the clergy, beginning with The Prioress, called ‘Madame Eglantine’ (or, in modern parlance,
Mrs. Sweetbriar). She could sweetly sing religious services, speaks fluent French and has excellent
table manners. She is so charitable and piteous, that she would weep if she saw a mouse caught in
a trap, and she has two small dogs with her. She wears a brooch with the inscription ‘Amor vincit
omnia’ (‘Love conquers all’). The Prioress brings with her her ‘chapeleyne’ (secretary), the Second
Nun.
The Monk is next, an extremely fine and handsome man who loves to hunt, and who follows modern
customs rather than old traditions. This is no bookish monk, studying in a cloister, but a man who
keeps greyhounds to hunt the hare. The Monk is well-fed, fat, and his eyes are bright, gleaming like
a furnace in his head.
The Friar who follows him is also wanton and merry, and he is a ‘lymytour’ by trade (a friar licensed
to beg in certain districts). He is extremely well beloved of franklins (landowners) and worthy
woman all over the town. He hears confession and gives absolution, and is an excellent beggar, able
to earn himself a farthing wherever he went. His name is Huberd.
The Merchant wears a forked beard, motley clothes and sat high upon his horse. He gives his opinion
very solemnly, and does excellent business as a merchant, never being in any debt. But, the narrator
ominously remarks, ‘I noot how men hym calle’ (I don’t know how men call him, or think of him).

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