About...“Ready to set out on my pilgrimage
To Canterbury with pious courage, There came at night to that hostelry Quite nine and twenty in a company” ― Geoffrey Chaucer, The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer was born the son of a merchant but as a result of spending time with sailors on the docks and being a page to a countess he learned how to elevate himself from the status of a merchants son to controller of customs for King Edward.
The Canterbury Tales focuses on a group of travelers who are on their way to Canterbury for their yearly pilgrimage. In order to entertain themselves on this journey they must each come up with two different tales on the way to Canterbury and on the way back. Each of the tales is commentary on the previous tale. The Tales start with the Knight’s tale because he is the highest of rank among the group and then the drunken miller steps in: “Our Host saw that he was drunk with ale,[…] By God’s soul,’ quoth the Miller, ‘not for me! For I will speak or else go on my way.’ Our Host answered: ‘Tell on, as you may! You are a fool; your wits are overcome.’” The Miller is responding to the Knight’s tale of chivalrous love with a commentary on his own version of chivalrous love. Some questions to consider when reading Chaucer’s tales are: What exactly is being said about courtly love by the Miller’s Tale? Consider the quotation “And thus she made Absalon her dupe, And of all his eager wooing a joke” (Miller’s Tale lines 281-82). Why do you think the Wife of Bath had such a long introduction to her tale? Consider her descriptions of her marriages “I kept my older husbands well in hand With what they said in their drunkenness;” (lines 376-77). Consider also her commentary on the biblical story of the Samaritan woman “What he meant by that, I can’t explain;/But I ask you why the fifth man/Was not husband of the Samaritan?” (lines 20-22) and what role that plays in the prologue to the Wife of Bath’s tale. Study GuideThere's a study guide for The Canterbury Tales due. See CSC Online to access it.
THE BELOW WAS DEVELOPED AT THE REQUEST OF THE PREVIOUS CLASS AND HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THE STUDY GUIDE:
At your request I have come up with three (3) additional questions to add to SG#3 based on "The Miller's Tale." I have focused, again as per your request, on the farting references in the text. You are welcome to choose up to two (2) of these as long as you address one standard question from the study guide: Extra Creative Question #1: In the poetic style of The Canterbury Tales, write a brief story from Absolon's perspective explaining why he was "quite squeamish...about farting" (lines 229-30). Has he been this way since childhood? Is it a general aversion? Did he have a negative experience at a certain point in his life? Remember, try to imitate the line length, rhythm, and rhyme scheme as you write. Extra Creative Question #2: You have decided, against your better judgement, to teach the Miller's "Prologue" and "Tale" in a high school course. Either write a lesson plan explaining how exactly you would teach the end scene (the kissing of butts and the farting) without losing control of your kids, OR write a detailed, creative assignment that you would give to your students in order to ask them to think more deeply about this same concluding scene (you might think about online mediums like Twitter, Instagram, short films, readings, collages, comics, etc. that you might have them engage with). Extra Creative Question #3: In the epic style of Beowulf, write a brief passage about Absolon's returning with the poker and Nicholas' farting positioning one of the men as an epic hero and the fart itself as the climax of the scene. Try to make it about the same length as one of the passages in Beowulf. Happy writing! I hope that you are not "squeamish" about farting, lol!
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